Oh Mercy
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''Oh Mercy'' is the 26th album by American singer-songwriter
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
, released on September 12, 1989, by
Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
. Produced by
Daniel Lanois Daniel Roland Lanois ( , ; born September 19, 1951) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has produced albums by artists including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, Emmylou Harris, Willie ...
, 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 on the ''Billboard'' charts in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and in the UK.


Background and recording

The composition of the songs at Dylan's home in Malibu and the recording of the album in
New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster.
; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...
are described by Dylan in detail in the "Oh Mercy" chapter of his memoir '' Chronicles: Volume One''. Engineer Mark Howard noted that Dylan had previously attempted to record the songs with
Ronnie Wood Ronald David Wood (born 1 June 1947) is an English rock musician, best known as an official member of the Rolling Stones since 1975, as well as a member of Faces and the Jeff Beck Group. Wood began his career in 1964, playing guitar with a nu ...
but was dissatisfied with the results: "There’s a whole version of ''Oh Mercy'' that was recorded with Ron Wood already. But I think Dylan had maybe decided he didn’t like what had happened". In the spring or summer of 1988, U2 singer
Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Born and raised in Dublin, he attended M ...
put Dylan in touch with producer
Daniel Lanois Daniel Roland Lanois ( , ; born September 19, 1951) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has produced albums by artists including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, Emmylou Harris, Willie ...
, and the two agreed to work together although the recording sessions would not commence until early 1989. 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. In their book ''Bob Dylan - All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track'', authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon call ''Oh Mercy'' "a renaissance" for Dylan and write of the recording sessions: "The arrangements are very reminiscent of ''
Yellow Moon Yellow Moon may refer to: * ''Yellow Moon'' (Neville Brothers album), 1989, or the title song * ''Yellow Moon'' (Don Williams album), 1983, or the title song * ''Yellow Moon'' (EP), a 2006 EP by Akeboshi, or the title song * "Yellow Moon", a 196 ...
'' by the
Neville Brothers The Neville Brothers were an American R&B/soul/funk group, formed in 1976 in New Orleans, Louisiana. History The group notion started in 1976, when the four brothers of the Neville family, Art (1937–2019), Charles (1938–2018), Aaron (b. 19 ...
, and Dylan eventually got familiar with this particular atmosphere. Lanois claimed ''Oh Mercy'' was a record you listen to at night because it was 'designed at night': 'Bob had a rule, we only recorded at night. I think he's right about that: the body is ready to accommodate a certain tempo at nighttime. I think it's something to do with the pushing and pulling of the moon. At nighttime we're ready to be more mysterious and dark. ''Oh Mercy'' is about that'. He added that if there was one lesson he learned from Dylan, it was working relentlessly while searching first and foremost for efficiency and speed. And he concluded, Oh Mercy'' was two guys on a back porch, that kind of vibe'. As for the songwriter, he recognized 'There's something magical about this record' and felt sincere admiration for the work of the Canadian producer".


Outtakes

During a ''
Sound Opinions ''Sound Opinions'' is an independent radio talk show and podcast based in Chicago. It focuses on the discussion of music genres, history, artists and albums. It airs weekly on over 150 public radio stations nationwide and is syndicated though the ...
'' interview broadcast on Chicago FM radio, Lanois told ''
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'' critic
Greg Kot Greg Kot (born March 3, 1957) is an American music journalist and author. From 1990 until 2020, Kot was the rock music critic at the ''Chicago Tribune'', where he covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and busines ...
that "
Series of Dreams "Series Of Dreams" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. The original version, produced by Daniel Lanois, was recorded on March 23, 1989 for (but ultimately omitted from) Dylan's 26th album '' Oh Mercy.'' This v ...
" 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." "Series of Dreams" would become the final track on ''
The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991 ''The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3'' is a box set by Bob Dylan issued on Columbia Records. It is the first installment in Dylan's Bootleg Series, comprising material spanning the first three decades of his career, from 1961 to 1989. It has been c ...
'', and was later included on 1994's '' Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Volume 3''. "
Dignity Dignity is the right of a person to be valued and respected for their own sake, and to be treated ethically. It is of significance in morality, ethics, law and politics as an extension of the Enlightenment-era concepts of inherent, inalienable ...
", another outtake, was performed live during a 1994 appearance on ''
MTV Unplugged ''MTV Unplugged'' is an American television series on MTV showcasing musical artists usually playing acoustic instruments. The show aired regularly from 1989 to 1999 and less frequently from 2000 to 2009, when it was usually billed as ''MTV Un ...
'', and the same performance was later issued on the accompanying album. A remixed version of "Dignity" featuring new overdubs by producer Brendan O'Brien was also released on '' Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Volume 3'', while the original Lanois production would not see release until the
soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' ...
of the television show ''
Touched by an Angel ''Touched by an Angel'' is an American fantasy drama television series that premiered on CBS on September 21, 1994, and ran for 211 episodes over nine seasons until its conclusion on April 27, 2003. Created by John Masius and executive produced b ...
''. 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 Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...
's
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. 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 ''Under the Red Sky'' is the Bob Dylan discography, 27th studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on September 10, 1990, by Columbia Records. It was produced by Don Was, David Was, and Dylan (under the pseudonym Jack Frost). ...
''. 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.


