Shadow Kingdom | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | June 2, 2023 | |||
Recorded | 2021 | |||
Studio | Village Recorder (West Los Angeles) | |||
Length | 54:00 | |||
Label | Columbia | |||
Bob Dylan chronology | ||||
| ||||
Singles from Shadow Kingdom | ||||
|
Shadow Kingdom is the 40th studio album and second soundtrack album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on June 2, 2023, through Columbia Records. It is Dylan's first album of new studio recordings since his 2020 album Rough and Rowdy Ways . The songs were recorded at Village Recorder in West Los Angeles in early 2021 to accompany Alma Har'el's film Shadow Kingdom: The Early Songs of Bob Dylan , which was shot later. [1] Although no musicians are listed in the credits, various sources have identified the session players as consisting of veterans such as T Bone Burnett and Don Was. [2] [3] [4] [5] It is the first album in which Dylan plays with a band that features no drums or percussion. [6]
Shadow Kingdom consists of new recordings of 13 songs from the first half of Dylan's career plus a new instrumental song titled "Sierra's Theme". The album was preceded by a single for "Watching the River Flow", which was released on streaming platforms and as a YouTube video on April 13, 2023. [7] The performance of "Forever Young" from Har'el's film was released as a standalone video on June 2, 2023. [8] The album received universal praise from critics. [9] [10]
The album's cover photograph is a black-and-white still image of Bob Dylan playing the harmonica taken from the film Shadow Kingdom: The Early Songs of Bob Dylan , directed by Alma Har'el and shot by Lol Crawley. The graphic design is credited to Geoff Gans. [11]
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 84/100 [12] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [13] |
American Songwriter | [14] |
Clash Music | [15] |
The Daily Telegraph | [16] |
Exclaim! | [17] |
Far Out | [18] |
The Line of Best Fit | [19] |
Mojo | [20] |
The Spill Magazine | [21] |
Uncut | [9] |
Shadow Kingdom was released to widespread critical acclaim, receiving an average score of 84 on review aggregator Metacritic. [22]
A Rolling Stone review by Michaelangelo Matos named Shadow Kingdom one of the "Hear This" recommended albums for the month of June 2023, claiming that Dylan makes his classic songs "seem stunningly brand new". [23]
A review by Scott Bauer of the Associated Press praised the arrangements, noting how the "heavy dose of accordion and no drums" make the songs "sound fresh again". Bauer also claimed that the album "stands as a good retort for all the naysayers who have argued, seemingly from day one, that Dylan can't sing. The subdued arrangements are perfect for Dylan's well-weathered, unfairly maligned voice". [24]
The Daily Telegraph 's Neil McCormick gave the album a five out of five star rating and wrote: "[...] what an absolute joy it is, in which the grand old man of songcraft flips through his own back pages with genuine relish, a man in his 80s revisiting the words of his firebrand youth and finding entirely new meanings there." [25]
Writing in Uncut , Richard Williams rated the album four out of five stars, arguing that its sound seemingly grew out of Dylan's previous album Rough and Rowdy Ways . Williams called the music a "loose, fluid instrumental mesh" and described how "slow swells of accordion, acoustic guitars and bowed string bass" underline "the carefully articulated front-and-centre vocal". [9]
Mojo 's John Mulvey likewise gave the album four out of five stars, calling it "an extremely useful addition to the Dylan catalogue" and highlighted the performance of "What Was It You Wanted" as "particularly impressive" for its "gravitas". [10]
Tim Cumming, writing at The Arts Desk , noted that the "best song performances – "Queen Jane Approximately", "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" and "Tombstone Blues" from Highway 61 , a poignant "Forever Young" and a killer version of "What Was It You Wanted", one I may never hear bettered – make this required listening when it comes to later-period Bob, a rare look back in studio conditions, and from a high point in his career". [26]
Paul Sinclair, writing at the Super Deluxe Edition website, called it "a record for Dylan diehards to treasure – the latest of several releases by him that are essential purchases". [27]
Reviewing the album for Hot Press , Pat Carty praised the way "Monumental song writing achievements have the patina of familiarity and reverence blown off them and are allowed to be heard anew. This arrangement of 'Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues' – to offer just one example – transports the song forwards (and backwards) in time from the wild, hipper-than-anyone-has-ever-been, frazzled Godhead of Highway 61 Revisited to the calmer when-you're-lost-in-the-rain-in-Juarez environs of the Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid soundtrack". [28]
Singer/songwriter Elliott Murphy cited Dylan's performance of "Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine" on this album as one of his top 10 songs of the 21st century in an article for Poetic Justice Magazine. [29]
Publication | Accolade | Rank |
---|---|---|
Forbes | 2023 Archival Releases So Far [30] | N/A |
Metacritic | Best Albums of 2023 [31] | 74 |
Rolling Stone | The Best Albums of 2023 So Far [32] | N/A |
Ultimate Classic Rock | Top 10 Reissues of 2023 [33] | 10 |
Shadow Kingdom debuted at number 71 on the Billboard 200 but was the seventh best-selling album in the US during its first week of release based on pure album sales. [34] The album charted in at least 19 countries and reached the top 10 in Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Scotland and Switzerland.
