Portrait of the artist as not such a young man (1981)

There has been a thread of conscience and morality in Dylan's songs since the beginning.

With deep gratitude and thanks to one of Peter’s closest friends, Seth Kulick, for unearthing this lost review of Shot of Love by Peter, published originally in Electricity.

Bob Dylan, at the very least a great American legend, is not exactly the most popular rock artist on the block these days. Faced with an audience confused and betrayed by his embrace of Christianity two years ago, he is now in the midst of his first major national tour in three years which brings him to the Spectrum this Friday, October 23rd. It is likely that Dylan will perform more than a few tunes from his latest record, though one can never say for sure.

Though critics are outraged, and radio has ignored his past three albums with the exception of the hit single, "Gotta Serve Somebody," the man who literally changed the face of pop music and is an easy contender for most important songwriter of the century, is singing better than ever, playing with more skill, depth and clarity, and performing some of the hardest rock 'n' roll of his career.

The fact that Dylan returned to straight ahead rock 'n' roll about the same time he found Christ is an ironic twist of fate, especially for the fans who have waited since Blonde On Blonde for him to resume rocking.

Controversial and unpredictable, Dylan has always been an artist on the run, never content to even try the same thing twice, including the voice with which he sings. Critics angered by his fleeting use of the recording studio and his insistence that his records be merely a reflection of how he happened to sing those songs at that time have mistaken his sponta- neity for carelessness and his artistry with his myth. As he wrote in "Idiot Wind": "Their minds are filled with big ideas, Images and distorted facts."

A reluctant popstar whose personal life is still pretty much of a secret, Dylan is primarily a poet working in a musical medium, an ancient tradition, as pointed out in Michael Gray's excellent new book, The Art of Bob Dylan (St. Martin's Press). Dylan's body of work is a brilliant study of a contemporary artist in progression. What sets Dylan apart is his awareness of the heart of where his music comes from. There is no other performer who can both write and sing blues, country, folk and rock with equal authority and passion, blending them into one masterful style while expanding them and any conceptions anyone might have had about these styles with a dynamic intensity matched only by a few.