Taking his morality and faith into his own hands, the work Bob Dylan provided after his great Hurricane saw a clear and obvious shift in tone. Gone were the rambling, free-wheeling days of an acoustic genius or an electric trendsetter. In came the struggles and challenges of faith, and they are represented with firm belief and confidence on Slow Train Coming. Just a year after the ill-forgotten and underrated Street Legal comes a series of rather obvious musings on personal faith and the touching effect it has on the music of Dylan. The voice of a generation turned to the gospel and became a propagator of the good book, and the changes made to his albums are unique, interesting and far removed from his finest work.
Slow Train Coming is a nice cap to the 1970s and the tumultuous period they had provided for Dylan. His reinvention as an artist was confirmed by that point, and this pop-reggae gospel piece is as charming as expected. Opening track Gotta Serve Somebody is both engaging and touching because it is a true belief and faith that Dylan puts on the line. His change of pace came with additions of Dylan’s born-again Christianity and reservations from lead guitarist Mark Knopfler. It is a bitter album. A good one, but a bitter one too. One that laments the past and the newfound faith at a time when other artists were lamenting the positive changes the good book had made.
Indifference aside from Dylan at times on these tracks, especially the unnoteworthy When You Wake Up or the on-the-nose leniency needed to enjoy Do Right to Me Baby (Do Unto Others), there are enjoyable lyrical pieces. Album closer When He Returns holds an enviably strong rhyming structure that brings lyrics of narrow arrows and whether Dylan can cast aside his loyalty and pride for his rebirth. It is a wonderful dialogue for Dylan to mull over, and he does so with the usual truth and beauty found in his lyrics. It is too farfetched to imply that when “He” returns is related to when Dylan would return, but he would return with Saved and that would hammer home this new era of God-loving lyricisms. Regardless of the quality that would follow, Slow Train Coming marks a turning point for Dylan that can be enjoyed by listeners irrespective of whether they believe.
Faithful truth and comfortable lyricisms make for a breath of fresh air for Dylan, whose work provides clarity to his thought process. There is little in the way of career musings, but he may want to put it all behind him. To move forth as an artist reflecting not on the songs of old, but on the life ahead. Don’t look back. Like it or loathe it, Slow Train Coming marked the next era for Dylan’s work. Knopfler cuts through with biting and encroaching guitar work – just listen to Slow Train and its short introduction for proof of what Slow Train Coming can do. Not the lyrical testament Dylan would craft in his early years, but an offering to a newfound faith, and it is hard to knock such efforts when they sound quite solid.
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