All tracks are written by Bob Dylan
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "When I Paint My Masterpiece" | 4:25 |
2. | "Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine" | 3:32 |
3. | "Queen Jane Approximately" | 5:14 |
4. | "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" | 3:04 |
5. | "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" | 4:26 |
6. | "Tombstone Blues" | 5:00 |
7. | "To Be Alone with You" | 3:10 |
8. | "What Was It You Wanted" | 5:03 |
9. | "Forever Young" | 3:15 |
10. | "Pledging My Time" | 3:50 |
11. | "The Wicked Messenger" | 2:56 |
12. | "Watching the River Flow" | 3:00 |
13. | "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" | 2:49 |
14. | "Sierra's Theme" | 4:23 |
Total length: | 54:00 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "When I Paint My Masterpiece" | 4:25 |
2. | "Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine" | 3:32 |
3. | "Queen Jane Approximately" | 5:14 |
4. | "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" | 3:04 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" | 4:26 |
2. | "Tombstone Blues" | 5:00 |
3. | "To Be Alone with You" | 3:10 |
4. | "What Was It You Wanted" | 5:03 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Forever Young" | 3:15 |
2. | "Pledging My Time" | 3:50 |
3. | "The Wicked Messenger" | 2:56 |
4. | "Watching the River Flow" | 3:00 |
5. | "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" | 2:49 |
6. | "Sierra's Theme" | 4:23 |
Chart (2023) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australian Albums (ARIA) [36] | 56 |
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) [37] | 4 |
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [38] | 10 |
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [39] | 37 |
Danish Albums (Hitlisten) [40] | 34 |
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [41] | 13 |
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista) [42] | 10 |
French Albums (SNEP) [43] | 82 |
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [44] | 10 |
Irish Albums (OCC) [45] | 21 |
Italian Albums (FIMI) [46] | 70 |
Japanese Albums (Oricon) [47] | 18 |
Japanese Combined Albums (Oricon) [48] | 38 |
Japanese Hot Albums ( Billboard Japan ) [49] | 21 |
Japanese Rock Albums (Oricon) [50] | 3 |
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) [51] | 19 |
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) [52] | 40 |
Portuguese Albums (AFP) [53] | 24 |
Scottish Albums (OCC) [54] | 3 |
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE) [55] | 27 |
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [56] | 22 |
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [57] | 3 |
UK Albums (OCC) [58] | 14 |
US Billboard 200 [59] | 71 |
No Reason to Cry is the fourth solo studio album by Eric Clapton, released by RSO Records on 27 August 1976. The album was recorded in Malibu and Los Angeles between December 1975 to May 1976. The record went silver in the U.K.
Hard Candy is the fourth studio album by American rock band Counting Crows, released in the United Kingdom on July 7, 2002, and the following day in the United States.
Live 1966: The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert is a two-disc live album by Bob Dylan, released in 1998. It is the second installment in the ongoing Bob Dylan Bootleg Series on Legacy Recordings, and has been certified a gold record by the RIAA. It was recorded at the Manchester Free Trade Hall during Dylan's 1966 world tour, though early bootlegs attributed the recording to the Royal Albert Hall so it became known as the Royal Albert Hall Concert. Extensively bootlegged for decades, it is an important document in the development of popular music during the 1960s.
Dance into the Light is the sixth solo studio album by English drummer and singer-songwriter Phil Collins, released on 21 October 1996 in the United Kingdom by Face Value Records. It features guest backing vocals from some of Collins' touring accompanists, including Arnold McCuller and Amy Keys. It was the first album that Collins released as a full-time solo artist, having left Genesis earlier that year.
Modern Times is the thirty-second studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on August 29, 2006, by Columbia Records. The album was the third work in a string of critically acclaimed albums by Dylan. It continued its predecessors' tendencies toward blues, rockabilly and pre-rock balladry, and was self-produced by Dylan under the pseudonym "Jack Frost". Despite the acclaim, the album sparked some debate over its uncredited use of choruses and arrangements from older songs, as well as many lyrical lines taken from the work of 19th-century poet Henry Timrod and Roman poet Ovid.
