Expecting Rain

What are the top three tracks on Shot of Love?

I had been refraining from giving the album a chance, but recently I gave it a listen, and thought it was much better than the reputation it gets. It's not as polished as Slow Train Coming, but overall catchier than that, and has more variety in the type of music.

My top three are:
Heart of Mine: Pretty smooth stuff, and I really dig the 'don't let her know' part.
Property of Jesus: Bob obviously put much powerfulness in this song.
Every Grain of Sand: Beautiful. The best song and performance on the album.

I was tempted to not vote for 'Every Grain of Sand' because his vocal on it so horri-bad, but in the end I caved since it's such a great composition (amazing harmonica, too). I dig 'Heart of Mine' and 'In the Summertime' also, though the title song is pretty cool.

Wellll...the new live version is worse - on SoL at least he's attempting the right notes

Difficult choice, but I went with your 3.

Property of Jesus / Groom / Every Grain.

If live versions were included I would pick Dead Man and Heart of Mine over Property of Jesus.

Honorable mention: Lenny Bruce tends to be hated by everyone, but the live version in 1986 with the Heartbreakers Bob knocks it out of the park! Powerful last couple verses!

You could argue that there are only three really good songs on Shot Of Love. I love the Biograph version of Heart Of Mine, but not this one. Property Of Jesus and Lenny Bruce have never really bothered me like they seem to annoy others. But the title track and The Groom's Still Waiting at The Altar are fabulous; and Every Grain Of Sand is, quite simply, one of his greatest works - and this is the defining version. Apparently REM were fans; hence their borrowing of the intro for Everybody Hurts.

Top 3
Every grain of sand (5/5)
Groom still waiting at the altar (4/5)
In the summertime (4/5)

Then:
Heart of mine (4/5)
Water downed love(3/5)
Shot of love(3/5)
Property of Jesus (3/5)
Lenny Bruce (2/5)
Dead man dead man (2/5)
Trouble (2/5)
In that order

I don´t get the excitement about Groom. To me it doesn´t have a lot to offer musically.

Though I didnt select it in my top 3, I much prefer the lively Watered down love, which has only one vote so far

This is a really good album IMO, I like most of the songs which is rare for me on a post-'70s Dylan album.

I like it when Bob does pop songs so I went for Heart of Mine, Property of Jesus and Watered-Down Love

Here's a great song that I'm sure was inspired by Property of Jesus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9bbeFkl_IU

Sand, Summertime & Jesus

Shot of love is my fave from this album following Dead man and Every grain of sand, indeed, a fantstic peace of music.

I also want with Grain, Heart, and Property. Summertime would quickly follow, and I'm glad that I was able to hear it live in 2002....grave

I voted for Lenny Bruce only.

Every Grain of Sand is a nice song. The Groom's Still Waiting At The Altar is okay.

Oh boy, I love this record. That said, the primary stone-cold classics from it are "Shot of Love," "Groom's Still Waiting At The Altar" and "Every Grain of Sand." The performances that made the record are, considering the circulating/released outtakes, still my favorite studio versions of these three songs too! A rare occasion. That said, I like the rest of the album too, even if the outtake of "Dead Man Dead Man" and "Heart of Mine" are better than the album takes, "Lenny Bruce" is middling, and other excellent songs like "You Changed My Life," "Angelina" and "Caribbean Wind" were excluded.

"The Gloom's Still Waiting at the Alter" - didn´t the late Bennyboy cover that on one of his sing-a-long tapes?

I have the album right here, and there is no song called "The Gloom's Still Waiting at the Alter." As a matter of fact, there's no song called "The Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar" either. I bought this record myself with my allowance the year it came out, and that song's not on there. Heresy.
Heart of Mine is on there. Every Grain of Sand is also on there. Two really great songs.
Now, to be completely hypocritical, I voted for Watered-Down Love because the version on the Between Saved and Shot bootleg is so terrific, I've pretty much forgotten what the original sounds like. Guess I must be an Infidel.

Trickier than I thought it'd be. Every Grain of Sand for sure, too lovely not to pick. In the Summertime is a great song, I think it's very underrated. I would say "Grooms Still Waiting.." as the third, that one knocked me down when I first heard it. I like Heart of Mine too, though. If we were talking live renditions of this song, I might've went with Heart of Mine. That Biography version is great, the album version is still good but a little flat in comparison.



Me too!

Every Grain of Sand,Heart of Mine, In the Summertime

Of course this list would look different if some of the outtakes had been included on the album.

Nailed it. As usual!

Wow, silly mistake. Sorry.


Right. It wasn't on the initial edition of the album. I hope catchier songs like You Changed My Life and Caribbean Wind would make it instead, since the Side 2 is already really heavy on blues. (I know it was on the Side B of a single, but...)