Bob Dylan - Tempest, Sept. 11, 2012

I'm not sure I'm willing to see him again live. I've seen him great once or twice, terrible three or more times. Once (or twice?) I actually fell asleep. Weird how in Chicago he only bothers playing an arena once in a while. Wonder how he decides?

"Hey, can we play a club in October?"

"Sorry, Bob, all booked."

"What about a theater?"

"Nope, sorry."

"So is anything free? Minor league park? Circus tent?"

"Nope, just the hockey arena."

"Oh, OK. Let's play that, then."

Are those exact quotes or did you make those up?

I wish I had access to a transcript of every banal conversation Bob Dylan has ever had.

"What is for breakfast?"

"Eggs."

"Eggs without bacon are like the sky without blood."

"What does that mean?

"It means the day ain't done until the night goes swimming."

"But what does that mean?"

"It means get me some bacon, dammit."

"Oh, OK."

"The fool does not see the fork until it is stuck in his eye."

lol

early review from billboard. DEATH!

Death, whether it be the legacy of John Lennon, the sinking of the Titanic or a trio of cheating lovers, is a dominant subject on "Tempest," Bob Dylan's 35th studio album that is scheduled for release on Sept. 11.

The album marks a return to straight-forward, story-driven songwriting for Dylan. The 10 tracks are more in line with 1997's "Time Out of Mind," '76's "Desire" and '64's "Another Side of Bob Dylan"; a darkness has replaced the instrumental interludes, buoyancy and lightness of his last three albums.

"Early Roman Kings," a 12-bar blues that features David Hidalgo of Los Lobos on accordion, is featured in a music video that HBO and Cinemax began airing today (Aug. 2) in conjunction will the Cinemax series "Strike Back." Another song from the new album, "Scarlet Town" will play over the end credits of the first two episodes, which air Aug. 17. "Scarlet Town," rooted in English folk with banjo, acoustic guitar, fiddle and drums providing the accompaniment, plays out as a tale of doom, fate and potential redemption.

The song that will get the most attention though is the nearly 14-minute title track track. "Tempest," 45 verses written in accentual-syllabic verse with no chorus, is set aboard the Titanic, with characters ranging from an artist named Leo -- DiCaprio, one might assume -- to Jim Dandy, who hands over a chance at survival to youngster.

Besides Hidalgo, Dylan is backed by his touring band of guitarists Charlie Sexton and Stu Kimball, steel guitarist Donnie Herron, bassist Tony Garnier and drummer George G. Receli. Song structures are largely rooted in folk styles, though a few tunes veer into other rootsy areas.

"Soon After Midnight" is a bluesy doo-wop that echoes the Rays' "Silhouettes" and a bit of Santo & Johnny's "Sleepwalk" in an instrumental break; "Narrow Way" is a seven and a half minute riff-driven tune that straddles country and blues; and the bite of Warren Zevon comes out in "Pay in Blood," the chorus of which ends with the gripping line "I pay in blood/but not my own."

The album's final track is a tribute to John Lennon, "Roll on John." In one verse Dylan references the Beatles songs "Come Together," Ballad of John and Yoko" and "Slow Down"; elsewhere on the ballad he combines the metaphysical with the historical.

accentual-syllabic verse, well my my

i know, someone at billboard dropping heavy english major science!

The 10 tracks are more in line with 1997's "Time Out of Mind," '76's "Desire" and '64's "Another Side of Bob Dylan"

"The album is more in line with three albums that sound nothing like each other and have completely different songwriting"

Like Jim Dandy from Black Oak Arksanas?

xp haha yeah. not sure if you could pick three more different dylan albums. also like this helpful bit: "Song structures are largely rooted in folk styles, though a few tunes veer into other rootsy areas."

THE METAPHYSICAL

the secret inspiration behind TEMPEST
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_msHZhK8UVUE/SEw_L5bR-FI/AAAAAAAAAGg/D0cTBIXX1MA/s400/jim+dandy.jpg

Dylan should add Jim Dandy on electric washboard to his touring band for this album.

We live in a world where Lou Reed made an album with Metallica. Jim Dandy jamming with Dylan is basically fated to happen at this point.

Junior Dandy

i know, someone at billboard dropping heavy english major science!

And: "Tempest," Bob Dylan's 35th studio album that is scheduled for release on Sept. 11.

So the guy's releasing 35 albums on the same day? Ace! It's a record record.

noticed this tour billed as Bob Dylan w/ Mark Knopfler (!). getting tix to see him @ the greek in berkeley and i think that's a great place to see him

yo my numbers are always the tightest and my lines scan like nobody's business and if I don't get some "accentual-syllabic" love in the next cycle after this I'm gonna be pissed off, once you open that door Billboard you gotta start respecting the real

The Guardian newspaper reckons this is Dylan's "strongest album since Love And Theft"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2012/aug/06/bob-dylan-tempest-first-listen?intcmp=ILCMUSTXT9387

it'll have to be amazing to knock Christmas In The Heart from that place on the pedestal.

Admittedly -- that is a bit like saying "it's his best album since his last one". But still, I find it oddly encouraging since my expectations were/are rather low.

I like "Modern Times" better than "Love and Theft" but I guess I'm in the minority.

I think most people like Modern Times quite a lot, but maybe not as much as Love And Theft. I know I'm in the minority in that I think Modern Times is his worst record since the 80s.

Yikes! I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. FWIW, I don't like "Time Out of Mind" and a lot of people seem to regard that as a return to form.

