Released 45 years ago today, this is the twenty-first studio album from the legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. His third and last album of his "Christian" era, Dylan was still writing rock songs with his version of Christianity, referencing the Bible and Christian ideas, though it might not be preachy or no-nonsense enough for some Christians. Songs like the title track point to God's love (and love in general) as the only high Bob Dylan needs. But other songs like "Watered-Down Love" seem to say that God's love is too strong for us to handle or something, which is a bit odd. "Property Of Jesus" seems to tell the story of someone who humbly follows Jesus and is looked down upon for it. There's a bunch of fun rock jams with a bit of a Gospel flair here like "The Groom's Still Waiting At The Altar", "Dead Man, Dead Man" and "Trouble". Some of the songs are love songs, it seems, like "Heart Of Mine" and "In The Summertime". And well, I'm not sure what to make of a song honoring comedian Lenny Bruce. The closing song, "Every Grain Of Sand", is beautiful poetry, and a nice close to Bob Dylan's period of making music with some Christian ideas. These albums were certainly not his best of his career, but a look at a major artist writing songs and struggling to incorporate Christian ideas into his work, and I find them very interesting for that reason.

Release Year: 1981
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