Comments for Dylan, Bob, Oh Mercy

This album I didn't really take to at first, but it seems to get better with each passing year.

Along with `Blind Willie McTell' (from the Bootleg Series), `Man in the Long Black Coat' ranks among the last great Dylan songs. This track in itself makes `Oh Mercy' worth buying. (Note: a certain Joan Osborne recorded this on her recent debut album. Those who complain about Dylan's renditions should listen to her, and make up their minds again). None of the other songs nearly reach a comparable level, though `Most of the Time' is excellent, too.

His best studio album of the 1980's! (of newly recorded material - that is)

A great album, but a lot of the credit goes to producer, Daniel Lanois (U2, The Neville Bros.), who seems unable to produce a bad album.

What Was It You Wanted is awesome.

Lanois did a great job & also did a terriffic job on the new record (Time Out Of Mind)

Arguably the most accomplished Dylan album of the last decade - the production skills of Daniel Lanois add a whole new dimension to Bob's work. Lyrical content across this album is mind-blowing, too! "Ring Them Bells" will bring a tear to even the most hardened ducts.

I got Oh Mercy for Christmas a number of years ago and listened to it on headphones that night. At the same time an infomercial with Sally Stuthers was on. You know the one with the starving kids etc. Anyway, when the cut "What Good Am I" came on, the song combined with the visual images on the TV had me weaping like a baby. This a very good albumn. One of my favorites.

Oh Mercy is a good, if not great Dylan album. It may be his best of the 80''s though that is not saying a lot when compared to his work of the 60''s and 70''s. His voice is much deeper and aged sounding than on any previous work. The production is good. There are many good songs here, notably "Ring Them Bells", but no masterpiece. It''s a sad album- "everything is broken" seems to say it. The song that moves me most is the finale "Shooting Star". It seems to address a lost love and a life that burns as brightly and fades as quickly as a shooting star; it asks us to look at our own mortality: "the last temptation, the last account, last time you might hear the sermon on the mount, last radio playing." The song moves me and I''m always surprised when I play this- the sum is greater than the individual pieces.

Dylan releases a near-perfect studio album, a touching refelction upon that phase of his life.