Oh Mercy

Oh Mercy is the 26th studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on September 18, 1989 by Columbia Records. Produced by Daniel Lanois, it was hailed by critics as a triumph for Dylan, after a string of poorly reviewed albums. Oh Mercy gave Dylan his best chart showing in years, reaching No.  30 on the Billboard charts in the United States and No.  6 in the UK.

For the band, see Oh Mercy (band). For the 2019 French film, see Oh Mercy!
Oh Mercy
Studio album by
Bob Dylan
ReleasedSeptember 18, 1989 (1989-09-18)
RecordedFebruary–April 1989
GenreRock
Length38:46
LabelColumbia
ProducerDaniel Lanois
Bob Dylan chronology
Dylan & the Dead
(1989)		 Oh Mercy
(1989)		 Under the Red Sky
(1990)

Songs

The recording of the album is described by Dylan in his book Chronicles Volume One.[1] Dylan biographer Clinton Heylin notes that Dylan finished recording the basic tracks for the album on March 29, 1989 but added new vocals (and other overdubs) for almost all the tracks the following month.[2]

The album opens with "Political World", a song that Dylan described in Chronicles Volume One as a "catalog of troubles...almost an update on 'With God on Our Side.'" A cranky tirade against the modern world, it begins with the verse, "We live in a political world/Love don't have any place/We live in a time where men commit crime/And crime don't have a face", to which AllMusic critic Thomas Ward commented, "… which leaves one to argue, which age does this not apply to?"[3] Ward criticised the song's "irrationality and sweeping general statements", describing it as "on the whole [...] a rather trite, cloyed song."[3]

In regard to "Everything Is Broken", Dylan wrote, "Danny didn't have to swamp it up too much, it was already swamped up pretty good when it came to him. Critics usually didn't like a song like this coming out of me because it didn't seem to be autobiographical. Maybe not, but the stuff I write does come from an autobiographical place." A propulsive, riff-driven number, it was the first single issued from Oh Mercy.

"Ring Them Bells" is one of the more celebrated tracks on Oh Mercy, and also where Lanois's production is at its most subtle and restrained. The song features some spiritual overtones, invoking St. Peter, St. Catherine and a "Sweet Martha" who may or may not be the biblical Martha. It opens with the verse, "Ring them bells ye heathen/From the city that dreams/Ring them bells from the sanctuaries/'Cross the valleys and streams." "Ring Them Bells" may be the only song on the album that was released with its live vocals intact.[4]

"One of my favorites is 'Man in the Long Black Coat,' which was written in the studio, and recorded in one take", recalls Lanois. Praised by author Clinton Heylin as a "powerful reinterpretation of The Daemon Lover motif", "Man in the Long Black Coat" also contains some prominent use of apocalyptic imagery, evoking a place where the "water is high" and "tree trunks uprooted". In his own assessment of "Man in the Long Black Coat", Dylan wrote that "in some kind of weird way, I thought of it as my 'I Walk the Line,' a song I'd always considered to be up there at the top, one of the most mysterious and revolutionary of all time, a song that makes an attack on your most vulnerable spots, sharp words from a master".

The second half of Oh Mercy is notable for its sustained moodiness and resignation, often in relation to romantic dissolution. This is immediately apparent on the atmospheric "Most of the Time", which features the richest production on the album. Described as "magisterial" by Allan Jones of Melody Maker, the narrator in "Most of the Time" sings of an estranged lover whom the narrator can't quite shake from his memories. The song addresses an irreconcilable, personal relationship, and this theme would continue through "What Good Am I?", a frank look at the narrator's moral worth, and "What Was It You Wanted". The album closes with "Shooting Star".

Though he is still uncertain of its origins, in his autobiography Dylan does write that "Disease of Conceit" may have been inspired by the defrocking of Jimmy Swaggart.[5] Lou Reed selected this song as one of his 'picks of 1989'.[6]

Cover art

The photo on the cover of the album shows a mural that Dylan came across on a wall of a Chinese restaurant in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen on 9th Avenue and 53rd Street. The artist, Trotsky, who created the image of two people dancing was located (he lived near the mural) and permission was granted.[7][8]

Outtakes

During a Sound Opinions interview broadcast on Chicago FM radio, Lanois told Chicago Tribune critic Greg Kot that "Series of Dreams" was his pick for the opening track, but ultimately, the final decision was Dylan's. Music critic Tim Riley would echo these sentiments, writing that ""Series of Dreams" should have been the working title song to Oh Mercy, not a leftover pendant."

