Bob Dylan - Oh Mercy

Oh Mercy is the twenty sixth studio album by American singer songwriter Bob Dylan, originally released in September 1989 via Columbia Records.

Of all the low points Bob Dylan somehow steered into throughout his long career, none was as low as the one he reached by the mid- and late-’80s. A string of poorly received albums pretty much nullified the one-time legend’s relevance. He needed a jolt, something to pull him out those depths. He’d been through it before so it was only a matter of time before these latest bumps would be behind him, right?

Things weren’t looking so rosy for Dylan in early 1989, when he started working on Oh Mercy with producer Daniel Lanois. Dylan needed to get his groove back, and he needed to get it back soon.

Armed with some of Dylan’s strongest songs of the decade - including “Everything Is Broken” and “Ring Them Bells”- Lanois shaped the music in swampy mystique, giving the tracks the sort of production fuss the songwriter had eschewed for so many years. Oh Mercy sounds like no other album in Dylan’s vast catalog. In a sense, it’s as much Lanois’ record as it is Dylan’s.

But if that’s what it took to pull the artist out of his slump, so be it. In a year of other noteworthy comebacks it debuted at No. 30 - Dylan’s best showing in years. It appeared that the legend had returned.

And true to fashion, and his legend, Dylan removed a couple of the session’s greatest songs before the album’s release. Both “Series Of Dreams” and “Dignity” were slated for the record - Lanois was even pushing for the former to be the lead-off cut - but Dylan nixed both from the final lineup. But he almost immediately added them to his live sets, and both songs showed up later on other records (including the first The Bootleg Series box set).

That’s how strong the album was at the time. And for the time being, it looked as if Oh Mercy would be remembered as Dylan’s late-career milestone. Oh Mercy did its job. Dylan got his groove back. He was relevant again. And his concerts became must-see events, freewheeling shows that never took you where you expected (or sometimes even wanted) to go. Oh Mercy isn’t a career milestone. But it was the right move for the time. And for someone with Dylan’s track record, that can be a big deal.

Check out the album’s singles: “Everything Is Broken” and “Political World”.

This LP Record is a Music On Vinyl Remaster, Reissued (December 2012) on 180 Gram Audiophile Vinyl with Printed Insert, pressed in Europe.