Olof Bjourner's Chronicles - 1979

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C O N T E N T S

INTRODUCTION
1. CALENDAR
2. RECORDINGS 
3. THE GOSPEL TOUR 1979-1980
3.1 Introduction
3.2 The Musicians
3.3 The Show
3.4 Summary
3.5 The First Leg: November-December 1979
3.5.1 The dates
3.5.2 The songs
3.5.3 Comments
3.6 The Second Leg: January-February 1980
3.6.1 The dates
3.6.2 The songs
3.6.3 Comments
3.7 The Third Leg: April-May 1980
3.7.1 The dates
3.7.2 The songs
3.7.3 Comments
3.8 Gospel Tour Summary
3.8.1 Alphabetical song listing
3.8.2 Statistics
4. GOSPEL SONGS 1979-1980
5. REFERENCES


INTRODUCTION

A year that started with three months in Bible class at The School
of Discipleship in Southern California, and ended with the start of the
famous Gospel Tour. Once again Bob Dylan did the completely unexpected.
Not only did he became a newborn Christian, he recorded a gospel record
with only original songs and hit the road with a show that did not
contain one single song from his previous records!


1. CALENDAR

January Playboy publishes the Ron Rosenbaum interview.

May 11-19 The SLOW TRAIN COMING sessions in Muscle Shoals, Sheffield

August 17 The 1966 film 'Eat The Document' is broadcast on New York
TV station Channel 13.

August 18 SLOW TRAIN COMING is released.

September Release of 'Gotta Serve Somebody/Trouble In Mind' single.

October 20 Dylan & Gospel band appears at Saturday Night Live with 
three songs from SLOW TRAIN COMING.

November Release of 'Man Gave names To All The Animals/
When You Gonna Wake Up?' single.

November 1 The Gospel Tour starts with no less than 14 shows at the
Fox Warfield Theater in San Francisco.

December 8 The Bruce Heiman telephone interview is broadcast by
KMEX Radio in Tuscon.

2. RECORDINGS 

May 1-11 The Street-Legal Sessions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, Sheffield Alabama

1. Gotta Serve Somebody
2. Precious Angel
3. I Believe In You
4. Slow Train
5. Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking
6. Do Right To Me Baby (Do Unto Others)
7. When You Gonna Wake Up
8. Man Gave Names To All The Animals
9. When He Returns
10. Trouble In Mind

1-8,10 Mark Knopfler (guitar), Barry Beckett (keyboards and
percussion), Tim Drummond (bass), Pick Withers (drums),
Carolyn Dennis, Helena Springs and Regina Havis (background
vocals)
1,2,4,5,7,8 with the Muscle Shoal Horns.
9 Bob Dylan backed by Barry Becket on piano.

Produced by Jerry Wexler and Barry Becket

1-9 released on SLOW TRAIN COMING, August 18 1979.
1 and 10 released on single, Sept 1979.
7 and 8 released on single, November 1979.
4 and 6 released on single, January 1980.
1 and 3 released on BIOGRAPH October 28, 1985.

10 has an extra verse on the original tape.

Oct 20 Saturday Night Live
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NBC Studios, New York

1. Gotta Serve Somebody
2. I Believe In You
3. When You Gonna Wake Up

Backed by the Gospel band (see below). 

3. THE GOSPEL TOUR 1979-1980

3.1 Introduction
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Gospel Tour consisted of three parts:
1. The first leg in November-December 1979
2. The second leg in January-February 1980
3. The third leg in April-May 1980

These parts will be referred to as leg 1 2 and 3 below.

This tour is unique among all Dylan's tour in that it:
* features only the gospel songs, no "old" songs,
* contains almost no variation between the shows,
* does not contain any solo acoustic performances at all and that it
* features lengthy raps from Dylan between songs.

3.2 The Musicians
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ L e g

Fred Tackett (guitar) 1 2 3
Spooner Oldham (keyboards) 1 2 3
Terry Young (keyboards) 1 2 3
Tim Drummond (bass) 1 2 3
Jim Keltner (drums) 1 2 3

Helena Springs 1
Regina Havis 1 2 3
Mona Lisa Young 1 2 3
Carolyn Dennis 2
Regina Peeples 2
Clydie King 3
Gwen Evans 3
Mary Elizabeth Bridgett 3

3.3 The Show
~~~~~~~~~~~~
A gospel concert opened with 6 songs by the backing singers plus Terry Young 
on piano. Then without intermission 8 or 9 songs by Bob Dylan and the band,
one song by one of the backing singers and the band (without any Dylan
participation, except the introduction) and finally 7 songs by Bob Dylan
and the band. Encores: 2 songs (3 a few times) by Dylan and the band.

3.4 Summary
~~~~~~~~~~~
Number of shows: 78
Number of circulating shows: 71 91%
Number of complete shows: 69 88%
Number of unique shows: 21 29% [1]
Number of different shows: 17 23% [2]
Number of different songs: 24 [3]
Total number of performances: 1170
Mean number of songs/show: 16

[1] a unique show is a show where both the songs played and the order in
which they were played is unique
[2] a show is different from another show is the set of songs differ,
regardless of order.
[3] electric and an acoustic versions are regarded as different songs!

# of songs played # of shows
------------------------------
14 1
15 1
16 24
17 43
18 1

3.5 The First Leg: November-December 1979
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3.5.1 The dates

MA = mono audience recording
SA = stereo audience recording
- = no recording generally available
I = incomplete recording


Nov 1 Fox Warfield Theater. San Francisco, California SA
2 Fox Warfield Theater. San Francisco, California SA
3 Fox Warfield Theater. San Francisco, California SA
4 Fox Warfield Theater. San Francisco, California SA