Bob Dylan – Hearts of Fire Review

Flirtations with the big screen were an expectation of musicians as pop relevancy dominated. David Bowie set the standard and those who made the transition from stage to screen could only watch in awe. Bob Dylan has tried and tried again but his awkward candour and fascinating inability to care much for the expectations of those around him make him a poor fit for the screen. But it is this attitude which brought listeners some of the best music around. Hearts of Fire is a forgotten, middle-of-the-road experience. A soundtrack for a movie of the same name, with Fiona and Rupert Everett making up the rest of the tracks within. While the “first-ever musical drama” film may have been an absolute disaster, the Dylan vehicle which “killed Richard Marquand”. 

The movie may have been an alleged contribution to the death of its director, but what of the soundtrack? Contributions from Dylan and company on the accompanying Hearts of Fire album are fascinatingly difficult to find. For a film released in the mid-1980s, when preservation of the arts was improving rapidly, the lack of easily accessed files or playlists for an album featuring Eric Clapton on guitar is peculiar. Was it truly that bad? Would the music drill right into the soft spots of your skull and cause a fatality on listen? Probably not. Knocked Out Loaded did not have this effect, not quite. A lack of box office success and a failure to release these tracks outside of Hearts of Fire makes it quite the collector’s item, but in an age of streaming and immediate access, we can expect easier ways of listening.  

No such luck. Piecing it together through a series of YouTube clips and songs is the best way to go. A title track from Fiona is an eye-opening experience. This is what boardroom members think rock music is. The Bon Jovi glam style, the empty, weightless flow and screech of Journey. Jagged guitar work on a heartland rock-adjacent experience. The Usual marks Dylan’s first rocked-out Hearts of Fire work. It is awful. Just horrid. A jumbled guitar-led piece which defines the decade for Dylan. Sloppy work and strained vocals pair with uninspired lyrics which play up his image, rather than his intimacies. Brutal listening which feels like a jagged way to bring someone crashing down to reality. As Good as I Been to You was just around the corner, hold firm for it.  

Generic sounds of the mid-1980s left out in the sun and rotting away, are revived by Dylan and the gang. I’m in it for Love is a snooze-inducing occasion while the death rattle of Dylan’s Had a Dream About You Last Night, Baby is an egregious experience. Rupert Everett provides a haunting cover of Soft Cell with Tainted Love, a completely barren experience. But it is expected of Hearts of Fire, an album as disastrous as the movie associated with it. One of the worst listening opportunities out there if you can piece together all the clips on YouTube, and Dylan is a main player in it. He instigates an awful series of tracks and covers for the sake of massaging this rockstar appearance which he would ditch shortly after this release. Perhaps this album served as a sobering clarity of his strengths and weaknesses. It certainly does for listeners. Once the goodwill of the first few songs dissipates, nothing but rotten and unfocused instrumental static remains.  

Had a Dream About You, Baby would be revived on the extended editions of Down in the Groove but Night after Night would be removed from public display. It is a song seemingly forgotten. Left behind by the endless bootleggers and brave souls wandering the streets, looking for new flashes of Dylan’s discography additions. All you can do is pray a record store near your home is nice enough to lend you a strangely printed copy of the album so you can hear the song. It is nothing special. More of the Empire Burlesque horrors which hear Dylan try and fail to adapt with the times. If you must hear it, a record is the only way to go. It remains mysteriously absent from the streaming services. Though, given the quality of this album, it may seem all too clear why it is nowhere to be found.