crocadee wrote:
The lyrics are extremely skilful even if the message doesn't always resonate! And Man Gave Names is a great Children's song.
I don't think the lyrics on Slow Train Coming are 'skilful' in any meaningful way - many of the songs are basically lists, which are by far the easiest kind of song to write. He may have found some personal inspiration in God, but it didn't do much for his lyrical ability at this point, even the rhyming dictionary given to him by McGuinn would have been unnecessary to come up with most of the tripe on that album - not to say it can't be enjoyable; I do like 'God Gave Names....', but it is hardly one of his greatest songs. Given that, performance and production are all that's left, and they alone do not make a good record. The fact that is was one of his biggest sellers speaks volumes for the masses desire to consume mediocrity. Even Bob admitted he had tried to sweeten what he thought might be a bitter pill for his listeners to swallow - but the brow-beating 'Christian message' is, ultimately, not so much challenging as it is boring and outmoded.
Fallen Shadows - pah, not worth discussing in the same breath as........
Modern Times. Maybe not a masterpiece, and why should anybody expect one? Still, it's an album with some great and enduring songs, and here at least he is using writing techniques that go way beyond list-making and actually require skill and a depth of knowledge to create, and literary insight to fully appreciate, though like any popular music should it also works on a level of simple rhythmic enjoyment. Has to be the vinyl version though.