Concert goers not so much. Shortly after Slow Train Coming came out, Dylan performed a series of shows in San Francisco consisting almost entirely of his new, religious music, interrupted by occasional preaching. The reaction, needless to say, was confused and often downright hostile. Many audience members left in disgust, telling TV news cameras on the way out what they thought of Dylan's new direction, and a negative San Francisco Chronicle review featured the headline, "Bob Dylan's God-Awful Gospel." (The Jews for Jesus leafleters outside the theater — invited by Dylan himself — found a very receptive audience for their pamphlets in fans who wanted to get some idea of what Dylan was thinking.)
1980's Saved wasn't received quite as well (one music historian calls the album "lost"), and by 1981, Dylan was moving on. One of the problems with Inside Bob Dylan's Jesus Years is that it doesn't really examine why Bob Dylan, who had turned his storied career on its head by embracing Christianity, abandoned it.
Director/producer Joel Gilbert, a Dylan lookalike, isn't the most charismatic interviewer either (often he's shown asking his subjects questions directly off a sheet of paper). The film, especially in the first third, feels quite padded, and it probably wouldn't have hurt to have a narrator either.
The biggest problem with Inside Bob Dylan's Jesus Years, however, is one that the filmmakers probably couldn't have helped: it's a documentary about Bob Dylan that doesn't actually feature any music by Bob Dylan.
I have no doubt that Gilbert really wanted to use tracks from Slow Train Coming and Saved in his movie, but I'm guessing he either couldn't get permission or couldn't afford to do so. Instead, Gilbert's Dylan tribute band, Highway 61 Revisited, provides the soundtrack. The effect comes across a little like an E! True Hollywood Story episode.
Inside Bob Dylan's Jesus Years is worth seeing if you're already a Dylan follower, but it probably won't win any new converts to the cause. Until someone else makes a film about this underexamined period of Dylan's life, however, it will have to suffice.
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