American Tempest

The Boston Tea Party affected so many American minds, hearts, and souls that it helped spawn a new, independent nation whose citizens would govern themselves for the first time in history…

Fifty years after Bob Dylan's debut album appeared, we get Tempest. Since he returned to recording original material on 1997's Time Out of Mind, he's been rambling through American musical styles – blues, country, folk, rockabilly, swing – that were popular before he was even on the scene. Tempest continues the exploration, but more urgently than on Modern Times and Together Through Life. It's a gritty, cantankerous record with abundant images of violence, lust, and humor, though the latter is often black. His protagonists settle scores with lovers, enemies, and power brokers; they're often self-aggrandizing and self-deprecating simultaneously.

Fifty years after Bob Dylan's debut album appeared, we get Tempest. Since he returned to recording original material on 1997's Time Out of Mind, he's been rambling through American musical styles – blues, country, folk, rockabilly, swing – that were popular before he was even on the scene. Tempest continues the exploration, but more urgently than on Modern Times and Together Through Life. It's a gritty, cantankerous record with abundant images of violence, lust, and humor, though the latter is often black.

Passionate spoken words and lyrical prose match with beats flooding in on a wave of emotion.