Song May Be Added to Dylan LP
Bob Dylan‘s Shot of Love, which by early November had tumbled to the lower regions of the charts, may be getting a much needed shot of adrenalin. As Rolling Stone went to press, Columbia Records was making plans to bolster the album by adding a new track called “The Groom’s Still Waiting at the Altar.” The decision to add the song — a rocker that ranks among the very best of Dylan’s recent compositions — was being based on the heavy radio airplay it was receiving as the B side of Dylan’s current single, “Heart of Mine.” According to Paul Rappaport, director of national album promotions for Columbia, about sixty FM stations were playing the song within weeks of its release, including such heavies as KMET and KLOS in Los Angeles, KMEL in San Francisco, WMMS in Cleveland and WMMR in Philadelphia.
Though the tune sounds as if it could have been recorded in the mid-Sixties during Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited era, it in fact was cut during the sessions for Shot of Love. Dylan reportedly left it off the LP because he was dissatisfied with the original mix; it was then remixed for release on the single.
A spokesperson for Columbia said no tracks would be deleted from the LP. The label had not yet determined when the expanded Shot of Love would be available.
This is a story from the December 10th, 1981 issue of Rolling Stone.