Maps of Music

Slow Train Coming (1979)

Where the lyrics of Slow Train Coming take you, and where it was really made.

Dylan's first album after his conversion to Christianity was built on songs about faith, and many of his own fans walked away from it.

Key places

Muscle Shoals Sound Studio sessions (1979)

Recording site Muscle Shoals Sound Studio — Sessions for the album were held in Alabama, and the personnel credits list Muscle Shoals Sound Studio for horns. This point marks the studio named in the record's credits. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Slow Train Coming: nineteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan
• Released August 20, 1979, by Columbia Records
• First album by Dylan following his conversion to Christianity
• Songs either express personal faith or stress the importance of Christian teachings and philosophy
• The evangelical nature of the record alienated many existing fans, while many Christians were drawn into his fan base
• Listed at No. 16 in the 2001 book CCM Presents: The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music

Background

• By November 1978, Dylan had received some of the worst reviews of his career
• Renaldo and Clara premiered in late January; Street-Legal was also received poorly by most American critics
• On November 17, 1978 in San Diego, a silver cross was thrown on stage during the show
• Dylan later said he believed he had experienced a vision of Christ in his Tucson hotel room
• Band members Steven Soles and David Mansfield had already joined the Vineyard Fellowship
• Dylan took a Bible course at the Vineyard School of Discipleship, which ran four days a week over three months
• Hints of his new faith appeared on stage, with the lyrics of "Tangled Up in Blue" replaced by Bible references

Recording

• Dylan approached Mark Knopfler after a Dire Straits show at the Roxy on March 29, 1979, asking him to play on the next album
• Jerry Wexler was asked to produce the sessions
• Sessions were held in Alabama; the first session on April 30 proved to be very difficult
• The basic tracks for the remaining ten songs were recorded in six three-hour sessions over three days
• The final song recorded was "When He Returns"
• Wexler persuaded Dylan to hold off on vocals until the arrangements were in shape

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota; raised in Hibbing, Minnesota.
• Moved to New York City in January 1961 to pursue a music career.
• Signed to Columbia Records after playing harmonica on Carolyn Hester's album; debut album Bob Dylan released in 1962.

Members

• Solo artist; backed over the years by bands including the Hawks/the Band, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and his touring band led by bassist Tony Garnier.

Career

• Breakthrough with The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963); protest songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" became anthems for the civil rights and antiwar movements.
• Went electric with Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited (1965) and Blonde on Blonde (1966), provoking controversy among folk fans.
• Motorcycle accident in 1966 led to nearly eight years without touring; Basement Tapes recorded with the Band.
• Converted to Christianity in the late 1970s and released gospel albums; won Album of the Year Grammy for Time Out of Mind (1997).
• Has toured since 1988 on the Never Ending Tour; won an Academy Award and ten Grammy Awards; awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Album generally well-reviewed by music critics
• Charles Shaar Murray wrote that Dylan had never seemed more perfect and impressive, and also more unpleasant and hate-filled
• Greil Marcus wrote that Dylan's received truths never threaten the unbeliever, and accused him of selling a prepackaged doctrine
• Robert Christgau graded the album B+, calling it Dylan's best since Blood on the Tracks
• Jann Wenner in Rolling Stone proclaimed it one of the finest records Dylan has ever made
• Ann Druyan in Rolling Stone said Dylan had turned away and looked for an easy explanation
• New Musical Express proclaimed "Dylan & God – It's Official"

Reappraisal

• Clinton Heylin wrote that Marcus isolated the album's greatest flaw, an inevitable by-product of capturing the immediacy of newfound faith in song
• Nick Cave named Slow Train Coming as his favourite album, calling it a genuinely nasty record and the nastiest Christian album he had come across

Records

• UK chart peak No. 2
• US chart peak No. 3, platinum certification
• "Gotta Serve Somebody" became his first hit in three years and won the inaugural Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance in 1980
• "Gotta Serve Somebody" reached the US Top 30
• Album outsold Blood on the Tracks and Blonde on Blonde in its first year despite missing the top of the charts
• Placed No. 38 on The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop Critics Poll for 1979

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Dylan performed on Saturday Night Live on October 20, 1979, his first and, to date, only appearance on the show
• The silver cross thrown on stage in San Diego was carried by Dylan to the next town, which was out in Arizona
• "Trouble in Mind" was issued as a B-side in 1979 and on the compilation Pure Dylan in 2011
• "Ye Shall Be Changed" appeared on The Bootleg Series Vol 1–3
• A high-definition 5.1 surround sound edition was released on SACD by Columbia in 2003

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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