Bob Dylan • Oh Mercy
 rior
to Bob Dylan’s release of Oh Mercy in 1989, it was forgivable to think that
his tap had run dry. True greatness had been in scant evidence since 1976’s Desire,
and while there were a couple signs of hope, Dylan had released so many pedestrian titles
that it was not impertinent to question whether he would shake off his born-again ways and
reconnect with his audience. His almost accidental 1988 Traveling Wilburys
collaboration with George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne should have been
a tip-off that Dylan was far from being washed up. A few months later, there was nothing
accidental about Dylan’s approach to Oh Mercy, his 26th studio album.
Looking for a new sound, he brought in Daniel Lanois as producer. Lanois had recently
proven himself as a producer, working with U2, and his signature sound used heavily
processed guitars, reverb, and a big, upfront drum sound. Having also worked with Brian
Eno and Peter Gabriel, he favored an atmospheric rather than live sound. Backed by a dozen
or so studio musicians, most of the songs on Oh Mercy received the signature
Lanois processed sound. The instrumental mix is a big step away from Dylan’s electric
sound, a vastly different approach from Desire, where you hear unprocessed guitar
and violin. In the context Oh Mercy, the added processing is probably not a bad
thing. Dylan was twenty years older, and the tone of the album is overall much more
subdued. No shouting into the night à la "Hurricane."
If the production seems a little un-Bob-like, the songs are pure Dylan. The album opens with "Political World," with the weakest lyrics on the album. The song leaves little to interpretation and is in some ways trite -- were the Reagan years any more of a political world than the Nixon or Trump (or any other) years? Once over that bump, however, Dylan’s songwriting is in top form, often apocalyptic and in some ways echoing the feeling of some of the songs from Blonde On Blonde. Oh Mercy received largely ecstatic initial reviews. That view has been tempered over time as critics have focused greater negative attention on Lanois’ contribution, and also found the album’s lyric inspiration wanting compared with Dylan’s later work on Time Out of Mind, Love & Theft and Modern Times. Malcolm Bum recorded Oh Mercy and Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound mastered it. The original pressing was made in the US, unlike many album pressings of the time, which were manufactured in Europe. Look closely at the dead wax of the original and you will find the dreaded letters "DMM," which stand for Direct Metal Mastering. DMM has a reputation for producing bright-sounding recordings, emphasizing the high frequencies to the point of harshness. However, the original pressing was not a bad-sounding record and also not a poster child for those who detested DMM. However, in comparison to this new 45rpm set from Mobile Fidelity, the original does sound thin and threadbare. The Mobile Fidelity reissue bears the “Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab” rather than “Original Master Recording” ribbon along the top edge of the album cover, meaning that something other than the original master tape was used for the reissue. The background instrumentals are full and three-dimensional for the Mobile Fidelity incarnation. This is not so much the case with the original, where the instruments have less bloom; the guitars have a bit of a nasty edge, as does Dylan’s voice, if you turn the volume up properly; and there is little depth to the soundstage. For an album designed to have an atmospheric instrumental sound, DMM undercuts the intended sound. With the Mobile Fidelity reissue, I can more easily pick out the overdubs and almost see Lanois twisting knobs, and the sense of an open, spacious soundstage is better preserved. The shortcomings of the DMM pressing evaporate; everything sounds bigger and more pleasing. The value of Oh Mercy is in no way diminished by
Dylan’s later albums. Like film director Jean-Luc Godard, Bob Dylan has been active
as an artist from the 1960s to the present time. I would be hard-pressed to argue that
Godard’s later films stand comparison to his masterpieces of the 1960s, but few films
can compete on even ground with Breathless, Vivre Sa Vie or Band of
Outsiders. Accordingly, while there may not be anything in Dylan's senior years to
challenge Blood on the Tracks, there are still quite a few albums trying hard to
reach that high. Over the long haul, I expect Oh Mercy to be considered as among
Dylan’s finest work after Desire. Mobile Fidelity’s significant
improvement of the album's sound may help elevate our appreciation of it. |
