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Shot Of Love (1981)
(10 votes)
Tracks (Click song title for lyrics)
Album Info
***"I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." -- Matthew 11:25
Bob Dylan -- Guitar, Vocals, Piano, Harmonica, Percussion
Jim Keltner -- Drums
Tim Drummond -- Bass
Fred Tackett -- Guitar
Backing Vocals -- Clydie King, Regina McCrary, Carolyn Dennis, Madelyn Quebec
With: Steve Ripley -- Guitar
Carl Pickhardt -- Piano
Benmont Tench -- Keyboards
Steve Douglas -- Saxophone
And: Danny Kortchmar -- Electric Guitar
Plus: WM "Smitty" Smith -- Organ
Ringo Starr -- Drums, Tom Tom
Donald "Duck" Dunn -- Bass
Ron Wood -- Guitar On "Heart Of Mine"
Engineered by Toby Scott
Assistant Engineer -- Dana Bisbee
Recording Supervisor -- Arthur Rosato
Production Coordinator -- Debbie Gold
Administrative Coordination -- Naomi Saltzman, Barbovea Moldt
Recorded At Clover Recorders except "Shot of Love" recorded on location at Peacock Records Studios
Mastered by Ken Perry at Capitol
Album Cover Art -- Pearl Beach
Thanks to -- Don Williams, Paul Bolland
Special Thanks to -- David Geffen
Shot Of Love
Vocals -- Bob and Clydie
Drums -- Jim Keltner
Bass -- Tim Drummond
Rhythm Guitar -- Bob Dylan
2nd Guitar -- Steve Ripley
Lead Guitar -- Danny Kortchmar
Backing Vocals -- Carolyn Dennis, Regina McCrary, Madelyn Quebec
Heart Of Mine
Vocals and Piano -- Bob Dylan
2nd Vocal -- Clydie King
Drums -- Jim Keltner, Chuck Plotkin
Bass -- Donald "Duck" Dunn
Organ -- WM "Smitty" Smith
Guitar -- Ron Wood
Tom Tom -- Ringo Starr
Property Of Jesus
Vocals and Guitar -- Bob Dylan
Drums -- Jim Keltner
Bass -- Tim Drummond
Piano -- Carl Pickhardt
Guitars -- Steve Ripley, Danny Kortchmar
Backing Vocals -- Clydie King, Regina McCrary, Carolyn Dennis, Madelyn Quebec
Lenny Bruce
Piano and Vocals -- Bob
Backing Vocals -- Madelyn, Clydie, Regina, Carolyn
Guitar -- Fred
Bass -- Tim
Organ -- Benmont
Watered-Down Love
Vocals -- Bob and Clydie
Backing Vocals -- Clydie, Regina, Madelyn
Drums -- Jim
Guitars -- Fred Tackett, Danny Kortchmar
Piano -- Benmont Tench
Deadman, Deadman
Vocals and Guitar -- Bob Dylan
2nd Vocal -- Clydie King
Backing Vocals -- Regina McCrary, Carolyn Dennis, Clydie King, Madelyn Quebec
Drums -- Jim Keltner
Bass -- Tim Drummond
Guitars -- Steve Ripley, Fred Tackett
Keyboards -- Carl Pickhardt, Ben Tench
Alto Sax -- Steve Douglas
In The Summertime
Vocals and Harmonica -- Bob Dylan
Drums -- Jim Keltner
Bass -- Tim Drummond
Guitars -- Steve Ripley, Danny Kortchmar
Keyboards -- Benmont Tench
Backing Vocals -- Madelyn Quebec, Regina McCrary, Clydie King
Trouble
Vocals and Guitar -- Bob
Lead Guitar -- Danny
Bass -- Tim
Drums -- Jim
Other Guitar -- Fred
Keyboards -- Benmont
Backing Vocals -- Clydie, Madelyn, Regina, Carolyn
Every Grain Of Sand
Vocals and Harmonica -- Bob
2nd Vocal -- Clydie
Drums -- Jim
Bass -- Tim
Piano -- Carl
Organ -- Benmont
Alto Sax -- Steve Douglas
Backing Vocals -- Madelyn, Carolyn, Regina
Produced By Chuck Plotkin and Bob Dylan
Except "Shot of Love" Produced by Bumps Blackwell, Chuck Plotkin and Bob Dylan
Mastered for compact disc by Vic Anesini at CBS Records Studio, NY
Comments
Another Gem
i love all the songs on this album
Uneven
Every Grain of Sand is likely one of the most beautiful songs ever written. Close to being my favorite Dylan. One thought always pops into my head when you hear a great Dylan song like this: think of how many people haven't even heard it. Anyway, I like most of the album OK, but without this song, it would be a rather ordinary work.
Dave
Most Underrated Album
I agree that this is Dylan's most underrated album. It is easily his best album in the 80's. "Every Grain of Sand" and "Heart of Mine" speak for themselves. "Watered Down Love" and "In the Summertime" are often overlooked.
I really like it.
I really like it.
Shot of Love
Every grain of sand is one of the most beautiful songs ever written by anybody.
