Tempest by Bob Dylan
 

Any opinions about this album, which won the most recent FAIR club poll ? Where would you place it among his 40-odd other albums; a high point or a low point ? Which tracks do like or dislike ? Is there any background info that we should know about ?

It's alright. He has much better albums. "Tin angel" is a pretty cool, though.

Although blastingas sounds a bit luke-warm about this album, I haven`t been as impressed by a Dylan album since "Love and Theft", or maybe even "Oh Mercy."
With the track you mention, Tin Angel, Dylan returns to a form of which he is surely the absolute master; the epic story song. And this story has all the best Dylan trademarks; the sense of mystery and drama and the little unnecessary details, which bring the characters to life. I love the way he slips in the line, He ran his hand through his greasy hair, the same way I loved the way he slipped, She was thinking about her father, whom she very rarely saw into Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts.
The 14-minute title track is another superb story song, which demonstrates how Dylan is able to jump around between different worlds. With Tin Angel he revisits the surreal gothic Americana landscape of Isis, while with Tempest ( and elsewhere on the album) he trawls through real events and popular culture; not just the Titanic disaster itself, but the protagonists of the famous movie too.
Without doing a track by track analysis, I`d say that "Tempest" has enough great lyrics and varied, lively music to make it an excellent return to form by one of the few people in modern music that I would label as a genius. Fifty years and thirty-five albums after the release of "Bob Dylan," and he can still come up with a batch of fresh, surprising, satisfying songs ... and that is quite an acheivement.

I can't really say I've ever been much of a fan of Dylan and the fact that his voice is somewhat worse for wear on this outing didn't really help in my appreciation. The songwriting and production all sound pretty top notch but without feeling that connection to the artist at it's core it seems like I am probably missing the point. Sorry to say Lisnaholic that I am only rating this one ok.

Well I would say its the best of his last few. As you said, the last Dylan album to really really impress me was Oh Mercy. That probably ranks in my Dylan top 10. Time out of Mind was probably his last solid album, in my opinion. Maybe Modern Times

I thought the stencils around town were pretty cool. It had an app where you could hear some songs if you were close enough to a stencil.

Absolutely excellent album. I did't expect it to be that good. Definitely one of his best late-career works. Like it was said: after all these years and albums it's amazing that he still can impress us with his genius work. I love his voice very much. I like Tin Angel, Early Roman Kings and Soon After Midnight, but my favorite song of the album is Scarlet Town (right now it's even my favorite Dylan song of all time).
I read that there were rumors that this would be his last album, because it has the same name as Shakespeare's last work,but Dylan has denied the rumors.

It is weird to think, though, that any of Dylan's next albums could be his last for whatever reasons. So strange. I haven't heard Tempest yet because I have been going chronologically with Dylan although I've been tempted to grab it on impulse. Maybe I will once the price goes down on vinyl copies.

So do you only buy vinyls, chives? I've noticed. I have a decent vinyl collection but I still buy CDs to listen to when I'm in the car.

Unless it's a really cheap cd, like a buck, yeah I buy stuff on vinyl then. I listen to a ton of CD rips and other digital versions of albums before I make big vinyl purchases but if I'm going to lay down actual money, it is always records. I've bought stuff on CD so many times and then later ended up regretting it and upgrading to vinyl copies. I just skip the middle man nowadays.

I don't have a car, so I don't have any drive to pick up CDs at all! I have some, mostly from before the time that I had a good record player set-up, but I'd say it's 60 albums on CD versus 150-200 playable albums on vinyl.

Nice. I have around 50 vinyls. I was collecting hard when I first got my record player but lately I've slowed down a lot.

On a side note, you should check out the video I posted in the Bob Dylan thread.

Just written a quick review of this album, but I'll add to this thread too --

I really enjoyed this album, and I'm one of a few people I know who think Dylan's work is getting better and better! One thing I didn't mention my review is that I think there's been an incredible progression in Bob Dylan's words over the course of nearly fifty years, if we look at for instance, "Tombstone Blues" from Highway 61 Revisited, we encounter words like "where Ma Rainey and Beethoven once unwrapped their bedroll, tuba players now rehearse around the flagpole, and the national bank at a profit sells road-maps for the soul, to the old folk's home, and the college!"
We see confusion, frustration and sometimes the words are surreal (don't get me wrong, I love every word), but then in his later albums, he is becoming increasingly worldly wise, and we hear instead "In this worldly domain, full of disappointment and pain, you'll never see me frown".

Good to see you again, salami.

I voted "Good". I listened to it a lot in the weeks after its release, and it took me a few tries before I started digging it, both because his voice is a ruin, the songs are quite repetitive, and some instruments are too low in the mix. But even so, I'm fond of the album now, and I really enjoy it. Of course, he's never going to be match his best 60s/70s stuff (and no, I'm not referring to the debut and Self-Portrait when I say that. :p ), but I'm glad he's still around, releasing music superior to 90% of whatever else is being released.

I know what you mean. The last 15 years have been stellar. Four of his last six albums (including Tempest) are in my Favorite Dylan Dozen now. Those four albums have now squeezed out every album before Bringing It All Back Home from my list. Freewheelin' being the last casualty. :(

These are my Favorite Dylan Dozen

01. Blonde On Blonde
02. Blood On The Tracks
03. Time Out Of Mind
04. Highway 61 Revisited
05. Bringing It All Back Home
06. Desire
07. John Wesley Harding
08. Love and Theft
09. Oh Mercy
10. Tempest
11. Infidels
12. Modern Times

I only listened to Tempest half a dozen times so time will tell if it moves up or down. I'll have to listen to Infidels, Modern Times and Freewheelin' again to make sure Tempest belongs where I put it.

Where does Tempest stand with you guys? Does it make your Favorite Dylan Dozen?

Sadly, no. It's at number 13 or 14, I would say. That still it means it's pretty high up, though.

Yeah...good to hear its a decent Dylan album for ya. On my first listening I was thinking middle of the road for the album. Went from 3 to 5 stars on just a few more spins before I read any reviews or fellow fan opinions. I've always listened to Dylan albums cold. I probably also weigh Dylan albums one par up from most Dylan fans because of how young I was when I got into him (12 years old) and because in the 38 years since, I've anticipated every album and every tour. Well...every tour since '05 which was my last show. Hope to get to see him next time around just for ol' timers sake. :)

it fits easily into the top 6 of his studio canon for me. on a good day, it will crack the top 4. I'm finding it's a difficult album for warm sunny days though, a perfect fall release since that time through March seems to be about the ideal time of year for it. Although, the summer time will make songs like Narrow Way and Pay in Blood sing out even more than they do already ...