Rough and Rowdy Ways

Rough and Rowdy Ways is the 39th studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on June 19, 2020 by Columbia Records. It is Dylan's first album of original songs since his 2012 album Tempest, following three releases, one a triple album, that covered traditional pop standards. It features contributions from several musicians, including Fiona Apple, Benmont Tench and Alan Pasqua.

Rough and Rowdy Ways
Studio album by
Bob Dylan
ReleasedJune 19, 2020 (2020-06-19)
Genre
Length70:33
LabelColumbia
ProducerNone listed
Bob Dylan chronology
Bob Dylan – The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings
(2019)		 Rough and Rowdy Ways
(2020)
Singles from Rough and Rowdy Ways
  1. "Murder Most Foul"
    Released: March 27, 2020
  2. "I Contain Multitudes"
    Released: April 17, 2020
  3. "False Prophet"
    Released: May 8, 2020

The album was preceded by the singles "Murder Most Foul", "I Contain Multitudes", and "False Prophet".[4] Rough and Rowdy Ways was universally praised by critics, and was described as one of Dylan's best works. It peaked at No. 1 in more than ten countries and No. 2 in the United States and Australia.

Release

On March 27, 2020, the single "Murder Most Foul" was released unannounced, Dylan's first original song distributed since 2012.[5][6][7] On April 17, 2020, "I Contain Multitudes", a second single, was released.[8][9][10][11]

Rough and Rowdy Ways was officially announced on May 8, 2020.[12] Rough and Rowdy Ways was released as a double album,[13] with the entirety of the second CD and the entirety of the last side of the vinyl edition dedicated to "Murder Most Foul". The album's third single, "False Prophet", was released on the same day.[14] On June 11, 2020, Bob Dylan's YouTube channel revealed the full tracklist.[15]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Album of the Year88/100[16]
AnyDecentMusic?8.9/10[17]
Metacritic95/100[18]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[19]
And It Don't StopA–[20]
BBC[21]
The Daily Telegraph[22]
The Guardian[3]
The Independent[23]
Mojo[24]
NME[25]
Pitchfork9.0/10[2]
Rolling Stone[26]

Rough and Rowdy Ways was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional critics, the album received an average score of 95, based on 22 reviews.[18]

Reviewing for The Daily Telegraph in June 2020, Neil McCormick hailed the album as "one long, magnificent ride for his most loyal fans" and declared, "The wise old poet has stirred up a cryptic cauldron of truths and clues, philosophy, myths and magic."[22] Anne Margaret Daniel, reviewing for Hot Press, said "Rough and Rowdy Ways is a record we need right now, and it will endure."[27] Mikael Wood, in the Los Angeles Times, said the album "rolls out one marvel after another."[28] Writing for Slate, Carl Wilson called the release Dylan's best in "many years, maybe decades" for the breadth of its cultural references and the depth of Dylan's lyrics and songwriting.[29] Jon Pareles, chief music critic for The New York Times, labeled the album a "Critic's Pick," describing its songs as "equal parts death-haunted and cantankerous," rivaling "the grim, gallows-humored conviction of his albums Time Out of Mind (1997) and Love and Theft (2001)."[30] Writing for The Telegraph India, Jaimin Rajani said this release brings respite and diversity.[31] Ken Tucker of NPR's Fresh Air gave the release a positive review for its musical diversity.[32]

In his Substack-published "Consumer Guide" column, Robert Christgau said that the album's impact is "muffled" by some "indistinct" songs, namely "Black Rider" and "I’ve Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You", but declared, "The decisive musical achievement on Dylan's first album of originals since 2012 is establishing the aged voice that flubbed his Sinatra albums as the sonic signature of an elegiac retrospective."[20]

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number 2 on the US Billboard 200 with 53,000 units, Dylan's highest-charting album in more than a decade. It marked his seventh consecutive decade of charting top 40 albums.[33]

Accolades
Accolades for Rough and Rowdy Ways
Publication Accolade Rank
Rolling Stone Rolling Stone's 50 Best Albums of 2020 – Mid-Year[34]
7
Stereogum Stereogum's 50 Best Albums of 2020 – Mid-Year[35]
22

Track listing

All tracks are written by Bob Dylan.

