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Triplicate (Bob Dylan album)

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Triplicate
Studio album by
Bob Dylan
ReleasedMarch 31, 2017
StudioCapitol (Hollywood)
GenreTraditional pop
Length95:42
LabelColumbia
ProducerJack Frost
Bob Dylan chronology
The 1966 Live Recordings
(2016) 		Triplicate
(2017) 		The Bootleg Series Vol. 13: Trouble No More 1979–1981
(2017)
Singles from Triplicate
  1. "I Could Have Told You"
    Released: January 30, 2017
  2. "My One and Only Love"
    Released: February 17, 2017
  3. "Stardust"
    Released: March 10, 2017

Triplicate is the thirty-eighth studio album by Bob Dylan, released by Columbia Records on March 31, 2017.[1] As with most of Dylan's 21st century output, he produced the album himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.

Like Dylan's previous two studio albums, Triplicate features covers of classic American songs recorded live with his touring band and without the use of overdubs.[2] The album is Dylan's first three-disc album, featuring thirty songs across its three discs, each individually titled and presented in a thematically-arranged 10-song sequence.[3]

As with his previous two albums of American pop standards, Triplicate received widespread critical acclaim. It was nominated at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards in the category of Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.[4] Despite the favorable reviews, it peaked at number 37 on the Billboard 200 and number 17 on the UK Albums Chart.

Background and recording

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Following Shadows in the Night in 2015 and Fallen Angels in 2016, Triplicate was Dylan's third album in three years to consist entirely of "standards" from the Great American Songbook. According to Dylan, the first two albums "only were part of the picture", and he felt it necessary to explore this music in further detail.[2] Although the songs could have fit on two CDs, Dylan wanted each disc to be only 32 minutes long as he believed some of his previous albums had been "overloaded", resulting in a "thin" audio quality when pressed on vinyl records. The three discs were thematically divided, with "one disc foreshadowing the next".[2]

The title and concept of Triplicate are thought by some to be an homage to Frank Sinatra's 1980 Reprise Records 3-LP set Trilogy: Past Present Future, each album of which has a separate title like the three albums of Dylan's set.[5][6] According to Dylan scholar Alan Fraser, however, "Andreas Volkert has researched the playing cards depicted on the cover of Fallen Angels and discovered they were made by the famous playing card manufacturer Andrew Dougherty and called 'Chinese Dragon Back No. 81'. Andreas has now discovered that Andrew Dougherty also created in 1876 a set of playing cards in which a miniature card was placed in the top left and bottom right corners of the cards called... 'Triplicate'! The original 1876 'Triplicate' cards were reissued in 2014. It's very possible this could be another source of inspiration for Bob's album title".[7]

The songs were recorded in Capitol Studios in Los Angeles with Dylan's touring band, without the use of overdubs. According to Dylan, the songs were performed "tightly" according to written arrangements, and there was virtually no improvisation during the recording sessions.

Release and promotion

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Dylan had teased the album's release by performing "Once Upon a Time", a song previously recorded by both Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, for the Tony Bennett Celebrates 90: The Best Is Yet to Come concert, which premiered on NBC on December 20, 2016. Actor Steve Buscemi introduced Dylan's performance by noting that Dylan and Bennett "share a friendship based on their mutual interests of music, painting and social activism".[8] Spin Magazine called the performance "gorgeous" the following day.[9]

Triplicate was preceded by the release of three singles—"I Could Have Told You" on January 30, 2017, "My One and Only Love" on February 17,[10] and "Stardust" on March 10. While "I Could Have Told You" was also released on promotional CD, the other singles were released only digitally. All three were featured in videos posted to YouTube of the tracks being played on a vinyl record player, complete with surface noise.