The trouble with the rest of this album is already said by the comments above. Like much ( but not all) of the older material this gets stronger after each decade. But anyway - who could say anything against a "shot of love"?
Not much for it
I just adore "Heart of Mine" for some reason.
Shot of Love
No Rating
Shot of Love is an uneven album, but I really think the title track and Property of Jesus are great tracks and can stand up to anything in the Dylan catalogue.
This album and Saved are both under-rated, Saved in particular.
Part III
The thrid part in Dylan's Gospel Trilogy is probably the worst. "Every Grain of Sand" is a gem. The rest is half-hearted and a little weak. Dylan could worse (and he does), but he also does better.
The most underrated album
Again the fact it's a religious album makes many people refuse it. And I think it's not so religious. Only a few songs are really religious, but the rest can be taken from other points of view. Anyway it's a great powerful rock album that I enjoy very much. I like it's live-like sound very much, and there's some wonderful songs like Heart of mine, Lenny Bruce, In the summertime and Every grain of sand.
Shot Of Love
Shot Of Love is one of Dylan’s most confused, schizophrenic albums (the all-over-the-map Self-Portrait was at least done deliberately). I’m not just talking about the half-secular half-sacred lyrics. While the personnel remains fairly consistent throughout the album, the feel, the producer, and even the studio seems to change from song to song. Other than Street Legal, this is the album I’m most undecided about. There are some great songs one here. Shot Of Love continues in the vein of Slow Train Coming and Saved in that the title track is one of the best songs on the album. “In The Summertime” and “Every Grain Of Sand” are two of the strongest of the slow ballads during the whole born-again period. “Trouble” is another great, but sadly forgotten, song composed almost entirely from a single riff. “Dead Man, Dead Man” chugs along with a modest aplomb. “Heart Of Mine”, “Property Of Jesus” and “Watered Down Love” just lay there limply. The worst song on here though – by a wide margin – is “Lenny Bruce”. Forget the fact that the lyrics give no indication why such a non-Christian kind of man should be so lionized by the same guy who wrote “Property Of Jesus”. According to this song, Lenny’s greatest accomplishment was just being misunderstood by his peers and persecuted by the government. The same reason Bob idolized (and wrote songs for) Joey Gallo, or Billy the Kid, or Rueben Carter and George Jackson. Actually, if all it takes to gain Bob's admiration is to be wrongly accused and punished, then Dylan’s Christian conversion makes a lot more sense. But putting the horrible lyrics aside, “Lenny Bruce” is still a long boring annoying song. And while Bob has a habit of changing his mind at the last minute on his albums (The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, Blood On The Tracks), his decision to add the B-side “The Grooms Still Waiting At The Altar” to the line-up several years after the fact, is kind of cheating. But it does make a big difference. Now the balance of the album is finally tipped towards the good songs. And “Groom”, another simple riff-song, is one of Bob’s best. It’s almost impossible to think of Shot Of Love without it.
Pre-Infidels Hodge Podge
Despite the fact that I'm "Property of Jesus", I've never really had a lot of passion for this album. It ultimately strikes me as kind of flat, compared to the vibrant stuff on Dylan's other gospel albums. In a way, I see "Shot of Love" as a pre-"Infidels". In the Shot of Love songs he's slowly changing back into a more enigmatic form of writing. It's sort of the middle ground from the overt messages of "Saved" to the mind-bending mystery of so many songs in "Infidels" and "Empire Burlesque". I turn back to this album now and again hoping to finally 'get it', but for now it's not close to being one of my favorites.
Shot of Love (which is rarely criticized as much as Saved) seems rather angry and self-righteous in many of the songs. Many of the songs aren't focused inward, but are focused outward at those that cling to evil. Fingers point. Accusations are made. Judgement is cast. Fortunately, 'Every Grain of Sand' cools everything off in the end and ultimately saves the album. I think in many ways Infidels and Shot of Love could have been similar albums if Bob had excluded certain songs from Shot of Love and included other outtakes. 'Jokerman' and 'Angelina', 'I and I' and 'Carribbean Wind', 'Trouble' and 'Man of Peace'... I dunno. They just all kind of seem to be from the same 'era', if you ask me.
And what a weird assortment of songs are on this album! I can never quite put my finger on what exactly the album is about. The song 'Shot of Love' is a hard-rock plea for faith. It's followed by a snappy Ringo Starr accompanied tune. And then there's the weird "Lenny Bruce" song. Why is Dylan writing that? What is he trying to say? Is he trying to say all have sinned and believers should not pass judgement on anyone, even someone seemingly as bad as Lenny Bruce? If that's the message, he contradicts himself with "Property of Jesus", a huge finger-pointing song if there ever was one (and a song that I actually don't like that much... I like the title, though). Then there's polticial observations, revelations, visions, references to classic films (a foreshadow of the references in Empire Burlesque?)....... It's a hodgepodge of mind-boggling everywhereness. Folks call this a Dylan gospel album. Seems to me to be the closest thing to a 'punk rock' album that Dylan ever made.