Bob Dylan - Tempest, Sept. 11, 2012

"this album is much better than it sounds", #1 on ILM's rmde list for 12 years running!

some of these songs are basically like folk lungfish

"this album is much better than it sounds", #1 on ILM's rmde list for 12 years running!

Not so much that as, it sounds different depending on who's listening. Like everything! What we're talking about is just the specific ways that a Dylan album sounds different to people who know/like/get Dylan and people who don't.

DYLAN is the character that's important

principle #1

To examine Tempest in isolation, as Lex has done, is to miss a lot of Dylan's latter-day role as macabre, mischievous narrator I can't unhear all the Dylan I've heard, but I *think* I would hear Tempest this way, even if I'd never heard him before. Like I said, it's the Dylan Show, as much of it as we ever get in the studio. Hear the assertive riffage keep getting blissed out with another round of "Pay In Blood" (next stop, dead ahead: "Scarlet Town"). Sounds like he might be running for, from, with that "Duquesne Whistle," but already mentioning to his longtime companion, "You'ew like a timebomb in my heart"--hey another 9/11 release! Aleaady getting close to Carnegie hall '64, "It's Halloweeen, I got my Bob Dylan mask on." Not to suggest all of this is only for effect. No doubt the mask is armor, but the muse etc. seems like his actual ol' lady too, somewhere. He may be trying to keep her and us at a safe distance, but not out of earshot.

I agree that "Dylan" the character is always part of the context of any Dylan song (a point that Todd Haynes made perhaps a bit too forcefully in "I'm Not There"). Others on this board have done a good job of describing the latest "Dylan" manifestation on other threads. I like to imagine a sort of irascible riverboat gambler figure in a bolo tie and sharp-toed shoes who's lived too long to say anything other than exactly what he means but still likes the ladies and if you play cards with him, keep an eye on the deck.

I dunno that description sounds like a cardboard cutout

Though these tracks might work best of all, as several of his 90s/00s have, on various artists soundtracks. As tracks, that is, not however they might morph on tour.

Feel free to substitute whatever mental image works best for you - what would Dylan be without some ambiguity. xp

yeah that's the main thing.

Sorry to distract with more prosaic matters, but.... could anyone give some info on the vinyl edition? It's a single LP, right? The sticker says the package includes the CD. Is the CD packaged in any way?

idk i DO expect a character to be brought to life in a pop song because otherwise why are they there?

I think the characters in Dylan's songs sometimes are more like figures in a Hieronymous Bosch landscape.

i think it is a double album. the first six songs on the first lp, the other four on the second.

i think it would be physically impossible for this to be a single album

What we're talking about is just the specific ways that a Dylan album sounds different to people who know/like/get Dylan and people who don't.

I'm sort of wondering whether a part of some of the burt-hurtedness around here is because in 2012 there really isn't a reason to assume that someone reading a review of the album in the Guardian is someone who knows / likes / gets Dylan.

people are butthurt?

The revelation is more that in 2012 there really isn't a reason to assume that someone writing a review in the Guardian knows / likes / gets what they're talking about.

perfect timing for an example of the butthurt

xpost yeah in 2012 it's highly unlikely that any bob dylan fans read the guardian. erm what?

I know you don't "get" comedy but boxall's post was what they call a "joke"

xp

in today's uncertain world we can no longer assume human beings inhale oxygen

xpost Thanks. I haven't got this yet. Wondering whether to shell out for pricey vinyl.

Dude, come on, you can read.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/advertising/demographic-profile-of-guardian-readers

I see more comedy zings than butthurtedness

xp

"Social Grade"? lol Britishes

comedy zings tend to indicate deep-seated butthurtedness ime

(prob related to how comedy always indicates self-loathing)

really? cuz half my funny ones i don't even care about really it just seemed like something funny to say + barely suppressed narcissitic desire to be excelsiored + supposed to be proofreading at work

(prob related to how comedy always indicates self-loathing)

― lex pretend, Monday, September 17, 2012 3:31 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hmm this seems objectively true...hrmmm...why yes

what does loathing others always indicate? self-love?

prob related to how comedy always indicates self-loathing

humorlessness otoh

oh LG beat me to it

let's have a poll to see who is happiest

okay now I am concocting some sort of theory that the reason lex doesn't "get" Dylan is because Dylan is FUNNY

ronan why must you always be there, trying to zing me, in every thread i am on. GET OUT OF MY FACE ALREADY. jesus it's like having a dom pt ii around

i forgot about the hatred of comedy

not gonna justify myself for disagreeing with someone who posts in a very outspoken and strident manner. that's not "zinging" and if you can't handle it (as is abundantly clear) then don't dish it out, for free or otherwise.

i have absolutely no interest in arguing or communicating with you and what i'm trying to say is i wish you would feel the same

it's not about "not being able to take it", i'm happy to talk to most people who disagree with me without being cunts about it

this is boring. I'm bored now.

Anybody else getting ads at the top of this thread, right after they first sign on? Happening on what are you reading too. And Firefox having to stop a re-direct.

dow"

POLL: Should ILX put ads in front of unregistered lurkers in exchange for money?

It's all getting a bit European Whiney and Deej in here. Guys you are both better than this.

buh-but I'm not unregistered. oh well, long as it's not spoofing or sponking or hijacks

It's all getting a bit European Whiney and Deej in here. Guys you are both better than this.

better than what? disagreeing with a fairly strong statement of opinion? (along with two other people.)

ilxor rose up 'gainst ilxor
In every circumstance
They fought and slaughtered each other
In a deadly dance

Duke, I got the 2lp vinyl for 25 dollars US from www.dustygroove.com

And yeah, like alex in mainhatten said, it's the first six songs on the first LP, and the last 4 songs on the 2nd LP

You do get a CD copy as well, it's just packaged inside a generic white paper slipcase

"ilxor rose up 'gainst ilxor-" reminds me: today is the 150th Anniversary of Battle of Antietam, America's bloodiest so far
http://www.npr.org/2012/09/17/161248814/antietam-a-savage-day-in-american-history

thanks for the info, Stormy.

Not sure why so much vitriol for "Roll On John." It's a nice tune and feels warm and personal. The two before it are the ones I can't buy. "Tin Angel" takes Black Jack Davy/Matty Groves and does ... nothing with it. And "Tempest" feels like second-hand Pogues.

Still, the album makes me happy. It's good to hear from him.