
Bob Dylan
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Bob Dylan Announces New Double Album 'Rough And Rowdy Ways,' Releases New Single "False Prophet"
Bob Dylan has been teasing something of late. In March, he unleashed the epic "Murder Most Foul," followed by "I Contain Multitudes" in April, his first new orginal releases in eight years. Now the GRAMMY winner gives us "False Prophet," reveealing in the songs' artwork the promise of a forthcoming new album, Rough And Rowdy Ways.
The new double album in vinyl and CD formats is due out June 19, the first collection of original music since 2012's The Tempest. In recent years, Dylan's taken a deep dive into the Great American songbook, releasing three albums of standards, including 2017's triple album, Triplicate.
Sony Music CEO Rob Stringer said of the new material, “These songs are unprecedented. By Bob or anybody else.”
The new song, "False Prophet," is much more of a lively, mid-tempo romp than the two new songs preceeding it, and its title at least seems to riff off of a career spent in the brightest of spotlights.
“You feel like an impostor when someone thinks you’re something and you’re not,” Dylan said on 60 Minutes in 2004. “I never wanted to be a prophet or savior. Elvis, maybe. I could easily see myself becoming him. But prophet? No.”
Rough And Rowdy Ways will arrive as Dylan's 39th studio album, and just his seventh in the last 23 years. It'll contain 10 songs, suggesting "Murder Most Foul" might be included in its yet-to-be-revealed tracklist and/or that the songs may lean toward lengthy.
Variety keenly points out the album's title matches that of an old Jimmie Rodgers song of the same name, and wonders if this teases a title track cover of the song or perhaps just a borrowed phrase. At 78 years-old, the great Bob Dylan still knows how to keep people guessing...
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