Minutes to Midnight is the third studio album by American rock band Linkin Park, released on May 14, 2007, through Warner Bros. Records. The album was produced by Mike Shinoda and Rick Rubin; it is Linkin Park's first studio album produced without Don Gilmore, who had produced the band's two previous albums. Minutes to Midnight is the band's follow-up album to Meteora (2003), and features a shift in the group's musical direction. For the band, the album marked a beginning of deviation from their signature nu metal sound. Minutes to Midnight takes its title from the Doomsday Clock symbol. It is also the band's first full-length album to carry a Parental Advisory label.
West is the eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams, released on February 13, 2007, by Lost Highway Records. The album debuted at No. 14 on the Billboard 200, selling about 57,000 copies that week. According to Nielsen SoundScan, the album had sold 250,000 copies in the United States by October 2008.
Dylanesque is the twelfth studio album by English singer Bryan Ferry, released on 5 March 2007 by Virgin Records. The album consists of cover versions of ten Bob Dylan songs and one traditional song that Dylan himself covered on his first album. It charted at number five in both the United Kingdom and Sweden. Soon after completion of the album, Ferry returned with most of the same musicians to film live re-recordings of the songs in the studio. The film, which includes interview clips with Ferry, is available on the DVD, Dylanesque Live: The London Sessions.
Home Before Dark is the twenty-seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Neil Diamond. Released on May 5, 2008, it was the artist's second album for American Recordings.
Together Through Life is the thirty-third studio album by singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on April 28, 2009, by Columbia Records. The release of the album, which reached number 1 in multiple countries, was unexpected and surprised fans. Dylan co-wrote most of the songs with Robert Hunter and recorded with musicians including Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and David Hidalgo of Los Lobos. The album was recorded at Jackson Browne's Groove Masters studio in Santa Monica, California and produced by Dylan under the pseudonym Jack Frost.
To the Sea is the fifth studio album by singer-songwriter Jack Johnson, released on May 26, 2010, in Japan, May 31, 2010 in the United Kingdom and June 1, 2010, in the United States, through Universal Republic Records and Brushfire Music Group. The album debuted at number 1 in the United States, selling 243,000 copies in its first week.
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 "Duquesne Whistle", which he co-wrote with longtime Grateful Dead associate Robert Hunter.
The Big Dream is the third studio album by the American film director and musician David Lynch, released on July 10, 2013. It was released on Sacred Bones Records in the United States and Sunday Best in Europe. Consisting of 12 "modern blues" songs, The Big Dream was recorded and produced by Lynch with his frequent musical collaborator Dean Hurley at Lynch's own Asymmetrical Studio in Los Angeles, California during 2012.
Shadows in the Night is the thirty-sixth studio album by Bob Dylan, released by Columbia Records on February 3, 2015. The album consists of covers of traditional pop standards made famous by Frank Sinatra, chosen by Dylan. Like most of his 21st century output, Dylan produced the album himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.
I Still Do is the twentieth solo studio album by English musician Eric Clapton. It was released in 2016 through the independent Bushbranch Records/Surfdog Records label. The album is a combination of new material written by Clapton and classic songs, contemporary tunes, and influences interpreted in his own style.
Fallen Angels is the thirty-seventh studio album by Bob Dylan, released by Columbia Records on May 20, 2016.
Triplicate is the thirty-eighth studio album by Bob Dylan, released by Columbia Records on March 31, 2017. As with most of Dylan's 21st century output, he produced the album himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.
Bob Dylan – The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings is a box set of 1975 live recordings by Bob Dylan, released on June 7, 2019. For this tour, Dylan assembled a loose collective of a backing band called Guam and played across North America for several dozen shows. The tie-in Netflix documentary film Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese was released the following week. A similar compilation was released in 2002 entitled Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue, as part of Dylan's ongoing Bootleg Series. That compilation was re-released on vinyl as a companion to the later release.
Shadow Kingdom is a 2021 concert film featuring American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Directed by Israeli-American filmmaker Alma Har'el, it was shot on a soundstage in Santa Monica, California, over seven days in 2021 while Dylan was sidelined from his Never Ending Tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film features Dylan and a group of masked musicians performing 13 songs from the first half of Dylan's career in an intimate club-like setting.
Council Skies is the fourth studio album by English rock band Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds. Produced by Noel Gallagher and longtime engineer Paul Stacey, it was released on 2 June 2023, through Gallagher's label Sour Mash Records. It is the first album Gallagher has recorded in his own recording studio: Lone Star Studios with string sessions taking place at Abbey Road Studios in April 2022. Five singles were released from the album: "Pretty Boy", "Easy Now", "Dead to the World", "Open the Door, See What You Find" and the title track "Council Skies".
{{cite web}}
: |last=
has generic name (help)