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 Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton, is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is considered to be bordered by 34th Street (or 41st Street) to the south, 59th Street to the north, Eighth Avenue to the e ...
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.


Reception

After disappointing sales with ''
Knocked Out Loaded ''Knocked Out Loaded'' is the 24th studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on July 14, 1986 by Columbia Records. The album was received poorly upon release, and is still considered by some critics to be one of Dylan's leas ...
'' and ''
Down in the Groove ''Down in the Groove'' is the 25th studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on May 30, 1988 by Columbia Records. A highly collaborative effort, it was Dylan's second consecutive album to receive almost unanimously negative re ...
'', ''Oh Mercy'' was hailed as a comeback. Consensus was strong enough to place ''Oh Mercy'' at in ''
The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
s
Pazz & Jop Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper ''The Village Voice'' and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year abse ...
Critics Poll for 1989. Also in 1989, ''Oh Mercy'' was ranked on ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' magazine's list of the 100 greatest albums of the 1980s. ''Oh Mercys production drew praise from a majority of critics.
Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
of ''
The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
'' wrote, "
Daniel Lanois Daniel Roland Lanois ( , ; born September 19, 1951) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has produced albums by artists including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, Emmylou Harris, Willie ...
's understated care and easy beat suit ylan'scasual 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". 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...
he album He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
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''". 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 Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British writer and entrepreneur. He founded, and was the editor-in-chief of, the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', described by ''The Times'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged". Along wit ...
's
All Time Top 1000 Albums ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'' is a book by Colin Larkin, creator and editor of the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. The book was first published by Guinness Publishing in 1994. The list presented is the result of over 200,000 votes cast by the ...
3rd Edition (2000). In 2006, ''Q'' magazine placed the album at in its list of "40 Best Albums of the '80s". 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".
Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. ...
selected "Disease of Conceit" as one of his favorite songs of 1989.''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'', March 8, 1990


Track listing


Personnel

*Bob Dylan –
vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
,
guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
,
piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
,
harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...
,
twelve-string guitar A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in o ...
,
Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...
;Additional musicians: *
Malcolm Burn Malcolm Burn (born October 4, 1960) is a Canadian-born music producer, recording engineer and musician. Emmylou Harris's ''Red Dirt Girl'', produced by Burn, won Best Contemporary Folk Album at the 2001 Grammys. Biography Born in Cornwall, Ontar ...
 –
tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...
,
keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...
, on "Everything Is Broken", "Ring Them Bells", "Man in the Long Black Coat", "Most of the Time", "What Good Am I?" and "What Was It You Wanted" *
Rockin' Dopsie Alton Jay Rubin (February 10, 1932 – August 26, 1993), who performed as Rockin' Dopsie (sometimes Rockin' Dupsee), was an American zydeco singer and accordion player who enjoyed popular success first in Europe and later in the United States. ...
 –
accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...
on "Where Teardrops Fall" *Willie Green –
drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
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 The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...
on "Where Teardrops Fall" *
Daryl Johnson Daryl E. Johnson (born August 11, 1946) is a former American football defensive back who played in the American Football League, the National Football League, and the World Football League. He was a member of the Boston Patriots and was a membe ...
 – percussion on "Everything Is Broken" *Larry Jolivet – bass guitar on "Where Teardrops Fall" *
Daniel Lanois Daniel Roland Lanois ( , ; born September 19, 1951) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has produced albums by artists including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, Emmylou Harris, Willie ...
 –
Dobro Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally ...
,
lap steel guitar The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of playing a traditional ...
, guitar,
omnichord The Omnichord is an electronic musical instrument introduced in 1981 by the Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation. It typically features a touch plate known as "Sonic Strings", preset rhythms, auto-bass line functionality, and buttons for ma ...
,
bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
(performs on all tracks except "Disease of Conceit") *
Cyril Neville Cyril Garrett Neville (born October 10, 1948) is an American percussionist and vocalist who first came to prominence as a member of his brother Art Neville's funky New Orleans-based band, The Meters. He joined Art in the Neville Brothers band u ...
 –
percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
on "Political World", "Most of the Time" and "What Was It You Wanted" *Alton Rubin, Jr. – scrub board on "Where Teardrops Fall" *
Mason Ruffner Mason Ruffner (born 1947) is an American blues and rock singer, guitarist and songwriter. He has worked with many musicians including Bob Dylan, Daniel Lanois, Robert Ealey, Memphis Slim, John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Page and Ringo Starr. From 1 ...
 – 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: *
Daniel Lanois Daniel Roland Lanois ( , ; born September 19, 1951) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has produced albums by artists including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, Emmylou Harris, Willie ...
 –
production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...
, mixing *Malcolm Burn – recording, mixing *
Greg Calbi Gregory Calbi (born April 3, 1949) is an American mastering engineer at Sterling Sound, New Jersey. Biography Greg Calbi was born on April 3, 1949, in Yonkers, New York, and raised in Bayside, Queens, New York. He graduated in 1966 from Bisho ...
 – mastering * Mark Howard – mixing, studio installation


See also

* Chronicles: Volume One


Certifications


References


External links


Lyrics
at Bob Dylan's official site
Chords
at Dylanchords {{Authority control Bob Dylan albums 1989 albums Columbia Records albums Albums produced by Daniel Lanois