The album was released on March 31 in CD, vinyl, deluxe vinyl, and digital formats.[11] The deluxe vinyl is individually numbered and comes in a hardbound case with swing pockets.[12]

Packaging

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Triplicate has the most minimalist cover art of Dylan's entire discography: only the album's title is featured, printed in white lettering and "Goudy Text" font against a glossy, deep purple background.[13][14] There are two photographs of Dylan on the album's inner sleeves that are credited to John D. Shearer.[15] The package also contains an essay by novelist Tom Piazza, the first time liner notes have appeared in a Dylan studio album since Dylan's self-penned notes for World Gone Wrong in 1993. Among the claims in Piazza's essay is the notion that Dylan is presenting songs that "you may have thought you knew to the final decimal point" but which "you may feel you are hearing for the first time, transfigured".[16] This echoes the theme of "transfiguration" on Dylan's previous album of original material, 2012's Tempest, which Dylan explicitly discussed with Mikal Gilmore in a Rolling Stone interview at the time of that album's release.[17]

Critical reception and legacy

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.6/10[18]
Metacritic80/100[19]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[20]
Drowned in Sound8/10[21]
Exclaim!8/10[22]
The Guardian[23]
The Irish Times[24]
Now[25]
Pitchfork6.5/10[26]
Rolling Stone[27]
Slant[28]
The Times[29]

The release of Triplicate garnered further critical acclaim for Dylan and his interpretations of American standards. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 80, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 21 professional reviews.[19] At AnyDecentMusic?, which collates critical reviews from more than 50 media sources, the album scored 7.6 points out of 10.

In a review for The Guardian, critic Jon Dennis called Dylan "a prism through which American music is revealed in new and fascinating ways", and considering his chosen material, "Dylan is unintimidated by their pedigree".[23] Mikal Gilmore wrote in Rolling Stone that Dylan was able to "wield phrasing as effectively as Sinatra himself".[27] Jeremy Winograd of Slant Magazine said that Dylan had "breathed new life into these songs, unearthing, or at least rediscovering, an emotional gravitas within them".[28] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic said that the collection "cements his place as one of the most distinctive interpreters of the Great American Songbook".[20]

A few critics gave more lukewarm appraisals of the album. Mike Powell of Pitchfork said that "the ballads, beautiful as they are, sometimes feel static, bereft of that innerverse opened by singers like Johnny Hartman or, say, Willie Nelson, whose own standards album Stardust remains a high point for projects like this".[26] In a review entitled "Bob Dylan should stop crooning and get back to writing songs", Neil McCormick of The Telegraph argued that "Triplicate is an act of self-indulgence only of interest to completists". While "you may find yourself drawn into Dylan's peculiar rhythm, surrendering to the delicate mood, and really hearing these gorgeous old songs anew," he said, "we might be intrigued to read Picasso's poetry or hear Pinter's songbook but no one needs five volumes of it. Now it is surely time to find out what all of this is bringing to Dylan's own original art. He didn't win the Nobel Prize for crooning".[30]

NJArts critic Jay Lustig considered Triplicate a "mere footnote" to Dylan's career but identified "When the World Was Young" as his favorite song on the album.[31]

When critic Ray Padgett ranked all 52 of the songs from Dylan's American Songbook albums in 2017, six of his top 10 choices were from Triplicate. The highest rated was "The September of My Years" at number two, about which Padgett wrote, "Accompanied by little more than some steel guitar and [Tony] Garnier’s bass (there it is again), Dylan delivers one of his best-ever vocal performances".[32]

"Why Was I Born?", the album's closing track, was placed 19th on Rolling Stone's 2020 list of Dylan's best songs of the 21st century. In an article accompanying the list, critic Jon Dolan wrote: "Dylan croons, his gruff moan giving these lovelorn riddles an existential weight, as if, having lived deep into his seventies, he’s wondering more urgently than ever how to make his life matter. As always, he makes the story his own".[33]

Commercial performance

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Triplicate peaked at number 37 on the Billboard 200, charting for only two weeks before falling off.[34] It also reached number 17 on the UK Albums Chart, spending two weeks on the chart.[35]

