Bob Dylan ends the third month of the year with his first-ever three-disc studio album.
Triplicate, out today (Friday), features covers of 30 songs written in the first half of the 20th century. Each of the three discs is thematically arranged and has a subtitle -- 'Til the Sun Goes Down, Devil Dolls and Comin’ Home Late.
This is his third collection of standards in a row following Shadows in the Night in 2015 and Fallen Angels in 2016.
In a new interview posted on his website Dylan was asked if after the first two, he had "unfinished business?" He said he did, adding that "both of those records together were only part of the picture, so we went ahead and did these."
As for why a three-disc set, Dylan says, "It’s better that they come out at the same time because thematically they are interconnected, one is the sequel to the other and each one resolves the previous one."
And as for what his fans will think of a third straight album of standards, he says, "These songs are meant for the man on the street, the common man, the everyday person. Maybe that is a Bob Dylan fan, maybe not, I don’t know."
Dylan is on tour in Europe with two shows this weekend in Stockholm, Sweden where he will finally accept his Nobel Prize. He was awarded the prize last year "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition," but did not attend the annual banquet and ceremony in December due to a previous commitment.