Another outtake, "Dignity", was one of the first songs written for Oh Mercy. Dylan viewed "Dignity" as a strong contender for the album, and an extensive amount of work was done on it. However, Dylan was dissatisfied with the recorded results, resulting in his decision to omit it.

Dylan performed "Dignity" and "Series of Dreams" live. "Series of Dreams" was the final track on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991, and it was later included on 1994's Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Volume 3. "Dignity" was performed live during a 1994 appearance on MTV Unplugged, and the same performance was later issued on the accompanying album. A remixed version of "Dignity" featuring new overdubs by Bruce Springsteen's producer, Brendan O'Brien, was released on Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Volume 3, while the original Lanois production would not see release until the soundtrack album of the television show, Touched by an Angel.

Listed as "Broken Days/Three of Us" on the track sheets, the original version of "Everything Is Broken" was briefly issued on-line as an exclusive download on Apple Computer's iTunes music store. In 2008, it was remastered from a better source and reissued on The Bootleg Series Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs. Described by Heylin as an "evocation of a fragmented relationship", the lyrics were later rewritten and overdubbed with new vocals and an additional guitar part.

Two more outtakes, "Born in Time" and "God Knows", were set aside and later re-written and re-recorded for Dylan's next album, Under the Red Sky. Versions of both songs from the Oh Mercy sessions were also included on The Bootleg Series Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs. "The Oh Mercy outtake of 'Born In Time' was one of those Dylan performances that so surrendered itself to the moment that to decry the lyrical slips would be to mock sincerity itself", wrote author Clinton Heylin.

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[9]
Robert ChristgauB[10]
Entertainment WeeklyA–[11]
MusicHound[12]
Rolling Stone[13]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[14]

After disappointing sales with Knocked Out Loaded and Down in the Groove, Oh Mercy was hailed as a comeback. Consensus was strong enough to place Oh Mercy at No.  15 in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop Critics Poll for 1989. Also in 1989, Oh Mercy was ranked No.  44 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 greatest albums of the 1980s.[15]

Oh Mercy's production drew praise from a majority of critics. Robert Christgau of The Village Voice wrote, "Daniel Lanois's understated care and easy beat suit [Dylan's] casual ways, and three or four songs might sound like something late at night on the radio, or after the great flood. All are modest and tuneful enough to make you forgive 'Disease of Conceit,' which is neither." But as Heylin notes, "Though many a critic who had despaired at the sound of Dylan's more recent albums enthused about the sound on Oh Mercy, it was evident that rock music's foremost lyric writer had also rediscovered his previous flair with words."[16]

Rock critic Bill Wyman criticized the production but praised the songs. "Taken over by Daniel Lanois, master of a shimmering and distinctive electronically processed guitar sound...[the album] is overdone", writes Wyman. "It's irritating to hear Dylan's songs so manipulated, but there are sufficient nice tracks—"Most of the Time", "Shooting Star", both simple and direct, among them—to make this by far the most coherent and listenable collection of his own songs Dylan has released since Desire."[17]

Though it did not enter Billboard's Top 20, Oh Mercy remained a consistent seller, enough to be considered a modest commercial success.

To celebrate the album's 20th anniversary, Montague Street Journal: The Art of Bob Dylan dedicated roughly half of its debut issue (published in 2009) to a roundtable discussion on Oh Mercy.

It was voted number 438 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000).[18] In 2006, Q magazine placed the album at No.  33 in its list of "40 Best Albums of the '80s".[19] During that same year, "Political World" appeared in the film Man of the Year. Michael Azerrad in a Rolling Stone article felt that "it would be unfair to compare Oh Mercy to Dylan's landmark Sixties recordings".[15]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Bob Dylan.