Time Out Of Mind is right there at the bottom for me.

I'm a big TOOM fan. Perhaps above Love and Theft in my esteem.

Mod Times > Love/Theft > TOOM >>>> TTL

much prefer TOOM to all the leon redboney guff on L/T

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KawJXM64xrQ
accordion definitely makes it sound like it could've been on the together through life. lyrics are great.

I can dress up your wounds with a blood-clotted rag / I aint afraid to make love to a bitch or a hag

should have been 'bitch on the rag' imo

Great song, great sound. Looking forward to this more and more.

transformation into John Lee Hooker is complete, I see

Oh man, this is so good.

What killed the last one is fucking Robert Hunter. Who wants a Dylan record where Dylan doesn't write the words? I can handle blues boilerplate as long as Bob is writing the lyrics, and these sound ace (and he sounds ever closer to Tom Waits).

^^^ yeah you may be right -- hunter can be good, but i get the feeling he gets a call from dylan asking for lyrics and then throws together some dylan pastiches in a couple days.

& if he starts playing this new stuff on tour this fall, i will definitely go see him.

Could've gone on several Dylan threads, but since this is the most current:
Bob Dylan & The Band "Down In The Flood"
Comes to DVD on September 25
The Story Of Bob Dylan & The Band
Features exclusive new interviews with Garth Hudson, Ronnie Hawkins,
band producer John Simon & tour drummer Mickey Jones
In 1966 Bob Dylan began his first electric world tour. It was a landmark moment, both for Dylan and for the history of rock music, and it bitterly divided his audience.
Backing Dylan on stage was an obscure group of Canadian musicians collectively known as The Hawks. In the months following the tour they would join Dylan during a lengthy convalescence in New York's Catskill Mountains; when both parties re-emerged, Dylan had undergone an artistic transformation that sent ripples across American music and The Hawks had become simply 'The Band', one of the most important recording groups of their generation.
This is the story of the relationship between Dylan and The Band, the legendary amateur recordings that they made together in Woodstock, their re-invention of American music and their continued albeit sporadic relationship during the 1970s.
Featuring new interviews with Garth Hudson; Band producer John Simon; The Hawks' 66 tour drummer, Mickey Jones; the man who assembled and tutored the Hawks and from whom they took their name, Ronnie Hawkins; Dylan guitarist, Charlie McCoy; Band biographer Barney Hoskyns; Basement Tapes Archivist, Sid Griffin, Isis magazine's Derek Barker and Rolling Stone's Anthony De Curtis.
Also features rare footage, archive interviews, seldom seen photographs and the music that changed the world, all at once making for the finest program on this element of Bob Dylan and The Band's respective and communal careers yet to emerge.

Here's the trailer:
http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Sos3yFtht7H8Filb-bgffXnaPYjHv7Ny9hgAobo_pxcHOJtRqs0CpjNiD-Dr3Zs7YHd2Sqm5ELH2Z5TOqebUWVK5YlH_JUpYesnLqQAZJhRc-upzvoQ9rEXmAd1QhpwPGFR7uZKn_QAodx5yOZb8Rn4WLLaTEMnZo73ovXuZ4_a4SQKG-zi-qyBgnZ6-_jnd3WRG--Ngvq6ddwj1I7tLSjOgDzjQTz_FYrNCCRFj3rbsguTRWHWDzh7tlYb8voY1CCU6ESyi3muAK5HURkDu27TSMtZSktY7lzriOx-8dgQUdyJ82cALCbFQQa2gpIMkFgN4m09hm2WGBEGdn3syZA==

actually I disliked TTL because the tunes weren't memorable. I don't mind the words.

Or like this (warning: Anthony DeCurtis ahead)
http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Sos3yFtht7H8Filb-bgffXnaPYjHv7Ny9hgAobo_pxcHOJtRqs0CpjNiD-Dr3Zs7YHd2Sqm5ELH2Z5TOqebUWVK5YlH_JUpYesnLqQAZJhRc-upzvoQ9rEXmAd1QhpwPGFR7uZKn_QAodx5yOZb8Rn4WLLaTEMnZo73ovXuZ4_a4SQKG-zi-qyBgnZ6-_jnd3WRG--Ngvq6ddwj1I7tLSjOgDzjQTz_FYrNCCRFj3rbsguTRWHWDzh7tlYb8voY1CCU6ESyi3muAK5HURkDu27TSMtZSktY7lzriOx-8dgQUdyJ82cALCbFQQa2gpIMkFgN4m09hm2WGBEGdn3syZA==

damn, I'm trying to get the image!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYI75pGzwr8&feature=youtu.be&utm_source=Bob+Dylan+%2526+The+Band+%2522Down+In+The+Flood%2522+DVD+on+9%252F25&utm_campaign=Dylan+and+The+Band&utm_medium=email

oh well, use all that ugly stuff to link, it works

http://youtu.be/BYI75pGzwr8

Eh, I tried.

Looks interesting enough, but it also looks like they didn't/wouldn't/couldn't secure the music rights.

good idea for a doc, but it definitely looks like one of those endless parades of talking heads and no new footage/music. would love it if they finally released pennebaker's 66 tour film on DVD. eat the document too!

A lot of that stuff is on the expanded "Don't Look Back" DVD that came out a few years back.

http://www.docurama.com/docurama/bob-dylan-dont-look-back/

I imagine Sony is sitting on a pretty sizable chunk of '66 footage, just waiting to cram it into an insanely expensive coffee table box or something.