Dylan’s needle sticks in grooves of latest album

Press, 23 March 1988, Page 22

Dylan’s needle sticks in grooves of latest album

by

JOHN MARRIOTT

The release of “Down in the Groove," the new album from Bob Dylan, [ has now been indefinitely postponed. Its stop-start history has) already included the replacement of three: tracks on two separate occasions, tjlow it has been decided to; dejlay the project altogether. From the songs I have heard (many of them covers), “Groove*’ has Dylan’s needle firmly stuck. Whether this unsavoury boogie stodge is ladled out to meet his' contract requirements to CBS, or simply as a replacement for the singer’s ‘once-fertile imagination,! only Dylan knows. Or perhaps he doesn’t. |He has been devoid ]of judgment and ideas in recent times,, and his starring role 'in “Hearts | of (Fire” caused embarrassed) laughter round the world. ! This batch of songs does the same.lit is a perfect match for the trot-it-put quality of his Wembley shows last year. Where he then bolstered his presence; with .Tom Petty and Roger, McGuinh, he now holds hands' with Eric Clapton, Mick Taylor. and;the,Grajteful Dead, who were the last;band to back him in the! United States. , Canned Heat’s "Let’s Stick Together,”) a churning blues classic covered by a stack of! threechord! gee-tar merchants, was to have been fhe opener. Sounding as; if I it 1 were recorded after a 1 round of Hprlicks, it shunts along with sleepy guitar chops and 1 lame harmonica frills. Introduc-' ing us .to the dull thud which 1 pervades the collection, it makes' an ideal partner for “Sally Sue Brown") and “Silvion,” two more wonders of 12-bar triteness. , j The i once-familiar passion; pain and Verbal play have now given) way to scratchy guitars and) feeble; vocals. In "Ugliest Girl | In I The World,” Dylan’s attempts | at irony are such a wheeze; that one is grateful for the' arrival j of the girlie back-up vocals which drown the lyrics,. Even! Did You Leave Heaven!’ never becomes the searing ballad lit ought to be; "Rank Stranger” has the same plain electric-strum and psuedo-

■gospel tinge Of “Shenandoah,” a beautiful American folk standard crying out or an original arrangement. Ciy | as j.it' might, Dylan does not deliver.). The three tracks which have been nervously pulled from the album include; “Got Love If You Want It" and [(lmportant Words,” both of which constitute: more soul-less boogid, while I “90 Miles An Hourf’ is; a further soul-ballad-that-n ight-have-beeh. The intended replacements I were to be John Hiatt’s. “The Usual" (propped ujjjibyjEric Clapton), “Had AlDream About You Baby” (from jthe .“Hearts pf Fire;; soundtrack) and i “Death Is Not The End” (an (“Infidels” outtake). The last (two ( showcase Ronnie lyooci and Mick Taylor respectively and give a hint that the spice] and spark of] old may still be thprej. But glamour guests are unable to shore up this set of shuffling [songs which (exude the feel of ah R ’n’ B pub-band. Given biaf Dylan is (no longer the angry torch-bearer) he used to be, one at least expects a few ] decent ditties. An album composed largely of cover! versions ; can mean either that an artist is confident] enough of ;his own songs tq include worth-while-repeats I Bruce Springsteen for details) of that he’s.sweating at his plejctrbm with no (chord of his own. ) ; ■]