Cow Slain Troming
Overall Album Score: 8.4 out of 10 Bob Dylan sees the light! Sometime after releasing Street Legal, Dylan became a Christian and so begins an unexpected new era in his recording career: the holy trilogy of Christian albums. Major rock stars turning Christian are kind of a rare event. Although, I'd call Alice Cooper's conversion more unexpected than Bob Dylan (...isn't Cooper the guy who directly influenced Marilyn Manson and his dismal Anti-Christ Superstar act?) Anyway, Bob Dylan took the Christian leap and decided to dedicate his next album to the faith. (It's been debated whether Dylan is still a Christian. He did stop recording Christian music after his next two albums ... after all, if Dylan really embraced Christianity in 1978, it's not likely that he would have given it up since then.) Anyway, I don't want to spend the whole review by discussing Dylan's Christianity! I want to talk about the muuuuuuusic! This music is actually pretty good if you are willing to forgive the lyrics. The lyrics focus on very simple Christian messages that those who attended church their whole life have probably heard eight bazillion times. On that same note, however, I wouldn't characterize these songs as being groan-inducingly preachy. (That's easy for me to say, though, since I am a Christian.) They're autobiographical in nature, touching on subjects such as spiritual warfare, religious persecution (in contemporary America), serving God ... all sorts of cool stuff like that. And I say these songs are pretty darn good. It continues on Dylan's excursion with pop music that he started in 1976 with Desire. This time, though, the songs are more centered on neat grooves and stuff. Most of them are quite catchy. Ones that don't have a catchy melody have too much sincerity for me to really hate them. So Slow Train Coming was a good album ... especially after that relatively dismal Street Legal. Overall Album Score: 8.4 out of 10 (This certainly doesn't measure up to Dylan's classics ... duuuh ... but it was a pretty good effort just the same. It's a good album with plenty of enjoyable grooves and tunes thrown in.) Average Song Score: 8.7 (This is a bunch of pleasant tunes! And I welcome them in face of Street Legal!) Album Tilt: 8.5 (This album is a pretty good tribute to Dylan's conversion to Christianity. It ain't priceless, though.) Artist Rating: 8.0 (I doubt experienced Christians would find this album insightful. Although, it does explain some of the fundamentals of Christianity, so maybe it would be more useful for beginner Christians or curious non-Christians. Granted, this album probably won't inspire you to pick up the faith.) Track Reviews Gotta Serve Somebody 9/10 Check out this niiiice groove! This is a fun little ditty to listen to, you know. The melody is catchy, and it's done with enough attitude to make it interesting. The lyrics, of course, deal with Christianity and a common sermon by many pastors ... Dylan still isn't up to the same sort of lyrical mystic or power that he was up to back in the 60s, but this is a Christian album! Although, even though I am a Christian myself, I can't say that these lyrics strike me as powerful. Precious Angel 9.5/10 IF NOT FOR YOU! BABY I COULDN'T EVEN FIND THE DOOR!!! ... Oh, er, sorry ... but this one starts very similarly to "If Not For You" from New Morning. Just the same, "Precious Angel" is a pleasant song that illustrates the fundamentals of spiritual warfare. Glad to know even Dylan has trouble with that. I Believe in You 7.5/10 This might have been touching, but it's not really. It's a song that illustrates religious persecution in the free world. The melody really isn't strong enough nor is there an interesting-enough of a riff for me to particularly like this one. Just the same, it's listenable. The melody might not be among the guy's best, and so it remains merely all right. Slow Train 9.5/10 Boy ... this is a good song ... a very good song, in fact. But it's not *quite* a 10. I almost gave it a 10, though. It's fantastically performed, the tune is good, and it's entirely enjoyable. And I do like it! (Yay!) Oh. And this song is about the nation/world going to heck in a handcart. This is another common church sermon. Gonna Change My Way of Thinking 8.5/10 This one's about changing your attitude to better follow God. This song is a pretty good one, too. It has a nice groove, even though it's more stodgy than most of the other grooves on the album. Just the same, it is enjoyable. Do Right to Me, Baby (Do Unto Others) 8/10 This isn't badly written at all. It's just a little bit boring. Zzzzzzzzzz... And the subject matter is very preachy! ... Although, it's a simple sermon, so I guess nobody ought to find this groan inducing. When You Gonna Wake Up 8.5/10 Another fine little groove! This song asks non-believers 'when they're gonna wake up.' This is another fun song to listen to. Man Gave Names to All the Animals 9.5/10 This is certainly an enjoyable song, and its subject matter is less relevant than anything else on the album. It pays tribute to the Book of Genesis when ... ahem ... man gave names to all the animals. This is an enjoyable one with a Jewish-sounding melody and some nice instrumentals. When He Returns 8/10 This is just Dylan singing to a piano. It's touching sorta ... it needed more production! Dylan and his voice have a hard time of carrying through a song when it only has a piano to back it up. At least it's sincere, though it isn't one of the album's defining moments. It's the album's *last* moment, however. Don't be like a slow train coming! Quickly, leave a comment about this album here! |
All reviews are copyrighted by the author, Michael Lawrence. He can spell.
