Slow Train Coming finds Dylan at his most impassioned: revitalized and assured of a new direction so recently undertaken - it is similar to exactly two other periods in his career: His surge into the electrified rock scene, and his return to form with folk/roots songwriting in the 1990s/00s. Whether or not you agree with this new spirited direction is another mater.
But if you embrace the ride, you will not be disappointed. If Bringing it all Back home touched on electroblues, and Highway 61 amplified the movement, then Street-Legal messes around with the studio, and Slow Train Coming turns on the reverb. Some fine songs, and some fine sounding songs. I'll leave the Jesus question on the shelf for the majority of this review: the album's pleasures can be enjoyed with or without his spiritual presence I think.
Gotta Serve SomebodyA
drastic change of sound for an opener - one of my favorites since Rainy Day Woman or Subterranean Homesick Blues. I find it as anthemic as well. All the different instruments seem to have found a comfortable territory to enjoy on this one, unlike the fight for unified turf that is presented in
Street~Legal. I enjoy the organ and guitar dance, and of course the singing drums and base. Those are the instruments that are dancing with Dylan's voice throughout this album. So this is how it's going to be.
Precious AngelOkay, now that cheeky guitar strumming and borderline upsinging has driven all the Dylan diehard elites out of the room, what do we think of this one? A little unconvincing. That's what strikes me first. One of the only times I'm a little skeptic about what this guy's telling me. (I tried using a version of the last two verses on a first date once - it did not go well !) I'll blame the unambitious lyric writing. Musically, the song crescendos to a fun and moving ending. The piano part becomes more present, the horns and vocals come in, then wham, we are swept away with the spirit of this album. Figuratively and literally.
I believe in you Ohh...so
this is what the album is about. Beautiful! The gentle acoustics of Blood on the Tracks, without the discord in the lyrics
...A vocal performance on par with the level of attained in Just Like a Woman? Yet another new vocal cadance (the skreaky emotional crack) cranked out by the jokerman? I believe in that! When I was young, this song delivered that feeling of the warm holy spirit. No joke there.
Slow Train ComingYes, Dylan can still rap in the seventies. More convincing and urgent than Subterranean homesick blues (okay maybe not 'more' convincing, you get what I mean). As desperate as It's Alright Ma too...You don't know if you want to jump out of the way by the time the refrain comes along or jump on board. But you certainly know you can't stand still.
Some seriously fun rhymes, but that they make such lyrical sense is mind blowing.
Sometimes I feel so low-down and disgusted
Can’t help but wonder what’s happenin’ to my companions
Are they lost or are they found
Have they counted the cost it’ll take to bring down
All their earthly principles they’re gonna have to abandon?
There’s a slow, slow train comin’ up around the bend
I had a woman down in Alabama
She was a backwoods girl, but she sure was realistic
She said, “Boy, without a doubt
Have to quit your mess and straighten out
You could die down here, be just another accident statistic”
There’s a slow, slow train comin’ up around the bend
All that foreign oil controlling American soil
Look around you, it’s just bound to make you embarrassed
Sheiks walkin’ around like kings
Wearing fancy jewels and nose rings
Deciding America’s future from Amsterdam and to Paris
And there’s a slow, slow train comin’ up around the bend
Man’s ego is inflated, his laws are outdated, they don’t apply no more
You can’t rely no more to be standin’ around waitin'
In the home of the brave
Jefferson turnin’ over in his grave
Fools glorifying themselves, trying to manipulate Satan
And there’s a slow, slow train comin’ up around the bend
Big-time negotiators, false healers and woman haters
Masters of the bluff and masters of the proposition
But the enemy I see
Wears a cloak of decency
All nonbelievers and men stealers talkin’ in the name of religion
And there’s a slow, slow train comin’ up around the bend
People starving and thirsting, grain elevators are bursting
Oh, you know it costs more to store the food than it do to give it
They say lose your inhibitions
Follow your own ambitions
They talk about a life of brotherly love show me someone who knows how to live it
There’s a slow, slow train comin’ up around the bend
Well, my baby went to Illinois with some bad-talkin’ boy she could destroy
A real suicide case, but there was nothin’ I could do to stop it
I don’t care about economy
I don’t care about astronomy
But it sure do bother me to see my loved ones turning into puppets
There’s a slow, slow train comin’ up around the bendI could see this coming back to the setlist to the tune of High Water. F*ck Hurricane, this is Dylan's Masters of War for the 1970s and the degenerate age...in John Wesley Harding, Dylan makes the case to look to the bible for comfort, insight, and support - in Slow Train Coming, he suggests arming for battle with it in hand.
Gonna Change My Way of ThinkingPositively 4th street for a new generation of nay sayers. It comes off as a little self-indulgent on this version I think, and unambitious. The revised lyric of the modern version and changed perspective of the singer seeming more third person (distanced from Dylan the person) compared to the first person boots he's wearing here, have certainly strengthened the song. And its message is that much more foreboding. It's hard to think of this as anything but thin in comparison, down to the guitar solo. But overall not bad.
I just began wondering if I've heard any harmonica this album yet...I'll have to check my notes.
Do Right To Me Baby (Do Unto Others)My first favorite underdog/obscure/under-appreciated track of the album! Sounds great. Marching/traversing drum and bass rhythm that reminds me of the political ballads of Oh Mercy. Great singing - really occupying and exploring the new voice here. Smart lyrics - incorporating love into his new world view, a mandatory move for each album, and some fine piercing Dylan humor to boot (
Don’t wanna marry nobody if they’re already married 
). I like it, and you can't do anything about it.
When you Gonna Wake Up More of the same things expressed about
Do Right To Me Baby. Love the horns and the organ. Not missing the harmonica anymore. Nearly one of my favorite phrases set to meter:
Karl Marx has got ya by the throat, Henry Kissinger’s got you tied up in knots.. Enough of the 60s analogies, I know, but this song is his Ballad of a Thin Man. Who knew that the answer when something is happening that you don't understand would be to follow the light of the Lord?? Dylan is nothing if not unpredictable...
Man Gave Names to all the AnimalsOh, so the master wordsmith can also be humorous and light-spirited? Noted. Definitely in his top three reggae efforts.
When He ReturnsSets up
Saved pretty seamlessly, doesn't it? A few too many pinchy notes for my tastes. Probably some great versions out there live I'd imagine. Whelp, he's certainly not singing to
Sara any longer !
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