Side one
No.TitleRecordedLength
1."Political World"March 8, 1989 (overdubbed March 21 and April 8, 1989)3:43
2."Where Teardrops Fall"March 21 and 22, 1989 (overdubbed April 15–16, 1989)2:30
3."Everything Is Broken"March 14 or 15, 1989 (overdubbed April 1 and 3, 1989)3:12
4."Ring Them Bells"March 7, 1989 (overdubbed April 6, 1989)3:00
5."Man in the Long Black Coat"March 29, 1989 (overdubbed April 4, 1989)4:30
Side two
No.TitleRecordedLength
1."Most of the Time"March 12, 1989 (overdubbed April 19, 1989)5:02
2."What Good Am I?"March 7, 1989 (overdubbed April 7, 1989)4:45
3."Disease of Conceit"March 8, 1989 (overdubbed April 1989)3:41
4."What Was It You Wanted"March 21, 1989 (overdubbed March 24 and April 3, 4 & 10, 1989)5:02
5."Shooting Star"March 14 or 15, 1989 (overdubbed April 1–3, 1989)3:12

Personnel

Additional musicians:

  • Malcolm Burn – tambourine, keyboards, on "Everything Is Broken", "Ring Them Bells", "Man in the Long Black Coat", "Most of the Time", "What Good Am I?", "What Was It You Wanted"
  • Rockin' Dopsie – accordion on "Where Teardrops Fall"
  • Willie Green – drums on "Political World", "Everything Is Broken", "Most of the Time", "Disease of Conceit", "What Was It You Wanted", and "Shooting Star"
  • Tony Hall – bass guitar on "Political World", "Everything Is Broken", "Most of the Time", "Disease of Conceit", and "Shooting Star"
  • John Hart – saxophone on "Where Teardrops Fall"
  • Daryl Johnson  – percussion on "Everything Is Broken"
  • Larry Jolivet – bass guitar on "Where Teardrops Fall"
  • Daniel Lanois – production, mixing, Dobro, lap steel guitar, guitar, omnichord, bass guitar (performs on all tracks except "Disease of Conceit")
  • Cyril Neville – percussion on "Political World", "Most of the Time", and "What Was It You Wanted"
  • Alton Rubin, Jr. – scrub board on "Where Teardrops Fall"
  • Mason Ruffner – guitar on "Political World", "Disease of Conceit", and "What Was It You Wanted"
  • Brian Stoltz – guitar on "Political World", "Everything Is Broken", "Disease of Conceit", and "Shooting Star"
  • Paul Synegal – guitar on "Where Teardrops Fall"

Production:

  • Malcolm Burn – recording, mixing
  • Greg Calbi – mastering
  • Mark Howard – mixing, studio installation

See also

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[20] Gold 25,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[21] Gold 100,000^

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

References
  1. Dylan, Bob (2004). Chronicles: Volume One. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks. ISBN 0743272587.
  2. Heylin, Clinton. Still on the Road: The Songs of Bob Dylan, 1974-2006. Chicago Review Press. pp. 370–371. ISBN 9781613736760.
  3. Political World – Bob Dylan
  4. Heylin, Clinton. Still on the Road: The Songs of Bob Dylan, 1974-2006. Chicago Review Press. p. 502. ISBN 9781613736760.
  5. Dylan 2004, p. 170.
  6. Rolling Stone, March 8, 1990
  7. Editor, People Magazine. “Trotsky, Whose Lively Street Art Became An Off-the-Wall Album Cover for Bob Dylan”. People Magazine. V. 32. No. 17. 23 October 1989
  8. Spencer, Lauren. “Off the Record: Positively 53rd Street”. New York Magazine. 25 September 1989
  9. Oh Mercy at AllMusic
  10. Christgau, Robert (2011). "Robert Christgau: CG: Artist 169". robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
  11. Entertainment Weekly review
  12. Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel (eds) (1999). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide (2nd ed.). Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press. p. 371. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  13. DeCurtis, Anthony (1989-09-21). "Rolling Stone : Bob Dylan: Oh Mercy : Music Reviews". web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 2006-07-02. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
  14. Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0857125958.
  15. Michael Azerrad, Anthony DeCurtis (16 November 1989). "The 100 best albums of the eighties". Rolling Stone. p. 102. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
  16. Heylin, Clinton (2003) Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited, p. 631.
  17. Wyman, Bill. (May 22, 2001) "Bob Dylan" Salon Retrieved 11 December 2012.
  18. Colin Larkin, ed. (2000). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 160. ISBN 0-7535-0493-6.
  19. Q August 2006, Issue 241
  20. "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards (Bob Dylan; 'Oh Mercy')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien.
  21. "British album certifications – Bob Dylan – Oh mercy". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type Oh mercy in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
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