BOB DYLAN: SAVED (1980)
1) A Satisfied Mind; 2) Saved;
3) Covenant Woman; 4) What Can I Do For You?; 5) Solid Rock; 6) Pressing On; 7)
In The Garden; 8) Saving Grace; 9) Are You Ready.
In the thrilling, hook-filled,
popcorn-blockbuster-size Saga of Bob Dylan, Saved holds a special place. As an autonomous album of the gospel
persuasion, I would not dare recommend it even to a diehard Christian
(although, it is true, quite a few diehard Christians have used it as a pretext
to show how even the greatest of the «youth rebels» eventually come to terms
with God, suitably omitting the last
thirty years of Mr. Zimmerman's career). As a separate chapter in the life of
Bob Dylan, the self-experimenter, it has its fascinating points.
At some moment in time, Dylan must have
understood, or perhaps some of his newly found religious friends made him
understand, that Slow Train Coming
did not solve his problem — that it was a Christian album in name, but a Dylan
album at heart. If the true Christian ideal be about «losing yourself in
Christ», then Slow Train certainly
showed none of that. ʽI Believe In Youʼ, yes, but that wasn't enough — too much
of it still sounded like the same old angry Dylan, blasting off firecrackers in
Old Testament rather than New Testament mode: too much bitterness and fury, not
enough love, too much of an opposition between ʽmeʼ and ʽthemʼ, not enough
unity between ʽmeʼ and ʽHimʼ. Basically, what the man really needed was to make
an album that would be as non-Dylan as possible: only then would the initiation
be complete.
From that point of view, Saved is a tremendous success. Bob retains Wexler and Barry Beckett
as co-producers, but dismisses Knopfler (who probably would have even less
interest playing on a full-scale gospel record than on Slow Train) and allows none of his backing players to show any
signs of ardent individuality. No less than four ladies on backing vocals now
form a strong gospel choir, present and active on most of the songs — and each
and every song is about Jesus, usually from a personal (ʽme and Himʼ) rather
than universal (ʽHim and the worldʼ) perspective, although ʽIn The Gardenʼ does
stress the issue of a general lack of faith, be it then or now.
Consequently and inevitably, Saved is the «worst» Dylan album up to
that point — because it simply does not strive to be a «Dylan album», quite
intentionally so. One could wonder what it is that actually makes it so much
worse than, say, Self Portrait,
another quintessential «demolition of image» record — but, all reservations
made, Self Portrait was very much a
Dylan album, if only because it made so many unpredictable twists and took so
many risky chances. Saved, however,
is built entirely upon the premise that one does not fool around with Him; one merely acknowledges one's own
insignificance in His presence. "You have given everything to me / What
can I do for You?... You have laid down your life for me / What can I do for
You?"
«...well, how about it, Bob — I have laid down
My life for you, and the natural thing for you to do in return is to record a
generally boring, if sincere-sounding, album of generic gospel tunes, put it on
the market and leave the rest to me; I can guarantee you that it will hit No. 3
on the UK charts, although I am not so sure about American sales — these
suckers may worship me more ardently than UK people, but they are simply not
used to buying Christian albums from Minnesotan Jews, you know, so I cannot
guarantee anything higher than No. 24. Yet do not worry: between the two of us,
our mutual brand will always be failproof. At least we have better taste than
Jerry Falwell...»
Petty blasphemy aside, Dylan obviously did not
do this album for the money, but, like most «Christian rock», it shares the same
problems — too much formulaic preaching, too little artistic value. Of the
«gospel rockers», there is not a single song that has even a single merit over
the predictable «well, they got a tight, professional band carrying the
groove». Of the «gospel soulsters», I can only name the inspiring harmonica
breaks in ʽWhat Can I Do For You?ʼ (first time in ages Bob blows his instrument
with such tremendous verve, as if Jesus' very resurrection depended on the wave
amplitude), and ʽIn The Gardenʼ actually has real tension and a suspenseful
buildup, with some inventive bass work from Tim Drummond. These moments are
rare, but important: they show that some
creativity was involved and that, even when Dylan is consciously striving to
make the blandest album ever recorded, he still tends to slip into experimental
mode every now and then. Talent is hard to bury.
On the other hand, one must admit that he
almost ends up blowing his cover with a song like ʽCovenant Womanʼ — if you are
a responsible Christian, you will surely blush at the ambiguousness of such
lyrics as "Covenant woman / Intimate little girl / Who knows those most
secret things of me / That are hidden from the world". Is that what he means by the earlier line
"way up yonder, great will be your reward"? I don't know — I'm a big
Dylan admirer, and even I don't care much about knowing the most secret things
of him that are hidden from the world, much less a «covenant woman», who seems
to be forming a suspicious threesome here, dividing her attention between the
protagonist and the Lord. Altogether, a very confusing song — one on which Bob
tried a different lyrical approach, and ended up with a whirlygig of sincerity,
silliness, and parody, probably without meaning it.
But on the whole, there is no intrigue to Saved. Its objective was to erase
personality, and for the most part, it succeeds. As a historical curio — a
de-characterized album from one of the strongest characters in art history — it
deserves to be heard once, but, unlike the beginning and the end of Bob's
«Christian trilogy», it has never held any replay value for me. Rumor has it
that Bob was seriously bent on proselytizing at the time (even trying to
convert Jerry Wexler), but Slow Train
Coming, with its anti-sinner agenda and Knopfler guitar, went way farther
in converting me than this bland, boringly prescribed prostration before Jesus.
I have no interest in doubting Bob's sincerity, or denying the «point» of Saved — I just do not see why this
point had to be carried in music stores and bear a price tag. It may well be
that Christianity helped pull Bob out of his crisis, restore him to sanity,
save him from drugs / alcohol / suicide, etc., and that Saved was his honest «thank you». But even if it really was like
that, truly, it's all between those two guys — one here on Earth, the other one
there in singularity. I don't wanna be a part of it. Are you ready for the saving grace? Then press on to the solid rock.
What can I do for you, Mr. Zimmerman?
Only show my sincerity in giving Saved
a thumbs down
— first one in Dylan history. If it is not a failure, it is an insult. If it is
not an insult, it is a failure.
Check "Saved" (CD) on Amazon
I couldn't disagree more, and I'm no evangelical Protestant. It appears to me to be the greatest gospel album in the whole genre. I put it in the top ten of all Dylan albums. When you stop laughing at that statement, why not give it another listen and see the unified whole for what it is: tight, powerful, sincere praise music delivered by the greatest musical genius there has been.
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