NEW YORK • Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature for his rock poetry, but he is returning to the classics with his new album, which marks his latest collection of Frank Sinatra standards.

Triplicate, to be out on March 31, will be his first three-disc album and his third successive album consisting of covers of tunes performed by Sinatra.

He released a first track from Triplicate - a take on I Could Have Told You, released by Sinatra in 1954, with the rock legend's grainy voice over a melancholy slide guitar.

Other songs he covers on the album include The Best Is Yet To Come, one of Sinatra's most famous songs, whose title is inscribed on his tombstone; As Time Goes By, best known for the piano scene in classic film Casablanca (1942); and Stardust, a perennial American favourite since Hoagy Carmichael's 1927 original.

While Sinatra is the common thread on Dylan's 38th studio album, the 30 songs come from a range of songwriters. Dylan picked the selection and recorded them with his touring band at Capitol Studios in Hollywood, his label said.

At 75, Dylan has shown no sign of slowing down. He plans a tour of Europe in April and May and was recently announced as a headliner of the Firefly festival, to take place in June in Delaware.

But he was characteristically reticent last October, when he was the surprise winner of literature's most celebrated prize. He did not show up at the prize ceremony in Stockholm in December, although he sent a speech, in which he said he was honoured to receive the award.

It was unclear when he recorded Triplicate, although he cited pre-existing commitments for his failure to attend the Nobel ceremony.

He released a first album of Sinatra covers in 2015, Shadows In The Night, and a second one last year, Fallen Angels.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE