Bob Dylan - Tempest, Sept. 11, 2012

think there were some rumours about this record a while back; the one of the los lobos guys was playing on it, more mariachi vibes, &c.

i like his name!, i think that's part of it

http://www.travel2austria.com/i/parliamentvienna4.jpg

the one of the los lobos guys was playing on it

David Hidalgo's been on his last few records iirc (he's definitely on the Xmas one)

here are the rumors:

The sessions are reported to have begun in January 2012 at Groove Masters, a semi-private studio facility owned by musician Jackson Browne. The studio, on Colorado Avenue, Santa Monica, is where Dylan recorded both “Together Through Life” and “Christmas In The Heart”. He is said to have spent up to two months working on the album.

David Hidalgo revealed to The Aspen Times that he had been involved with the recording of a New Dylan album and that whilst he had been brought in primarily to play accordion and guitar, he ended up adding Mexican instruments, including tres, to some tracks. Hidalgo said the recording sessions were nothing like the earlier ones he had done with Dylan. He had previously played accordion and guitar on “Together Through Life” and accordion, guitar, mandolin and violin on “Christmas In The Heart”.

If our previous information is correct, the 10-song album is 68 minutes long and contains songs about Titanic and John Lennon.

that cover rules

the 10-song album is 68 minutes long

oh nooo

http://www.rso.wmich.edu/ultimate/random/kool-aid-man.jpg

so it's about ALL the early roman kings

celebrating today's news by listening to a Dylan show in Dresden from a couple weeks ago. Pretty good! Totally weird re-do of "Hattie Carrol" which gives the song an inappropriately bouncy, happy feel.

Reportedly he is playing grand piano these days!

yeah he is! sounds better than the kinda rinky dink organ he's been using of late. though it's mixed pretty low on the thing i'm listening to.
http://www.rockcellarmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/bob-dylan-hop-farm-grand-piano.jpg

interesting that he's really kinda bypassed the together through life material onstage -- barely plays any of it, while modern times and love and theft songs get plenty of outings.

it's weird to think how old love & theft is! he's been playing a lot of that album as a core part of his setlists for over a decade now.

So,

Are

We

Doing

This?

interesting that he's really kinda bypassed the together through life material onstage -- barely plays any of it

same as his fans, I reckon.

Is this the first time in quite a while that newer albums fill most of Dylan's set lists?

since time out of mind, he's dug pretty deep into the new records.
guess he plays forgetful heart on the regular, here's his last setlist

1. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
2. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
3. Things Have Changed
4. Tangled Up In Blue
5. Honest With Me
6. Spirit On The Water
7. The Levee's Gonna Break
8. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
9. High Water (For Charley Patton)
10. Simple Twist Of Fate
11. I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
12. Highway 61 Revisited
13. Forgetful Heart
14. Thunder On The Mountain
15. Ballad Of A Thin Man
16. Like A Rolling Stone (Bob on grand piano)
17. All Along The Watchtower (Bob on grand piano)
18. Blowin' In The Wind

it's funny cuz he digs so deep and plays so many songs compared to most classic rock touring artists but then he TOTALLY ALWAYS PLAYS watchtower, blowin' in the wind, and like a rolling stone

That has more 'old faves' than I would have expected.

when I saw him in '05 he played "I'll Remember You"! My heart leapt.

I re-discovered the mp3's I d/l of the "hears a who" set. Made a nice sleeve and label for a burned CD..

I guess he's not going to do "Green Eggs and Ham"

i've been looking at dylan setlists for like, most of my internet life, so sometimes i wish he'd dig a little deeper, play some things from Infidels or New Morning or something. but this show i just listened to sounded pretty cool.

I figure he played piano on the original therefore it's easier for him.

http://www.moviegoods.com/Assets/product_images/1020/240999.1020.A.jpg

it's funny cuz he digs so deep and plays so many songs compared to most classic rock touring artists but then he TOTALLY ALWAYS PLAYS watchtower, blowin' in the wind, and like a rolling stone

OTOH, they're probably not often recognizable as such- at least until he gets to the chorus (or mumbles a few consecutively intelligible lyrics).

The first time I saw him, mid-80s, he did an acoustic set including Blowin and Times They Are a-Changin, and it felt like Fogey Central. Saw him like 15 years later, and he did this mournful, bluesy version of Blowin' that was just gorgeous. So, yeah, unpredictable.

I don't think 68 minutes is necessarily a bad sign. For one thing, that could mean a 17-minute epic in there, and his track record on those is pretty good. But also, the longer songs on Modern Times completely trump the short ones on Together Through Life.

that could mean a 17-minute epic in there

The song about the TItanic is 14 minutes long.

As I've said elsewhere, the cover looks like a self-released smooth jazz album.

Xpost yeah, last time I saw him took me a verse or two to realize he was playing tangled up in blue

i have never seen dylan live!

i can't claim to be a superfan or anything, it just struck me.

it's weird to think how old love & theft is! he's been playing a lot of that album as a core part of his setlists for over a decade now.

― wack nerd zinging in the dead of night (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, July 17, 2012 4:58 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

puts me in mind of the woody allen conversations we've had here

I haven't seen Woody Allen live either.

we're watching him die

he played literally four blocks from my house last summer at the ballpark & I felt guilty that there's no way I'm going to an outdoor goes-on-forever rock show at a ballpark in the summer here no matter who it is

i dunno, the ballpark thing seems kind of fun? at least more fun than a hockey arena. best time i saw him was at the hollywood palladium.
here's a recent live thing i've been enjoying. i dunno, obviously the ragged vocals will be a roadblock for some, but i think he sounds great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCLBFvqyBkI

and check him out here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuHsXVSFkFs

cover looks like what i'd expect to see in a one-sheet on a new soft cell album anytime in the last 9 years

i dunno, the ballpark thing seems kind of fun? at least more fun than a hockey arena

yeah I guess - I really strongly prefer short sets so I don't go to classic-old-dude shows anyway, and one that's outside in punishing southern summer heat is one I'm especially not going to

yeah i don't know if i'd go if one of those was near me, but maybe if it was cheap ... a beer, a hot dog and blowin in the wind. america.

o t m

I'm mad at myself for not going to see that Dylan/Willie Nelson/John Mellencamp ballpark tour a few years back. Nearest show was 3 hours away, but still.

the only time i've ever seen dylan was in a saint pall ballpark with willie nelson opening (with part of a set pushing his reggae album, too!).

it sure as hell was fuckin america. i had cheese curds. me and my date sat on a blanket in the grass. dylan was doing 'masters of war' a lot then.

it sure as hell was fuckin america. i had cheese curds. me and my date sat on a blanket in the grass. dylan was doing 'masters of war' a lot then.
think this is a quote from On The Road isn't it?

when i was in high school i basically wanted nothing in the world more than to see dylan live but the neverending tour rarely finds its way to oahu let alone to the big island

then he came here to portland the other year and i was like, eh. see also: i could buy half a dozen super soaker xp35s now, and yet.

(i should still go see him at some point. i would like to. it was just an inconvenient week. also i doubt they make the xp35 anymore and nothing will ever be more platonically ideal.)

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef016302205689970d-pi

I saw one of the Palladium shows a few years ago and the main thing I remember about that gig is how many people were looking at Johnny Depp being bored at his VIP table instead of at Dylan. I really enjoyed the show though. Warm sound, reasonably sized venue.

A part of me wants to see him live now that he's ditched the organ crutch, but I don't think I'd go to an arena show to see God. Too bad fucking Knopfler's opening for him instead of John & Exene like last time.

hrm
http://www.jambands.com/images/2012/07/18/37190/DylanKnopfler-353x.jpg

knobpfler

money for knothin

Seen him three times, most recently in summer '05 with Nelson. The sound was fabulous: a locomotive running through a baseball stadium centerfield. Stuck to piano.

i guess dylan/knopf toured europe last fall together, did some jams, but sadly did not play infidels in its entirety.

he's really playing a bunch of these songs now (and really, a bunch of 21st century songs, too) -- check out the setlist from last night. premiered "roll on john" too.

Blackpool, England
Opera House Theatre
November 24, 2013

1. Things Have Changed (Bob center stage)
2. She Belongs To Me (Bob center stage with harp)
3. Beyond Here Lies Nothin' (Bob on grand piano, Donnie on electric mandolin)
4. What Good Am I? (Bob on grand piano, Tony on standup bass)
5. Duquesne Whistle (Bob on grand piano, Tony on standup bass)
6. Waiting For You (Bob on grand piano)
7. Pay In Blood (Bob center stage)
8. Tangled Up In Blue (Bob on grand piano)
9. Love Sick (Bob center stage with harp, Donnie on electric mandolin)
(Intermission)
10. High Water (For Charley Patton)
(Bob center stage with harp, Donnie on banjo, Tony on standup bass)
11. Simple Twist Of Fate (Bob on grand piano)
12. Early Roman Kings (Bob on grand piano)
13. Forgetful Heart (Bob center stage with harp, Donnie on violin, Tony on standup bass)
14. Spirit On The Water (Bob on grand piano, Tony on standup bass)
15. Scarlet Town (Bob on grand piano, Donnie on banjo, Tony on standup bass)
16. Soon After Midnight (Bob on grand piano)
17. Long And Wasted Years (Bob center stage)

(encore)
18. All Along The Watchtower (Bob on grand piano)
19. Roll On John (Bob on grand piano, Tony on standup bass)

maybe i'm the only one impressed with it, but seems impressive that he's barely leaning on the 60s-70s these days. anyhow, here's a recording of a show from last week:
http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=1651

nah that's totally impressive, might download that set! Bob's 21st century is better than his 80s and 90s & I might take it over his 70s too

to the delight of millions, he's finally playing that song from the ya-ya sisterhood soundtrack

Ha ha. I assume he is still mumbling/vocalizing in a cigarette-stained voice. Is he changing the arrangements of these more recent songs too?

The Tempest songs seem to be sticking to the original arrangements for the most part, and Bob actually sounds pretty good vocally -- check out "soon after midnight" - http://www.bigozine2.com/TRK/BDglasgow/BDglasgow207.mp3
i mean, he's not smooth or anything, but...

I love gravelly Bob. Gonna have to check out that show.

I love Roll On John, strongest song on the record for me initially

Really into this tonight as well.

Interesting read:
http://www.thenation.com/blog/170289/bob-dylans-tempest-qa-greil-marcus#

still so disappointed it's not

EACH OF 'EM BIGGER
THAN ALL OF 'EM PUT TOGETHER

all the evil cartoon plutocrat stuff in "early roman kings", and for how well it works Primary Dylan Gimmick of collapsing image systems, maybe a polite phrase for cliches, into each other, so that american-progressive-era robber-baron caricatures and modern conspicuous consumption and the tarquins and the caesars and rock stars and finally bob dylan are smeared across each other into a single big hallucination

been thinkin on today's listen that my 80s-pizzeria joke abt the album artwork upthread is actually onto something - the band is working similar territory to their past few albums together, sure, but somehow i get a faint 80s vibe from it, like that stretch of 80s rock syncretism that wasn't into looking forward and had come into some kind of double-triple-quadruple vision nostalgia from being made by old rockers who used to be young rockers who remembered the blues, but now streamlined and modernized for kind of functional purposes (fits in with the bob's-backing-band vibe). but now the incorporation includes all these older and more recent preoccupations of dylan's, so the banjo stuff, americana twinges, riverboat music, whatever, isn't being assayed for genuine performances of the original musics so much as it's just being fused into a vision/auditory hallucination of all these pasts. thus the weirdness of the songwriting/lyrics, too - a lennon assassination song at THIS point, the titanic ballad, the plutocrat/gangster/rome fusions.

It's got at least one other thing in common with his '80s albums - it's uneven as hell. I still like "Tempest" (the song) and "Pay in Blood" quite a bit.

Some misses, yes, but I like it way more than any of his other third act albums.

Long too

I also like Duquesne whistle and Roll on John

doesn't it seem like the fade on the titanic song is wrong

it should be him starting up more verses and it fades anyway like a cane-reaching-onto-the-stage kind of thing

haha

it's such a weird song, seams like Dylan saw Titanic and liked it enough to paraphrase it in a 14 minute long song?

funny stuff, referring to DiCaprio's character as "Leo" and all:

Leo took his sketchbook
He was often so inclined
He closed his eyes and painted
The scenery in his mind

His story in Chronicles of writing "Dignity" was about watching the news about Len Bias's death, so maybe he has a four-track near his TV chair.

Ronnie James Dio had stories about writing his big songs while watching NFL games.

Also, love this album's last track, "Roll On John."

I forgot that anecdote, need to reread Chronicles soon

Roll On, John is great

listening to "tempest" (the song) this really is a kooky thing

"Petals fell from flowers
'Til all of them were gone
In the long and dreadful hours
The wizard's curse played on"

it's somewhat similar to lily rosemary and the jack of hearts in its failed attempt at telling an epic tale on an epic scale