Various
Bob Dylan In The ’80s, Vol. One
ATO 0224

www.80sdylan.com
 

Bob Dylan’s work in the 1980s beginning with his Christian albums Saved and A Shot of Love have received plenty of scorn and disrespect over the years – and not all of it undeserved. When those two albums came out I could barely stand to deal with them even if I did recognize some real good stuff surrounded by other stuff I really found repellant. The rest of the decade included Infidels and Empire Burlesque, the unaccountably shoddy patchworks Knocked Out Loaded and Down in the Groove and the triumphant return to brilliance of Oh Mercy and the perplexing Under the Red Sky. The period is way overdue for reassessment.

This 17 song collection is an excellent start at that reassessment even if it is by nature quite uneven. In one case it is positively baffling as Marco Benvento’s take of “Every Grain of Sand” is instrumental utterly eschewing one of Dylan’s best spiritual lyrics (make that one of Dylan’s best lyrics PERIOD!) of the period. Maybe Volume Two will have a vocal version. Another oddity is in Jonathan Letham’s fine and helpful liner notes there’s a paragraph in which he cites 18 songs he considers period highlights – and only three of these show up on the album which I take as am mandate to proceed with Volume Two as soon as possible.

Some highlights of Volume One are Craig Finn’s “Sweetheart Like You,” “Pressing On by Glen Hansard (best known for the film Once), the Dawn Landis & Bonnie “Prince” Billie take of “Dark Eyes,” Yellowbird’s “Series of Dreams,” Hannah Cohen’s “Covenant Woman” and the rocking Lucius take of “When The Night Comes Falling From the Sky.” Most of the versions of “lesser” songs are revelatory and convincing as well.

Bob Dylan in the ’80s: Volume One isn’t perfect, but it is compelling as it makes a strong case for the value of Bob Dylan’s “lost decade” as something way less lost and way more studded with gems than usually assumed.

— Michael Tearson