Track listing

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Disc 1 – 'Til the Sun Goes Down
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plans"Arthur Schwartz, Howard Dietz2:27
2."September of My Years"Jimmy Van Heusen, Sammy Cahn3:25
3."I Could Have Told You"Carl Sigman, Jimmy Van Heusen3:37
4."Once Upon a Time"Charles Strouse, Lee Adams3:37
5."Stormy Weather"Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler3:05
6."This Nearly Was Mine"Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II2:48
7."That Old Feeling"Sammy Fain, Lew Brown3:38
8."It Gets Lonely Early"Jimmy Van Heusen, Sammy Cahn3:10
9."My One and Only Love"Guy Wood, Robert Mellin3:21
10."Trade Winds"Cliff Friend, Charles Tobias2:40
Total length:31:48
Disc 2 – Devil Dolls
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Braggin'"Jimmy Shirl, Robert Marko, Henry Katzman2:44
2."As Time Goes By"Herman Hupfeld3:22
3."Imagination"Jimmy Van Heusen, Johnny Burke2:34
4."How Deep Is the Ocean"Irving Berlin3:23
5."P.S. I Love You"Gordon Jenkins, Johnny Mercer4:17
6."The Best Is Yet to Come"Cy Coleman, Carolyn Leigh2:57
7."But Beautiful"Jimmy Van Heusen, Johnny Burke3:22
8."Here's That Rainy Day"Jimmy Van Heusen, Johnny Burke3:27
9."Where Is the One"Alec Wilder, Edwin Finckel3:14
10."There's a Flaw in My Flue"Jimmy Van Heusen, Johnny Burke2:47
Total length:32:07
Disc 3 – Comin' Home Late
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Day In, Day Out"Rube Bloom, Johnny Mercer3:01
2."I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night"Harold Adamson, Jimmy McHugh3:15
3."Sentimental Journey"Les Brown, Ben Homer, Bud Green3:11
4."Somewhere Along the Way"Jimmy Van Heusen, Sammy Gallop3:18
5."When the World Was Young"Philippe-Gérard, Angèle Vannier, Johnny Mercer3:47
6."These Foolish Things"Eric Maschwitz, Jack Strachey4:11
7."You Go to My Head"John Frederick Coots, Haven Gillespie3:06
8."Stardust"Hoagy Carmichael, Mitchell Parish2:30
9."It's Funny to Everyone but Me"Jack Lawrence2:38
10."Why Was I Born"Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II2:50
Total length:31:47
Streaming sampler[36]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."The Best Is Yet to Come"Cy Coleman, Carolyn Leigh2:58
2."These Foolish Things"Eric Maschwitz, Jack Strachey4:11
3."It's Funny to Everyone but Me"Jack Lawrence2:39
4."When the World Was Young"Philippe-Gérard, Angèle Vannier, Johnny Mercer3:47
5."I Could Have Told You"Carl Sigman, Jimmy Van Heusen3:40
6."Sentimental Journey"Les Brown, Ben Homer, Bud Green3:12
7."That Old Feeling"Sammy Fain, Lew Brown3:39
8."My One and Only Love"Guy Wood, Robert Mellin3:24
9."Stardust"Hoagy Carmichael, Mitchell Parish2:35
10."Once Upon a Time"Charles Strouse, Lee Adams3:35
Total length:33:40

Personnel

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Adapted from the liner notes.

  • Bob Dylan – vocals

Additional musicians

Production and design

  • Steve Genewick – assistant engineering
  • James Harper – horn arrangements/conducting
  • Greg Calbi – mastering
  • Geoff Gans – album artwork
  • Tom Piazza – liner notes

