New West
28 July 1980
This column has been unable to confirm a rumor that Bob Dylan’s second born-again album, Saved, was held up because of tampering with the cover art, which depicts several hands reaching toward the outstretched, bleeding hand of Jesus Christ. Reportedly, someone broke into the CBS factory one night and very subtly re-drew the hand of the supplicant second from the left in such a manner as to make it appear that Jesus was being given the finger. The offender has supposedly been apprehended; a rumor that Elvis Costello’s name was found in his address book could not be confirmed. 8
Bob Dylan, “Pressing On,” from Saved (Columbia, 1980). The performance had stiffened up by the time it was recorded; while the opening passage has a light behind it, the rest of the song is overplayed, oversung, hammered with a near-hysteria of orchestration and decoration. The song didn’t really find its voice until almost thirty years later, in Todd Haynes’s 2007 film I’m Not There, with Christian Bale (acting) and John Doe (singing). With half of the combination missing, it wasn’t half as convincing on the soundtrack album.