<a href="http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/bobDylan_2275506b2.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-7819" src="http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/bobDylan_2275506b2.jpg" alt="" width="690" height="387" /></a>

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I haven’t always been a Bob Dylan fan. Being the son of a quirky engineer 60s folk music aficionado, I now live with a personality shaped by the nasal twang sound track that assaulted my young and impressionable ears. As the years rolled on, like a rolling stone, my musical tastes began to morph from 80s hardcore punk, to 90s Manchester shoe-gazing bands and eventually to an appreciation and love of of Bob Dylan. The generational gap was filled completely when I had the honor and blessing of treating my dad to see Dylan live at the Houston Rodeo in 2000. Although my dad always classified himself as an “old school” Dylan fan, I can’t help but imagine the emotions that he must have felt sitting beside his 31 year old son and enjoying the same music he had for much of his life. It was a spiritual experience.
I don’t get paid for being a music critic and I’m certainly not a professional music reviewer. My intention in this review comes from a desire to express what I feel in listening to Bob Dylan’s newest album release, “Tempest”. For when my ears attended to this 68 minute compilation of lyrical nostalgia, I thought of my dad. He died 7 years ago, but it is through the music of Bob Dylan that he lives on in my life.
<em>“Dad, what do you think of the new Bob Dylan album?” I would say.</em>

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<em>“I don’t know. What do want me to say? I’m an old school Dylan fan. It’s good to see him still making music, but I just can’t get into his new stuff.”</em> he would respond with a smirk on his face. He wouldn’t allow me to think that I “got” Dylan in a deeper way than he did.

<a href="http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Bob-Dylan-Tempest1.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-7820" src="http://provoketive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Bob-Dylan-Tempest1.jpg" alt="" width="195" height="173" /></a>And so the argument would develop. Because you see, I think that “Tempest” is one of the most “real” albums that Dylan has released in a long time. I would be tempted to say that it is his best work, but that’s impossible considering the vast array of “best” albums he has released. But I would argue that he has not been more real in musical expression since his 1997 release, “Time Out of Mind”, and “Tempest” is certainly more appealing than his last droning release, “Together Through Time”. Dylan has definitely reclaimed his place in modern music, but with “Tempest”, he has ceased the losing battle of trying to be something that he’s not; both musically and personally.

At 71, the mere fact that Dylan is still able to carry a tune is nothing short of a miracle, but it never fails. With the release of every new Bob Dylan album, there is the collective cry from fair-weathered fans and arm chair critics; “Man, his voice is really sounding horrible!” This revelation would actually mean something if Dylan ever had a voice to begin with. With a career that spans fifty years, Dylan has always been known as a lyricist and songwriter; not an eloquent singer. The closest that he ever came to being labeled for his vocal ability was the release of “Nashville Skyline” in 1969, when he supposedly quit smoking. And how many of us have to admit that when we first realized that “Lay Lady Lay” was Dylan, said to ourselves, “That’s Dylan?”
This is the man that David Bowie sang of having a “voice like sand and glue”. And although today one might say it more resembles gravel and tar, the sentiment still stands. Dylan seems to slip comfortably into the voice that God and life has given him; both physically and philosophically. “Tempest” is a collection of raspy phlegm coated bellows of soot that would be rejected by most of the music industry if it was not for one simple fact: He’s Bob Dylan. The substance of lyrics has always overshadowed the content and this release does not contradict the dichotomy of Dylan’s music. In “Tempest” Dylan reaches back to a simple concept that launched him into an American icon: Story. With songs that range in topic from life, death, murder, culture, despair and eventually hope, reveal that he not only views the landscape, but sees redemption on the horizon.
The album deceitfully begins with the whimsical lighthearted “Duquesne Whistle”, reminiscent of a classic western flavored swing tune. The simple blowing a train whistle takes Dylan though a list of analogies, reminiscent of his early Woody Guthrie influenced canticles. But the whistle blows a false sense of expectation in what’s to come.
From this point on the album takes a much darker turn, not so much in a negative sense, but in the stark realities of living a long life and facing a redemption that is not always easy. “I’m searching for phrases/to sing your praises.” The opening line to “Soon After Midnight” quickly catches the attention. I wonder if Dylan is expressing his battles of faith. I imagine him confronting the dichotomy of faith and reality. “It’s a long road, it’s a long a narrow way”, which most of us would agree with. The road is long.  The road is narrow. “Narrow Way” concludes that “If I can’t work up to you, you'll surely have to work down to me someday” Obviously Dylan parallels the thoughts from the Gospel of Matthew, “But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
“I could stone you to death for the wrongs that you’ve done….The more I die/the more I live….I pay in blood, but not my own” “Pay in Blood” reveals a harder edge and changes the albums mood quickly. There are no illusions of faith here. Death and vengeance may redeem, but they find a wide gate to enter. Death is a common theme in “Tempest”. A Gloomy atmosphere continues to develop. “Scarlet Town” is long 7 minute dark journey of repetition, but the journey gets darker. Blues lead in to a 14 minute sea chanty, which tells the dark story of the sinking of the Titanic, filled with grim descriptions of despair and death. Dark humor creeps out of the story, with references to Leonardo DeCaprio touting his sketch book.
“Tempest” concludes with a tribute to John Lennon in “Roll on John”. The positioning of this song, at the far end of a very real and melancholy collection of music, causes one to wonder if Dylan ponders what his end will be like. Mortality is an essential aspect of redemption. You can see Dylan pointing out similarities to Lennon, similar journeys that the two have shared and lyrics that cross musical boundaries. Mortality is something that we all face. But facing it’s reality in the cloak of redemption brings a strange peace. Tempest is dark, but filled with a peaceful reconciliation of a life filled with darkness and light.