Tempest (album)
| Tempest | ||||
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| Studio album by Bob Dylan | ||||
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Publication |
September 10, 2012 |
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| Label (s) | Columbia Records | |||
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Title (number) |
10 |
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running time |
68:31 |
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Tempest is the 35th studio album of Bob Dylan . It was produced by himself under the pseudonym "Jack Frost" and published on Columbia Records .
The album , released fifty years after his debut album Bob Dylan , contains ten previously unreleased songs. The music critics almost unanimously praised it. The Rolling Stone critic Will Hermes gave him five out of five stars, calling it "musically diverse and full of curveballs " . It is one of Dylan's darkest albums and lyrically Dylan is "at the top of his game" .
Like the previous albums Modern Times or Together Through Life , the album was also a financial success. It was ranked 3rd on the American Billboard 200 , 2nd in Germany and 1st in Austria. The music magazine Rolling Stone put Tempest at number 4 on their list of the best albums of 2012, Uncut at number 2. Rolling Stone also listed the song Pay in Blood (track 5 of the album) at number 9 of the best songs of 2012. Mojo listed the album at number 10 on its annual list.
background
Dylan wrote the opening song Duquesne Whistle (also the single for the album) together with Robert Hunter , with whom he had already worked closely on the previous album Together Through Life . Dylan wrote the remaining nine songs alone.
When it became known that the album was to be titled Tempest (German: Sturm), comparisons were immediately drawn to The Tempest , the last work by William Shakespeare , and it was speculated whether Tempest would be Dylan's last work. Dylan contradicted these rumors in an interview by pointing out that The Tempest and Tempest are two completely different titles. The album title is derived from the 14-minute ninth track of the work Tempest , which is about the sinking of the RMS Titanic .
The songs
Tempest is a thematically very diverse album on which Dylan presents himself again as a storyteller, as in earlier works such as Desire or Modern Times . Thus, Tin Angel, Tempest, Scarlet Town and Roll On John ballads, make the lyrics to the fore the text. Long and Wasted Years is about a dead marriage, while Pay in Blood is a nasty swan song for personal and political goals. Early Roman Kings recites Mannish Boy by Muddy Waters in the blues riff and draws irony, sarcasm and wit to make comparisons with the old Romans. Narrow Way is an evil swan song for enemies and possibly women too. It is played with a fast riff and is the fastest song on the album. Soon After Midnight is an ambiguous love song about an extraordinary relationship.
Tin Angel tells the story of a man whose wife breaks away from him and runs away with a worker. The boss, as he is called in the song, then embarks on an agonizing odyssey and rather by chance finds the two lovers. In an almost tangible argument, the boss is shot by his rival, whereupon the woman first kills her lover and then herself. With less plot, all the more symbols and metaphors, Scarlet Town is told, a story of a city near the end of the world (In Scarlet town the end is near), which was possibly intended as a reference to the political situation in America.
With a running time of 13:54, Tempest is the second longest song that Dylan has ever released (only Highlands on Time Out of Mind is even longer). It's about the sinking of the Titanic; which Dylan describes based on the film of the same name by James Cameron . So he turns the unlucky night into a starry night with moonlight and he lets a draftsman named Leo appear, which is supposed to be an allusion to the main actor of the Titanic film - Leonardo DiCaprio .
The album ends with Roll On John, a seven-minute homage to John Lennon . Dylan tells the life of his former musician colleague from his beginnings as a Beatle to his murder in 1980. He uses metaphors and symbols and quotes a few lines from Beatles songs.
Track list
All songs (except the highlighted one) were written by Bob Dylan.
- Duquesne Whistle (Dylan, Robert Hunter) - 5:43
- Soon after Midnight - 3:27
- Narrow Way - 7:28 am
- Long and Wasted Years - 3:46
- Pay in Blood - 5:09
- Scarlet Town - 7:17 am
- Early Roman Kings - 5:16
- Tin Angel - 9:05
- Tempest - 13:54
- Roll On John - 7:25
occupation
- Bob Dylan - guitar , piano , vocals
- Tony Garnier - bass
- George G. Receli - drums
- Donnie Herron - steel guitar, banjo, violin, mandolin
- Charlie Sexton - guitar
- Stu Kimball - guitar
- David Hidalgo - guitar, accordion, violin
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bob Dylan - Tempest , Will Hermes, Rolling Stone , Aug. 30, 2012
- ↑ Dave Matthews Band Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 , Keith Caulfield, billboard.com, September 19, 2012
- ↑ Bob Dylan - Tempest ( Memento of the original from November 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Information about the album at sonymusic.de, accessed on November 2, 2013
- ↑ Bob Dylan - Tempest (album) , chart information at austriancharts.at, accessed on November 2, 2013
- ↑ 50 Best Albums of 2012; 4 - Bob Dylan, Tempest , rollingstone.com, accessed November 2, 2013
- ↑ Uncut End Of Year Lists 2012 , 2012 annual charts from Uncut on rocklistmusic.co.uk, accessed November 2, 2013
- ↑ 50 Best Songs of 2012 , rollingstone.com, accessed November 2, 2013
- ↑ Mojo - End Of Year Lists 2012 , 2012 annual charts from Mojo on rocklistmusic.co.uk, accessed November 2, 2013
- ↑ a b c Old master Boy Dylan is back in top form , dpa, t-online, September 6, 2012
- ↑ a b Out of the deepest need he cries to him , Knut Wenzel , faz.net, September 7, 2012
