Shot Of Love (1981)

Gee, we're not in a great period when it comes to album covers, are we? Never mind, let's get to the music...

This LP has presented me with a puzzle. An uncomfortable train of thought, if you will. Let's put it like this: If I just listened to the first nine tracks of this ten track album, these would be my thoughts -

****

God, part three. Although, this time, not so much. With the exception of the - no prizes for subtlety here - Property of Jesus, the religious overtones are understated and proselytising barely evident. If it wasn't for the biblical quote on the album sleeve and the fact that Dylan's conversion was a well known and much discussed affair, you be forgiven for missing the religiosity of many of the tracks here; there are just as many biblical references in some of the songs on John Wesley Harding as there are here. As if to emphasise the shift away from Saved style pulpit thumping, we also get the first completely secular song for a while in Lenny Bruce; Dylan's tribute to (lament for?) the eponymous, late, controversialist comedian.

Musically the album is somewhat of a mixed bag but every song is decent enough. Tracks such as Shot Of Love, Property of Jesus, Watered-Down Love and, the reggae influenced, Dead Man, Dead Man are at the lower end of the quality scale but each moves along with a certain verve and pleasant melody. Apart from the opening, title, track (produced by the wonderfully named Bumps Blackwell) - which almost sounds like a live recording - the material is handled consistently skillfully by producer Chuck Plotkin.

The higher spots on the record (in some sort of reverse order) are Heart of Mine, Lenny Bruce, Trouble, In The Summertime and The Groom's Still Waiting At The Altar. Heart of Mine is perhaps a breezy, throwaway, but enjoyable affair, while the others are certainly quality tunes albeit in very different ways. Trouble almost has the feel of mid-period Tom Waits records (and I write as a huge Waits fan) with an angular guitar and pounding beat perfectly framing the rough tone of Dylan's voice. In the Summertime is a understated tune with a beautiful melody in the verse, a contrast to the thoroughly rip-roaring The Groom's Still Waiting At The Altar.

[It should also be noted that the highly-regarded songs Caribbean Wind and Angelina were recorded in the sessions for Shot of Love. I've never been crazy about the former but Angelina is a wonderful song whose omission is perplexing.)

Lenny Bruce is the oddity on the album. A moody lament, it works in a large part because of the force of conviction evident in its writing and delivery. And mostly because it is so damn heartwarming to hear the much idolised Dylan singing about someone he so clearly admires.

However, lyrically, I'm not so convinced. Lenny Bruce provides a exemplar for the reservations I have with the lyrical style of a lot of this LP. Dylan is certainly not at his finest and his use of metaphor often becomes distinctly clunky:

Never robbed any churches nor cut off any babies’ heads
He just took the folks in high places and he shined a light in their beds
He’s on some other shore, he didn’t wanna live anymore

"Cut off any babies' heads"? Really? I'm not sure his writing feels forced or careless, or whether there's meant to be a kind of blunt realism going on but it sits awkwardly on the ear. Similarly, in Heart of Mine, when the refrain goes,

If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime
Heart of mine.

Unless Dylan was the first to coin that, now hackneyed, phrase, that's just lazy.

But, no matter, this might be an LP of highs and lows but, what's pleasing is that the highs are high and the lows aren't that low.

****

Here, though, is the twist. Along comes track ten, Every Grain of Sand, which is a masterpiece. Poetic, gentle, beautiful. So difficult to pick an example but let's go for:

Don’t have the inclination to look back on any mistake
Like Cain, I now behold this chain of events that I must break
In the fury of the moment I can see the Master’s hand
In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand 

Lovely, lovely, lovely. There's nothing more I can say.

So, what's the issue? Well, I'm now not sure if I've been far too generous to the rest of the songs on the album and, indeed, the past three albums. This is Dylan at his best. This is what the man is capable of. Maybe I've started to suffer from diminished-expectations syndrome. I suppose it doesn't really matter, but when you're suddenly reminded of the true heights his song-writing can reach it is such a jolt to realise just how long it has been since we've climbed them.

Out of five?

This is tricky now...err... three and seven-eighths?

Favourite track?

Every Grain of Sand

Next Up?

Infidels