Disc 1
No.TitleLength
1."I Contain Multitudes"4:36
2."False Prophet"6:00
3."My Own Version of You"6:41
4."I've Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You"6:32
5."Black Rider"4:12
6."Goodbye Jimmy Reed"4:13
7."Mother of Muses"4:29
8."Crossing the Rubicon"7:22
9."Key West (Philosopher Pirate)"9:34
Total length:53:39
Disc 2
No.TitleLength
1."Murder Most Foul"16:54
Total length:16:54

Personnel

Charts
Chart performance for Rough and Rowdy Ways
Chart (2020) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[36] 2
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[37] 1
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[38] 2
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[39] 5
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[40] 14
Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)[41] 7
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[42] 3
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[43] 1
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[44] 14
French Albums (SNEP)[45] 4
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[46] 1
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[47] 14
Irish Albums (OCC)[48] 1
Italian Albums (FIMI)[49] 4
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[50] 1
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[51] 1
Polish Albums (ZPAV)[52] 23
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[53] 1
Scottish Albums (OCC)[54] 1
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[55] 5
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[56] 3
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[57] 1
UK Albums (OCC)[58] 1
US Billboard 200[59] 2

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[60] Silver 60,000

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
sales+streaming figures based on certification alone

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References
  1. Kornhaber, Spencer (June 19, 2020). "What Bob Dylan Knows About This Moment". The Atlantic. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  2. Sodomsky, Sam (June 18, 2020). "Bob Dylan – 'Rough And Rowdy Ways' review: arguably his grandest poetic statement yet". Pitchfork. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  3. Petridis, Alexis (June 13, 2020). "Bob Dylan: Rough and Rowdy Ways review – a testament to his eternal greatness". The Guardian. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
  4. Yoo, Noah. "Fiona Apple and Blake Mills Are on Bob Dylan's New Album Rough and Rowdy Ways". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
  5. Hughes, William (March 27, 2020). "Bob Dylan Just Surprise-Released a 17-Minute Song About JFK, America, and also Freddy Krueger". The A.V. Club. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  6. Willman, Chris (March 26, 2020). "Bob Dylan Releases 17-Minute Song About JFK Assassination". Variety. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  7. Sparey, Sara (March 27, 2020). "Bob Dylan has released a song about the Kennedy assassination – and it's 17 minutes long". CNN. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  8. Hiatt, Brian (April 17, 2020). "Hear Bob Dylan's Daring New Song, 'I Contain Multitudes'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  9. Beaumont-Thomas, Ben (April 17, 2020). "'I'm just like Anne Frank, like Indiana Jones': Bob Dylan continues return to new songs". The Guardian. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  10. "'I Contain Multitudes', Bob Dylan's reflective new song – the NME review". NME Music News, Reviews, Videos, Galleries, Tickets and Blogs | NME.COM. 2020-04-17. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  11. Ali, Rasha. "Listen to Bob Dylan's second surprise song in a month: 'I Contain Multitudes'". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  12. "Bob Dylan Announces New Album Rough and Rowdy Ways, Shares New Song: Listen". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
  13. Wood, Mikael (May 7, 2020). "Bob Dylan announces new double album, 'Rough and Rowdy Ways'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  14. Hiatt, Brian (May 8, 2020). "Bob Dylan Previews New Album 'Rough and Rowdy Ways' with 'False Prophet'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
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  21. Gompertz, Will (June 20, 2020). "Bob Dylan: Will Gompertz reviews his first album of new songs in eight years". BBC. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
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  25. Beaumont, Mark (June 15, 2020). "Bob Dylan – 'Rough And Rowdy Ways' review: arguably his grandest poetic statement yet". NME. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
  26. Sheffield, Rob (June 15, 2020). "Bob Dylan Has Given Us One of His Most Timely Albums Ever With 'Rough and Rowdy Ways'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
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  28. "Review: Bob Dylan's 'Rough and Rowdy Ways' is a savage pulp-noir masterpiece". Los Angeles Times. 2020-06-13. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
  29. Wilson, Carl (June 18, 2020). "Bob Dylan's New Album Is His Best in Many Years, Maybe Decades". Slate. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  30. Pareles, Jon (2020-06-18). "Bob Dylan Still Bristles on 'Rough and Rowdy Ways'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
  31. Rajani, Jaimin (2020-06-19). "Bob Dylan's new album, Rough and Rowdy Ways, brings respite and diversity". The Telegraph (Kolkata). Retrieved 20 June 2020.
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  33. Caulfield, Keith (June 28, 2020). "Lil Baby's 'My Turn' Clocks in a Fourth Week at No. 1 on Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
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  50. "Charts.nz – Bob Dylan – Rough and Rowdy Ways". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
  51. "Norwegiancharts.com – Bob Dylan – Rough and Rowdy Ways". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
  52. "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLiS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
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  54. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  55. "Top 100 Albumes – Semana 30: del 17.7.2020 al 23.7.2020" (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
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  60. "British album certifications – Bob Dylan – Rough and Rowdy Ways". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved July 24, 2020. Select albums in the Format field. Select Silver in the Certification field. Type Rough and Rowdy Ways in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
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