Bob Dylan, explored
‹ Late Renaissance
Cover of Tempest

Listen to the album

Why it matters

Released in the fiftieth anniversary year of his first album, it is one of his darkest records, full of violent ballads and blues. Its long title song about the Titanic and its farewell to John Lennon stand out.

Tempest was recorded in 2012 at Jackson Browne's studio in Santa Monica with Dylan's touring band and David Hidalgo, and Dylan again produced it as Jack Frost. It opens gently with "Duquesne Whistle", a jaunty swing number written with Robert Hunter, but much of what follows is dark: slow, grinding blues and long story-ballads in which betrayal and violence pile up. The title song runs about fourteen minutes and tells of the sinking of the Titanic in many verses over a lilting waltz, mixing historical figures with invented ones. The album closes with "Roll on John", a tribute to John Lennon built from echoes of Beatles songs. Dylan's voice is at its harshest here, and he uses it to growl and to tease. Critics praised its ambition and its storytelling, and it came out in the fiftieth anniversary year of his first album, which many reviews noted.

Track list · 10 songs

  1. 1Duquesne Whistle
  2. 2Soon After Midnight
  3. 3Narrow Way
  4. 4Long and Wasted Years
  5. 5Pay in Blood
  6. 6Scarlet Town
  7. 7Early Roman Kings
  8. 8Tin Angel
  9. 9Tempest
  10. 10Roll on John

Where its songs lead

Tin Angel · Same theme asBlackjack Davey1992Both tell of a lady who rides away with another man and a husband who rides after her.Tempest · Same theme asBlack Diamond Bay1976Both follow a cast of characters swept away in a disaster, an island eruption and the Titanic.Roll on John · Same theme asMurder Most Foul2020Both are late elegies for a murdered public figure named John, Lennon and Kennedy.Roll on John · Same theme asLenny Bruce1981Both are tributes to famous men he admired who died at forty.

Read onWikipedia ↗MusicBrainz ↗