Bob Dylan
Tempest

Thirty-fifth album for the artist considered the most influential of the last century by the official critics.

Even l'Osservatore Romano made an effort to review this record.

The album, in my opinion, presents itself very poorly. With a truly bad cover. Worthy of the worst Dylan of the '80s.

After the bestselling Together Through Life, Modern Times, and Love and Theft, comes this Tempest which is nothing more than yet another album of standard Rock blues without variations and with flat arrangements. Moreover, with long-duration songs. The song that gives the album its title lasts 14 minutes and doesn't have the slightest variation in the music. So do the other tracks.

What makes one angry is that in this (yet another) case the record possesses a truly great charm, the tracks (excluding the usual blues) are of great value. The lyrics are exceptional. "Roll on John," the track that closes the record, is a really great song. The problem with Tempest, in my opinion, is its production.

If only it had been entrusted to Daniel Lanois (Time out of mind/ Oh Mercy, two masterpieces) the album would have been unbeatable.

But Dylan relies only on Jack Frost and it shows (you know who Jack Frost is. It's Dylan himself).

Dylan's fans have proclaimed it a masterpiece (as always).

I think it's simply a good record, similar to Planet Waves and Street Legal in terms of overall quality.

Speaking of General.

In ROLL ON JOHN, Bob homages De Gregori's song outright by taking its main riff (okay, De Gregori also took WINTERLUDE and created Buonanotte Fiorellino)

The fact is that, as happened in 2001 by copying all the lyrics of the album from a Japanese poet and passing them off as his own, he always and only takes the proceeds.