Bob Dylan
Trouble No More-The Bootleg Series Vol.13 1979-1981

Studying the work of Nobel laureate Bob Dylan, one comes across certain periods that leave one amazed, if not sometimes puzzled, by the musical and thematic choices followed. There was the electric turn, the country period, and toward the end of the '70s, perhaps the most interlocutory of all: the evangelical turn. The Christian trilogy that Dylan develops between '79 and '81 is, for many critics, a phase to approach with caution, if not to reject entirely, too verbose and too religious. The Dylan reborn to a new life after meeting Jesus in a hotel room always made many people frown, but of those three chapters, and the sea of unreleased material related to them, everything must be recovered today for historical duty and more. The author himself understood this and has recently published a 9-disc box set containing unreleased material and live performances unearthed from that period; if one doesn't want to dive that deep, the base version of just live performances in a two-disc set of volume thirteen of the always interesting bootleg series will suffice. The Dylan depicted here is the gospel, religious, and biblical one from "Slow Train Coming," "Saved," and "Shot of Love" on tour with an always interesting band (Jim Keltner and Al Kooper, to name just two) plus the infamous black choir that caused such amazement at the time. No historical songs were performed in the early tours, just some allowances in 1981 after the heavy criticism received from the public. But the most genuine, and also the most confident, Dylan is fully found in all the tracks of these two discs where the versions of the pieces never deviate much from the originals but gain in religious and rock warmth. Because it must be said, the deep Christian lyrics are fine, but the music is all there and always enticing, as is Bob's singing even in smoother pieces like "Saved" and the not-so-memorable "Solid Rock". But the beautiful "Covenant Woman", the eternal "In the Garden", and the profound "Every Grain of Sand" are magnificent pieces whose value goes beyond the purely thematic. The Christian trilogy can then be rediscovered, with lyrics and notes at hand, and enjoyed by savoring these sparkling live versions while waiting for the next chapter of the series.