From T Wilcox over at Aquarium Drunkard

because I have very little to add and nothing really to say about the new bootleg series other than it doesn't appeal to me and is the only short lived genre of Dylan's output that passed me by I have left the bulk of this to t wilcox who I don't agree with but it's worth a read. 

Bob Dylan: Trouble No More – The Bootleg Series Vol. 13, 1979-81

As anyone with a passing knowledge of the life (lives?) of Bob Dylan knows, in late 1978, the singer-songwriter had a born again experience, and devoted the next few years to writing and performing (mostly) gospel material. But let’s not talk about Jesus just yet. Let’s talk about the incredible band Dylan assembled to take his new music to the people during this period — a group of stellar musicians who are finally given their due on the latest edition of the always essential Bootleg Series, Trouble No More.Those who splurge on the deluxe edition of the set will have the chance to bask in six discs of choice live recordings from the Gospel-era band (the more affordable two-disc set cherrypicks highlights), alongside two additional discs of previously unreleased studio, demo and rehearsal tapes. The all-star rhythm section of Jim Keltner and Tim Drummond provides the beating heart here — a firm but flexible groove that at times is as swampy and sleazy as the funkiest southern R&B and at others Sunday morning service-ready. The soulful twin keyboards of Spooner Oldham (later replaced by Willie Smith) and Terry Young add to the tent revival feel, and Fred Tackett’s sterling guitar work is a pleasure throughout. And of course, the troupe of background singers (including Clydie King, Gwen Evans, Mary Elizabeth Bridges, Regina McCrary and Mona Lisa Young) add the perfect blend of grit and polish. In short, this band smokes, and deserves to be mentioned in any discussion of Dylan’s greatest backing groups.Bob himself responds to his group’s passionate and precise attack with some of the most powerful and open-hearted performances of his career. In 1979 and much of 1980, Dylan was presenting an entirely new repertoire to live audiences — he didn’t have “Like A Rolling Stone” or “All Along The Watchtower” to fall back on for an easy standing ovation (older songs would slip into the set in late ’80 and ’81). During those early shows, he really has to sell these songs to crowds that are often pretty skeptical about their hero’s newfound love of the Lord. So throughout Trouble No More, we get some dazzling Dylan vocal gymnastics, whether he’s spitting fire on “Gotta Serve Somebody” and “When You Gonna Wake Up” or reaching astonishing heights on deeply felt renditions of “I Believe In You” and “Pressing On.” The highlights are too many to note here, but suffice to say, Dylan delivers the goods, time and time again. The only misstep on the part of the compilers here is to leave out Dylan’s fire-and-brimstone sermons from ’79 and ’80, which may turn non-believers off, but possess their own very Dylan-esque music. Oh well, there are always the bootlegs.Trouble No More‘s studio discs are packed with delights as well. There’s a gorgeous, previously un-bootlegged version of “Caribbean Wind” featuring longtime Neil Young cohort Ben Keith on pedal steel. There’s a slow-burn unreleased song “Making A Liar Out Of Me,” with some the era’s most stinging lyrics. Maybe best of all is the sublime rehearsal recording of “Every Grain of Sand” that brings disc four to a fitting close.Some listeners will still find Dylan’s occasionally hard-line Christianity a bit hard to take (“Ya either got faith or ya got unbelief and there ain’t no neutral ground,” he sings in “Precious Angel”), but they’ll be missing out on some truly fantastic music. Whatever your personal relationship with Jesus happens to be, Trouble No More remains an indispensable chapter in the ongoing Bob Dylan saga. You don’t need no ticket for this slow train, you just get on board. words / t wilcox

This short period of Bobs is merely a momentary aberration to this listener and as soon as the levy broke in late 1980 and he began to re-introduce his more poetic and less proselytising tub thumping dogmatic writing from this short period of 'godbothering' that barely lasted 2 years really, then it is, for me, hardly worth the focus of a separate Bootleg series of 6 discs IMHO but there is some evidence he was approached by the 'Born Again' crew (they still exist and still claim Bob as an advocate) when he  was clearly at his most vulnerable and perhaps the lowest point in his life and was by all accounts exhausted and this means near nervous breakdown or if you prefer (which I do) the term nervous exhaustion which of course is what these people do! Preying upon the weak and the vulnerable. It didn't take long to shake off the individuals involved and revert to his own Songbook and we are all the more grateful for it. Clearly he still holds a great deal of value to the Christian mythology and even the Jewish relationship to God that surfaces from time to time but this period is not for any serious enquiry to these ears and the notion the band is "incredible" and that they 'smoke' is a joke to these ears also. They are entirely credible transparently understandable and I saw through what they were doing early on. The same is always true of every dogmatic preachers I have experienced from the Basho, the Divine Lighters to Scientologists. At the time I recall being ready to drop all this haranguing and hectoring and listen to more intellectually rigorous and radical sounds. Dylan sang that the answer is simple you either 'got faith or ya got unbelief' and that it is clear to me and have never said otherwise. Non-belief in things I cannot prove, touch, see,  and have never found superstitions worthy of any serious enquiry atheism is the default setting and status quo here. . . . . .and I ain't missed out on nuffin' thanks.

I should perhaps point out I enjoy a great number of 'religious' songs and gospel music from a wide range of sources, from Sister Rosetta Tharpe ('Didn't It Rain' anyone? Google it!) to Ry Cooder and the sources of much of Ry's research and musical anthropology like Joseph Spence and Washington Phillips which I adore and even find I really enjoy tracks like 'John The Revelator' by Son House or even Stanley Beckford's wonderful Mento music with tracks like 'Oh Jah Jah' or 'Dip them Jah Jah Dip them' which I adore but I don't need baptising to enjoy these or Bob Marley, Sister Rosetta or the Rev Al Green.  Dip them in the healing stream! 'Take Me to The River, drop me in the water . . . . . '

'The primitive baptists they believe that you can't get to heaven lest you wash your feet and that's all, I tell you that's all!'


That is all!