Bob Dylan - Springtime in New York: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 16 / 1980-1985 (2021)
FLAC tracks / MP3 320 kbps | 2:04:10 | 766 Mb / 282 Mb
Genre: Rock / Label: Columbia - Legacy
It's accepted wisdom among a faction of Dylan devotees that causing controversy, stirring emotions, and deliberately ruffling feathers—as happened when he went electric—secretly makes their hero very happy. Nothing (so far) in his career though has caused the ruckus that his late '70s conversion to Christianity and subsequent gospel albums incited. For the second time in his career, he heard boos from a live audience as he stubbornly performed his new evangelical music on the tumultuous 1979-80 Gospel tour. Although it contained hints that perhaps a secular revival was at hand, the last religious album, 1981's Shot of Love was savaged by the press and public alike. With the uproar in full swing, Dylan retreated from public view to refresh and regroup. In the spring of 1983, Dylan, who'd by then veered away from religion back to secular subjects, began tracking at the Power Station in New York City with a band that included former Rolling Stones guitar player Mick Taylor, singer Clydie King, and a rhythm section of reggae demigods Robbie Shakespeare (bass) and Sly Dunbar (drums). The resulting album, Infidels, and its closely related follow-up, 1985's Empire Burlesque, marked a welcome return to relevance and success.