Bob Dylan’s next two studio albums, 1986’s Knocked Out Loaded and 1988’s Down in the Groove, can fairly be described as the low point in his career.
The 80s had started with the back-to-back gospel head-scratchers Saved and Shot of Love only to be partially redeemed by Empire Burlesque. But these two albums suggested Dylan had finally run out of ideas. Knocked Out Loaded‘s eight songs contained just two Dylan originals, a couple of collaborations and three covers.
This is one of the few Dylan albums I still don’t own, and if I’ve learned one thing over the course of this series it’s that I can’t trust the critical consensus on some of these albums. Street Legal and Empire Burlesque, for example, have impressed me despite their so-so reputations. And even the famously trashed Self Portrait proved to be a charming oddity.
I don’t know if Knocked Out Loaded will fall into the same category. But I do know that I’ve downloaded two of its most celebrated tracks and I like them both quite a bit. One is ‘Brownsville Girl,’ an 11-minute epic story song co-written with Sam Shepard. It’s a lyrical marvel, even if the mostly spoken-word delivery ultimately tests your patience.
The other is today’s Song of the Day, ‘Under Your Spell,’ a breezy heartbreak tune co-written with Carole Bayer Sager. I like the laid-back almost calypso feel of the song and even the backing vocals (which have gotten Dylan into trouble on other albums).
Don’t know how much more of this I can take
Baby, I’m under your spell
I was knocked out and loaded in the naked night
When my last dream exploded, I noticed your light
Baby, oh what a story I could tell
It’s been nice seeing you, you read me like a book
If you ever want to reach me, you know where to look
Baby, I’ll be at the same hotel
I’d like to help you but I’m in a bit of a jam
I’ll call you tomorrow if there’s phones where I am
Baby, caught between heaven and hell
But I will be back, I will survive
You’ll never get rid of me as long as you’re alive
Baby, can’t you tell
Well it’s four in the morning by the sound of the birds
I’m starin’ at your picture, I’m hearin’ your words
Baby, they ring in my head like a bell
Everywhere you go it’s enough to break hearts
Someone always gets hurt, a fire always starts
You were too hot to handle, you were breaking every vow
I trusted you baby, you can trust me now
Turn back baby, wipe your eye
Don’t think I’m leaving here without a kiss goodbye
Baby, is there anything left to tell?
I’ll see you later when I’m not so out of my head
Maybe next time I’ll let the dead bury the dead
Baby, what more can I tell?
Well the desert is hot, the mountain is cursed
Pray that I don’t die of thirst
Baby, two feet from the well
Meet Me In Montauk 
Nice review of a very under-rated song. I think you need to get away from the ‘even the backing vocals’ that have ‘gotten Dylan into trouble on other albums’ mentality – the energy, emotional intensity and astonishing musicality of these women is so much a part of most of Dylan’s output at this point in his career that if you don’t get them you probably haven’t got much else about the music he was writing at the time. Forget the snide ‘Queens of rhythm’ clichés with their sexist and often implicitly racist overtones, and listen to those amazing individuals sing – Clydie King perhaps most of all, but not forgetting Madelyn Quebec, Regina McCrary, Carolyn Dennis, Helena Springs, Mona Lisa Young, and all the others who came and went. I look forward to reading more of your writing – ‘Down in the groove’ is even more lacking in direction than ‘Knocked out loaded’, but a couple of decades down the line we are in the fortunate position of being able to appreciate the gems it contains, without having to worry about whether it measures up to ‘Blonde on blonde’ or not, or whether it’s Dylan’s last effort at a coherent musical statement. Good luck with your writing.
Save your money. This album is a dog. But if you actually like “Under Your Spell” and will listen to it more than once or twice, then be my guest. But you’ve been warned, my friend.
I don’t think there’s ANY Bob Dylan album not worth owning, though KOL comes close.
But besides “Brownsville Girl” and “Under Your Spell”, there’s some fun stuff here: I like the covers of “Precious Memories” and “You Wanna Ramble”, and “Maybe Someday” is great.
I think the album suffers more from the haphazard feel–it definitely seems like an album slapped together from various sessions, which it was.
sorry, this is just pretty bad. If this is the highlight from the album, I wouldn’t want to hear the lowlights.
Find me one artist anywhere in the world capable of writing BROWNSVILLE GIRL and I’ll agree to this album being Knocked Out, but since nobody else in the world is capable of writing such a masterpiece, let us not be too quick to push something so beautiful aside so quickly. Almost anything on KOL is ten times better then the best songs of most other artists, because Bob has always been on a planet of his own, high above the rest in my view….
I have been trying hard to dislike Knocked Out Loaded since it came out but I just can’t. The problem is that it is a Dylan album and therefore must be a masterpiece, b definition. I certainly listen to it more than Empire Burlesque because it has a certain spirit. But Brownsville Girl is most definitely the stand out track on KOL.
This one, too, is not so bad and unfairly maligned.
I’m with Fragmeister — I have listened, over the years, to Knocked Out Loaded a lot more than I have to Empire Burlesque or even Shot of Love — or, for that matter, Planet Waves and New Morning.
It’s a nice album. You know, I had it on cassette, used to drive back and forth across the country in the heat… it’s a good album for that kind of thing.