[SACD-R][OF] Bob Dylan - Oh Mercy - 1989/2019 (Rock, Folk-Rock)

Oh Mercy is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan’s 26th studio album, released by Columbia Records in September 1989. Produced by Daniel Lanois, it was hailed by critics as a triumph for Dylan, after a string of weaker-reviewed albums. Oh Mercy gave Dylan his best chart showing in years reaching #30 on the Billboard charts in the US and #6 in the UK.
All Music Review
Oh Mercy was hailed as a comeback, not just because it had songs noticeably more meaningful than anything Bob Dylan had recently released, but because Daniel Lanois’ production gave it cohesion. There was cohesion on Empire Burlesque, of course, but that cohesion was a little too slick, a little too commercial, whereas this record was filled with atmospheric, hazy production — a sound as arty as most assumed the songs to be. And Dylan followed suit, giving Lanois significant songs — palpably social works, love songs, and poems — that seemed to connect with his past. And, at the time, this production made it seem like the equivalent of his ’60s records, meaning that its artiness was cutting edge, not portentous. Over the years, Oh Mercy hasn’t aged particularly well, seeming as self-conscious as such other gauzy Lanois productions as So and The Joshua Tree, even though it makes more sense than the ersatz pizzazz of Burlesque. Still, the songs make Oh Mercy noteworthy; they find Dylan quietly raging against the materialism of President Reagan and accepting maturity, albeit with a slight reluctance. So, Oh Mercy is finally more interesting for what it tries to achieve than for what it actually does achieve. At its best, this is a collection of small, shining moments, with the best songs shining brighter than their production or the album’s overall effect.
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Bob Dylan's Oh Mercy On Numbered Limited Edition Hybrid SACD!
Strictly Limited to 3000 Numbered Copies!
Mastered on Mobile Fidelity's World-Renowned Mastering System!
Bob Dylan and Daniel Lanois Hit All the Right Notes on Oh Mercy: 1989 Album Mesmerizes with Brilliant Songwriting, Inspired Performances, Atmospheric Feel, and Visionary Production
Hybrid SACD Features Cinematic Sound, Vast Spaciousness, Stellar Clarity
As soon as it was issued, Bob Dylan's Oh Mercy was rightly regarded as a striking return to form. The 1989 set also won acclaim for the singer's decision to pair with visionary producer Daniel Lanois, whose sonic guidance draws vivid colors, hues, and warmth from the songs – all the while adding significant ambience, effect, and context. Removed from the circumstances of its original release, Oh Mercy has managed to both justify and transcend such praise. As time wears on, the record only gets better, with its razor-sharp songwriting and atmospheric soundscapes escalating to legendary proportions via Mobile Fidelity's definitive digital reissue.
Mastered on Mobile Fidelity's world-renowned mastering system and strictly limited to 3,000 numbered copies, Oh Mercy now takes on cinematic qualities worthy of Lanois' production and Dylan's performances. On SACD, the music benefits from a spaciousness, tonality, and surrealism no prior edition delivers. Each note seems to occupy its own physical dimension, allowing Oh Mercy to simultaneously immerse and surround you. Its clarity, dynamics, and extension also reach new heights throughout – whether it's the low-end reach on the spiritual-minded "Ring Them Bells" or combination of guitar-chord treble and piano decay on "Disease of Conceit."
Achieving a cohesiveness and richness absent from Dylan's other '80s efforts, Oh Mercy further stands out for its on-the-floor immediacy and nuanced treatments. Gone are the slick, processed, "shoulder pad" synthetic backdrops Dylan employed on the preceding Empire Burlesque. Borrowing from approaches he used on U2's The Joshua Tree, Lanois serves rather than obscures Dylan's intent – enhancing the topicality of barbed fare like "Political World" and further charging the self-doubting emotions of quizzical compositions such as "What Good Am I?"
For all of Lanois' magic, it's impossible to overlook the brilliance of Dylan's lyrics – or timbre and commitment of his singing. Many tracks on Oh Mercy have become live staples and fan favorites, and for very good reason. The swampy, percussive-augmented "Everything Is Broken" finds Dylan at his most forthright and descriptive, with the metaphorical and direct account of estrangement, loss, and chaos applicable to any number of eras, situations, or regimes. Mystery, voodoo, and portent fill "Man in the Long Black Coat," appointed by Lanois with aptly spooky devices and designed by its architect to "make an attack on your most vulnerable spots."
Indeed, vulnerability peppers the second half of Oh Mercy, whether on the unrequited bite of "What Was It You Wanted" or the gentle, heartbreaking look-back ballad "Shooting Star." By extension, Dylan strips himself of any defense mechanisms on the romantic albeit somber "Most of the Time," which rates among the icon's moving creations and captures the memory-haunting aftermath of a dissolved relationship with a frankness, transparency, and self-knowingness few artists would dare commit to tape.
Conversations about how Oh Mercy compares to Dylan's classic 1960s output continue to this day and, if anything, have become deeper and more involved due to the record's still-growing strengths. That several outtakes – "Series of Dreams," "Dignity," and "Born in Time" among them – landed on subsequent Dylan records and are beloved by fans speak to Oh Mercy's lingering magnetism and power.
Hear the 1989 staple as Dylan and Lanois intended!