Maps of Music

Triplicate (2017)

Where the lyrics of Triplicate take you, and where it was really made.

Triplicate has the most minimalist cover in Dylan's whole discography, yet each of its three discs was deliberately limited to about 32 minutes.

Key places

Where the album was recorded (2017)

Recording site Capitol Studios — The songs for Triplicate were recorded at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles with Dylan's touring band, with no overdubs added afterward. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Triplicate: 38th studio album by Bob Dylan
• Released by Columbia Records on March 31, 2017
• Dylan produced it himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost
• Third album in three years made entirely of Great American Songbook standards
• First three-disc album of Dylan's career, with 30 songs
• Each disc individually titled, with a thematically arranged 10-song sequence

Background

• Follows Shadows in the Night (2015) and Fallen Angels (2016)
• Dylan felt the two earlier albums "only were part of the picture"
• Each disc limited to about 32 minutes, because some earlier albums had been overloaded and sounded thin on vinyl
• Discs were divided by theme, with one disc foreshadowing the next
• Some see the title and concept as an homage to Frank Sinatra's 1980 Trilogy: Past Present Future
• Dylan scholar Alan Fraser pointed to the 1876 Triplicate playing cards as another possible source of inspiration

Recording

• Recorded at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles with Dylan's touring band
• No overdubs; the songs were captured live in the studio
• Dylan said the songs were performed tightly according to written arrangements
• Virtually no improvisation during the recording sessions

Cover

• Most minimalist cover art of Dylan's entire discography
• Only the album title appears, in white Goudy Text lettering on a glossy, deep purple background
• Two photographs of Dylan on the inner sleeves, credited to John Shearer
• Package includes an essay by novelist Tom Piazza

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Disc 1

Disc 2

Disc 3

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota; raised in Hibbing, Minnesota.
• Moved to New York City in January 1961 to pursue a music career.
• Signed to Columbia Records after playing harmonica on Carolyn Hester's album; debut album Bob Dylan released in 1962.

Members

• Solo artist; backed over the years by bands including the Hawks/the Band, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and his touring band led by bassist Tony Garnier.

Career

• Breakthrough with The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963); protest songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" became anthems for the civil rights and antiwar movements.
• Went electric with Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited (1965) and Blonde on Blonde (1966), provoking controversy among folk fans.
• Motorcycle accident in 1966 led to nearly eight years without touring; Basement Tapes recorded with the Band.
• Converted to Christianity in the late 1970s and released gospel albums; won Album of the Year Grammy for Time Out of Mind (1997).
• Has toured since 1988 on the Never Ending Tour; won an Academy Award and ten Grammy Awards; awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Nominated at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards in the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album category
• Received widespread critical acclaim, continuing the praise for Dylan's two earlier standards albums
• Metacritic: average score of 80 from 21 professional reviews, indicating generally favorable reviews
• AnyDecentMusic?: 7.6 out of 10 from more than 50 media sources
• The Guardian: critic Jon Dennis called Dylan a prism through which American music is revealed in new ways
• Rolling Stone: Mikal Gilmore wrote that Dylan could wield phrasing as effectively as Sinatra himself
• Slant Magazine: Jeremy Winograd said Dylan had breathed new life into these songs
• AllMusic: Stephen Thomas Erlewine said the collection cements Dylan's place among the most distinctive interpreters of the Great American Songbook
• Pitchfork: Mike Powell found some ballads static, lacking the inner depth of singers such as Johnny Hartman
• The Telegraph: Neil McCormick called the album an act of self-indulgence of interest mainly to completists

Reappraisal

• NJArts: Jay Lustig called it a mere footnote to Dylan's career but named When the World Was Young his favorite track
• Ray Padgett's 2017 ranking of 52 American Songbook songs placed six of his top 10 picks from this album
• The Septemer of My Years ranked second on Padgett's list
• Rolling Stone placed Why Was I Born? 19th on its 2020 list of Dylan's best songs of the 21st century

Records

• Billboard 200: peaked at number 37, charting for two weeks
• UK Albums Chart: peaked at number 17, charting for two weeks

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Dylan teased the album by performing Once Upon a Time on the Tony Bennett Celebrates 90 concert, which premiered on NBC on December 20, 2016.
• Three singles preceded the album: I Could Have Told You on January 30, 2017, My One and Only Love on February 17, and Stardust on March 10.
• The singles' videos showed the tracks played on a vinyl record player, complete with surface noise.
• The deluxe vinyl edition is individually numbered and comes in a hardbound case with swing pockets.
• The package's liner essay by Tom Piazza was the first liner notes in a Dylan studio album since his self-penned notes for World Gone Wrong in 1993.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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