Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	83/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
American Songwriter
Chicago Tribune
Drowned in Sound	9/10
Entertainment Weekly	A
Magnet
Mojo
Paste	9/10
Pitchfork Media	6.8/10
Rolling Stone
Tiny Mix Tapes
Uncut	10/10

Tempest is the thirty-fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on September 10, 2012 by Columbia Records. The album was recorded at Jackson Browne's Groove Masters Studios in Santa Monica, California. Dylan wrote all of the songs himself with the exception of the track "Duquesne Whistle", which he co-wrote with Robert Hunter.

Tempest received universal acclaim from music critics, who praised its traditional music influences and Dylan's dark lyrics. The album peaked at number three on the Billboard 200.

Rolling Stone reported that the fourteen-minute long title track "Tempest" is about the RMS Titanic and includes references to the James Cameron film Titanic (1997). The song "Roll on John" is a tribute to John Lennon. It includes references to some of his songs, including The Beatles' "Come Together" and "A Day in the Life."

The album's title initially spurred rumors that it would be Dylan's final album, based on its similarity to the title of Shakespeare's final play. Dylan later responded: "Shakespeare's last play was called The Tempest. It wasn't called just plain "Tempest". The name of my record is just plain Tempest. It's two different titles."

The cover art for Tempest incorporates a dark red duotone photograph of a statue located at the base of the Pallas-Athene Fountain in front of the Austrian Parliament Building in Vienna. The statue is one of four figures on the intermediate platform of the fountain bowl personifying the main rivers of Austria-Hungary: the Danube, the Inn, the Elbe, and the Moldau. The figure shown on the album cover represents the Moldau. The sculpture was created by Carl Kundmann between 1893 and 1902 based on architect Theophil Hansen's original plans. The photograph was taken by Alexander Längauer from his portfolio, and the package was designed by Coco Shinomiya. As with all Dylan albums of the past 15 years, the packaging features minimal credits and no printed lyrics. The deluxe limited edition CD includes a 60-page notebook of rare vintage magazines with Bob Dylan on frontcover. The covers are from the collections of Magne Karlstad and Oddbjørn Saltnes.

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Wikipedia