Albums to watch

Tempest

Bob Dylan

Tempest

His 35th collection drawing from blues, folk and country, released on the 50th anniversary of his debut

ADM rating[?]

8.0

Label
Columbia
UK Release date
10/09/2012
US Release date
11/09/2012
  1. 10.0 |   Rolling Stone

    Tempest is musically varied and full of curveballs. It may also be the single darkest record in Dylan's catalog
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  2. 10.0 |   Uncut

    Tempest is in many respects the most far-reaching, provocative and transfixing album of Dylan’s later career
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  3. 10.0 |   The Arts Desk

    The best tracks on Tempest are as timeless and good as anything he has done. This is not the masterpiece he once promised, but there are moments when he comes close
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  4. 10.0 |   Mojo

    Tempest is Dylan's best musical album of this century, a vibrant maximising of strict rules and the savaged-leather state of that voice. Print edition only

  5. 10.0 |   Daily Telegraph

    Among his best ever
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  6. 9.1 |   A.V. Club

    If he has any final statements, he’s saving them. There’s too much work to be done
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  7. 9.0 |   Drowned In Sound

    He remains mesmeric after all these years
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  8. 9.0 |   Paste Magazine

    There aren’t many records like this one
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  9. 8.5 |   Prefix

    If this is Dylan's final album, which, given his age, is definitely (and definitely unfortunately) a possibility, it should go down as nearly the finest swan song imaginable
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  10. 8.4 |   Beats Per Minute

    Even by such lofty standards, Tempest succeeds enormously, placing it not only in the upper half of Dylan’s catalog, but also with the better submissions of 2012
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  11. 8.0 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    It’s not quite up there with the best of Dylan’s recent(ish) batch of records... It is, however, a million miles more inspired than 2008's light-hearted (or just plain lazy?) Together Through Life
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  12. 8.0 |   Blurt

    The craggy voice of the bard is rapt and crapped out, a blazing bright light bulb with a weirdly wired short to the prickly proceedings
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  13. 8.0 |   Spin

    As a sonic experience, Tempest kicks most Dylan albums in the cojones
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  14. 8.0 |   No Ripcord

    Dylan easily puts to rest those detractors who claim that he’s merely standing on the shoulders of greater artists. This is his music. It has always been his music
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  15. 8.0 |   The Scotsman

    [It] has more guts than 95 per cent of mainstream contemporary music
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  16. 8.0 |   Slant Magazine

    Whether or not it's intended with such postmodern irony, this crustily hammy, crowd-pleasing side of Dylan is one of his most satisfying
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  17. 8.0 |   The Observer

    It's his strongest album since Love and Theft in 2001, and still there's no pinning him down
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  18. 8.0 |   Independent on Sunday

    The songs are new but the format is familiar
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  19. 8.0 |   The Guardian

    There are incredible moments. No one has ever articulated furious contempt more vividly than Dylan at his peak, an emotion that's been noticeably lacking from his recent albums
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  20. 8.0 |   The Independent

    A typical celebration of storytelling and blues, in roughly equal proportions
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  21. 7.0 |   BBC

    Songs come and go in hazy cloud of fashionably bedraggled blues- and country-derived tunes. Though all are blessed with a wry and dusty charm that’s hard to dislike, too many are rolled out in a way that seems more to do with autopilot than passion
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  22. 7.0 |   PopMatters

    If it indulges in itself too much in moments, Tempest is still a great album, though not the late-career defining collection that early buzz claims
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  23. 7.0 |   musicOMH

    A flawed but mostly fascinating album
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  24. 7.0 |   NME

    10 sprawling yarns about the misery in this world
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  25. 7.0 |   All Music

    Dylan is in mostly excellent form - even when sloppy; it sounds like he's having the time of his life
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  26. 6.8 |   Pitchfork

    On Tempest, his latest album, Bob Dylan mostly sounds insane. That volatility can yield tremendous rewards
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  27. 6.0 |   State

    A decidedly mixed bag. Which means it’s certainly not up there with Blonde On Blonde, but nor is it down there with Self Portrait
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  28. 6.0 |   Tone Deaf

    The record will surely sit in the middle realms of his work
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  29. 6.0 |   Consequence Of Sound

    Beautiful, frightening, and altogether strange
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  30. 6.0 |   Q

    Music may be Dylan's last unreconstructed pleasure. But for a little judicious editing, it's a pleasure we could have shared with him. Print edition only


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Bob Dylan: Tempest

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