Charts

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References

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  1. ^ "Bob Dylan's Triplicate". AARP. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  2. ^ a b c Flanagan, Bill (March 22, 2017). "Q&A with Bill Flanagan | The Official Bob Dylan Site". www.bobdylan.com. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  3. ^ "Bob Dylan: Triplicate - CD | Shop the Bob Dylan Official Store". bobdylan.shop.musictoday.com. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
  4. ^ "60th GRAMMY Awards: Full Nominees List". Grammys. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
  5. ^ "Review: With 'Triplicate,' Bob Dylan triples down exploring Great American Songbook". Los Angeles Times. March 22, 2017. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  6. ^ "Review: Bob Dylan's Sprawling Standards Album Triplicate Highlights His Idiosyncratic Charms". Spin. March 31, 2017. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  7. ^ "Triplicate (2017)". searchingforagem.com. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  8. ^ Bob Dylan - Once Upon A Time - Tony Bennett Celebrates 90 12/20/16, May 25, 2020, retrieved June 9, 2021
  9. ^ "Watch Bob Dylan's Gorgeous "Once Upon a Time" Performance at Last Night's Tony Bennett Tribute Show". Spin. December 21, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  10. ^ "Listen to Bob Dylan's cover of Frank Sinatra's 'My One and Only Love' - NME". NME. February 18, 2017. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  11. ^ "Bob Dylan's First Three-Disc Album — Triplicate — Set For March 31 Release | The Official Bob Dylan Site". bobdylan.com. Archived from the original on February 1, 2017. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  12. ^ "Bob Dylan: Triplicate - Deluxe Limited Vinyl | Shop the Bob Dylan Official Store". bobdylan.shop.musictoday.com. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  13. ^ "Goudy Text in use". Fonts in Use. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
  14. ^ Amral, Constance (September 10, 2019). "Bob Dylan Album Covers Ranked Worst to Best". THE WAH EFFECT. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
  15. ^ "Bob Dylan - Triplicate". Discogs. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
  16. ^ "Bob Dylan - Triplicate". April 13, 2017. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  17. ^ Gilmore, Mikal (September 27, 2012). "Bob Dylan Unleashed". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
  18. ^ "Bob Dylan: Triplicate". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved June 13, 2018.
  19. ^ a b "Reviews and Tracks for Triplicate by Bob Dylan – Metacritic". Metacritic. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  20. ^ a b "Triplicate - Bob Dylan : Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved March 31, 2017.
  21. ^ Miller, Kellan. "Bob Dylan: Triplicate". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on June 13, 2018. Retrieved June 13, 2018.
  22. ^ Choghri, Brandon (April 7, 2017). "Bob Dylan: Triplicate". Exclaim!. Retrieved June 13, 2018.
  23. ^ a b "Bob Dylan: Triplicate review - sensitive and exquisite 30-song extravaganza". The Guardian. March 30, 2017. Retrieved March 31, 2017.
  24. ^ Breen, Joe (March 29, 2018). "Bob Dylan – Triplicate: The great man pays homage to the great American songbook". The Irish Times. irishtimes.com. Retrieved June 13, 2018.
  25. ^ "Bob Dylan's Triplicate is the next piece in the perplexing puzzle that is his recent discography - NOW Magazine". Now. March 27, 2017. Retrieved March 31, 2017.
  26. ^ a b Powell, Mike (April 6, 2017). "Bob Dylan: Triplicate Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved April 6, 2017.
  27. ^ a b "Review: Bob Dylan's 'Triplicate'". Rolling Stone. March 30, 2017. Archived from the original on June 14, 2018. Retrieved March 31, 2017.
  28. ^ a b Winograd, Jeremy (April 6, 2017). "Bob Dylan: Triplicate | Album Review". Slant Magazine. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  29. ^ Hodgkinson, Will (March 31, 2017). "Pop: Bob Dylan: Triplicate". The Times. thetimes.co.uk. Retrieved June 13, 2018.
  30. ^ McCormick, Neil (March 30, 2017). "Bob Dylan should stop crooning and get back to writing songs". The Telegraph. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  31. ^ "Bob Dylan: Favorite songs from each album of the '10s and beyond (WITH VIDEOS)". NJArts.net. July 4, 2021. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  32. ^ "Ranking All of Bob Dylan's American Songbook Covers". Cover Me. April 3, 2017. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  33. ^ Vozick-Levinson, Jon Dolan,Patrick Doyle,Andy Greene,Brian Hiatt,Angie Martoccio,Rob Sheffield,Hank Shteamer,Simon; Dolan, Jon; Doyle, Patrick; Greene, Andy; Hiatt, Brian; Martoccio, Angie; Sheffield, Rob; Shteamer, Hank; Vozick-Levinson, Simon (June 18, 2020). "The 25 Best Bob Dylan Songs of the 21st Century". Rolling Stone. Retrieved February 3, 2021.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  34. ^ a b "Bob Dylan Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved April 11, 2017.
  35. ^ "BOB DYLAN | full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  36. ^ "Triplicate (streaming only) - Bob Dylan". Qobuz. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
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  46. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Bob Dylan – Triplicate" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  47. ^ "Top-75 Albums Sales Chart: 2 May 2017". IFPI Greece. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
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  51. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Bob Dylan – Triplicate". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
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  53. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
  54. ^ "Spanishcharts.com – Bob Dylan – Triplicate". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
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  57. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
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