Slow Train Coming is Bob Dylan’s 19th studio album, released on August 20, 1979. It reached #3 on the Billboard 200 Top LP’s chart, and #2 on the UK Albums chart. It was listed at #16 in the 2001 book CCM Presents: The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music. The album was generally well-reviewed in the secular press, and the single “Gotta Serve Somebody” became his first hit in three years, winning Dylan the Grammy for best rock vocal performance by a male in 1980.
It was Dylan’s first effort since becoming a born-again Christian, and all of the songs either express his strong personal faith, or stress the importance of Christian teachings and philosophy. The evangelical nature of the record alienated many of Dylan’s existing fans; at the same time, many Christians were drawn into his fan base.
Before the album was completed, Patty Valentine had brought a defamation-of-character suit against Dylan, regarding the song “Hurricane” from Desire; on May 22, while giving a pre-trial deposition in his defense, Dylan was asked about his wealth. “You mean my treasure on earth?” replied Dylan. He was asked about the identity of the ‘fool’ in “Hurricane.” Dylan said the ‘fool’ was “whoever Satan gave power to…whoever was blind to the truth and was living by his own truth.” Five days later, Dylan’s pre-trial statement was reported in The Washington Post, which also interviewed Kenn Gulliksen, who revealed to the paper that Dylan had joined the Vineyard Christian Fellowship.
By June, with the album virtually finished, Dylan gave London’s Capital Radio station an acetate of “Precious Angel,” which premiered on Roger Scott’s afternoon radio show. By July, the album was ready for issue, and pre-release copies of Slow Train Coming circulated through the press. New Musical Express would proclaim “Dylan & God – It’s Official.”
In a year when Van Morrison and Patti Smith released their own spiritual works in Into the Music and Wave, respectively, Dylan’s album seemed vitriolic and bitter in comparison. Critic Charles Shaar Murray wrote, “Bob Dylan has never seemed more perfect and more impressive than on this album. He has also never seemed more unpleasant and hate-filled.” Greil Marcus wrote, “Dylan’s received truths never threaten the unbeliever, they only chill the soul” and accused Dylan of “sell[ing] a prepackaged doctrine he’s received from someone else.” According to Clinton Heylin, “Marcus isolated Slow Train Coming’s greatest flaw, an inevitable by-product of his determination to capture the immediacy of newfound faith in song.”
On October 18, 1979, Dylan promoted the album with his first—and, to date, only—appearance on Saturday Night Live, performing “Gotta Serve Somebody,” “I Believe In You,” and “When You Gonna Wake Up.” Nearly two weeks later, on November 1, Dylan began a lengthy residency at the Fox Warfield Theater in San Francisco, California, playing a total of fourteen dates supported by a large ensemble. It was the beginning of six months of touring North America, performing his new music to believers and his heckling fans alike.
In the meantime, Dylan refused to play any of his older compositions, as well as any secular material. Though Larry Myers had assured Dylan that his old compositions were not sacrilegious, Dylan would say he would not “sing any song which hasn’t been given to me by the Lord to sing.” Fans wishing to hear his older songs openly expressed their disappointment. Hecklers continued to appear at his concerts, only to be answered by lectures from the stage. Dylan was firmly entrenched in his evangelical ways, and it would continue through his next album, whether his audience would follow or not.
TRACKS:
All songs were written by Bob Dylan.
Side one
“Gotta Serve Somebody” – 5:22
“Precious Angel” – 6:27
“I Believe in You” – 5:02
“Slow Train” – 5:55
Side two
“Gonna Change My Way of Thinking” – 5:25
“Do Right to Me Baby (Do Unto Others)” – 3:50
“When You Gonna Wake Up” – 5:25
“Man Gave Names to All the Animals” – 4:23
“When He Returns” – 4:30
