Bob Dylan: Tempest

     

     Never, in my generation, has a Bob Dylan album garnered so much hype. Without a doubt, this hype is warranted.  Since the late nineties, with the release of Love and Theft, Dylan has hit a new level of creativity that he has not experienced since he was a young man.  Now,  fifty years after his debut album, Dylan released Tempest, an incredible collection of songs that highlight what an austere figure the legend has become. 
     Lyrically, Dylan sings about the same things he always does: love, loss, rambling, and redemption.  Dylan honesty shines through in the album, as he doesn't change themes, but rather mood.  His lyrics and voice, now more ragged than ever, convey a world-weary mischievousness that only Bob Dylan can possess.  He sounds exhausted and ready to collapse, but filled with an energy that still causes him to sing, and live, the songs on the album.  Throughout Dylan's years, he hasn't really "grown up," and his songs about women put that on full, and glorious display.  At the same time, songs like "Long and Wasted Years" show the age in Dylan's illustrious life.  Also, the songs carry with a sort of aged confidence, something that the notoriously opaque Dylan is getting the hang of in his old age.
     Musically, Tempest is a collection of all the music Dylan has experienced throughout his life.  The album stays relatively true with its old-time rock theme, but Dylan also experiments with 12 bar blues and electric folk, among others.  The songs go together thematically, and instrumentally, giving Tempest one of Dylan's cohesive albums in years.
     The old adage of fine wine getting better with age is dated and cliche, but with an album like Tempest, it's hard not to use it.  As Dylan gets older, he seems to have a better, more wistful, outlook on life, and Tempest puts this on full pageantry.  Tempest is a beautiful conversation Dylan has with himself about the joys and sorrows of growing old.