Bob Dylan, News

What we think we know about the new Bob Dylan album

15 Comments

The title is Tempest.
It has ten songs.
It will be released September 11th 2012 in the US.

Update: Release date UK September 10th 2012 (according to nme.com)

Update: Release date Norway September 7th 2012 (according to platekompaniet.no)

David Hidalgo says it has a Latin American influence with a Tres Guitar.

It is Bob Dylan’s 35th studio album.

It is recorded at Jackson Browne’s Los Angeles studio.

It was recorded from January to March this year.

It marks Bob Dylan’s  50TH anniversary as a recording artist.

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

Track 10 is about John Lennon (and it’s a long song, 9 minutes(?)), it quotes lines from multiple Beatles songs, including “Come together right now” from “Come Together” and “I heard the news today, oh boy” from “A Day in the Life.”

Tempest is also a play by William Shakespeare (his last).

The picture on the front is of a statue in Austria depicting Pallas a Greek godess.

Update: The picture on the front is not depicting the Greek goddess Pallas! In fact it depicts the female allegory of the river Vltava (Moldau) which indeed is part of the Pallas monument in front of the Austrian Parliament. The Elbe and the Vltava on the backside, the Danube and the Inn on the front. (Thanks to Mierow Brothers, also see the comments)

The statue has been colorized into a blood like color for the album artwork.

It is produced by Jack Frost (a Dylan alias).

The T in the title looks like a cross.

The first track, Duquesne Whistle, appears to be a reference to a 1933 Time Magazine article about a small Pennsylvania steel town.

Tempest (the ninth track) might be about The Titanic and could be around 14 minutes long.

The Album is supposedly 68 minutes long.

The 5th track, Pay in Blood, includes the line, “I’ll pay in blood, but not my own.”

It will be released in the following formats:
1) A “standard” CD jewel case release.
2) A “deluxe” CD release.
3) A double vinyl LP release.
4) iTunes release.

Update: The font of the word Tempest comes from resembles that of a 1961 advert for the Pontiac Tempest (Thanks to stephenoxford and Matthew , check out the comments…)

Update: Pallas Athene was the Shaker of the Spear… just to make a connection with Shakespeare’s The Tempest (Tank you Christopher Twigg, check the comments)

– Hallgeir

15 thoughts on “What we think we know about the new Bob Dylan album”

  1. Pallas Athene was the Shaker of the Spear… just to make a connection with Shakespeare’s The Tempest

    1. Yes, I read that…and when it comes to Dylan you never know, this could be a deliberate reference. I’ll put it into the post, thanks!

      – Hallgeir

  2. Also, “Scarlett Town” is the title of an excellent song from the recent Gillian Welch album. Cover?

  3. It’s been stated elsewhere but I’ll repeat it: The picture on the front is not depicting the Greek goddess Pallas! In fact it depicts the female allegory of the river Vltava (Moldau) which indeed is part of the Pallas monument in front of the Austrian Parliament. The Elbe and the Vltava on the backside, the Danube and the Inn on the front.

  6. The font of the word Tempest comes from a 1961 advert for the Pontiac Tempest, leading to a debate that the album has an overall “car” or “transport” theme!

    1. Yes, I’ve read that, and it’s interesting, but I’m not totally convinced (yet), but it may be the case, and we will lokk into it when we get some more information on the songs…

      The fact about the font is very interesting, and I will put it into the post, thank you!

      – Hallgeir

  7. I believe the statue depicted is Bernini’s Ecstacy of Saint Theresa, which statue is in Rome.

Comments are closed.