Album #26: Oh Mercy

 Released September 12, 1989

Dylan saw this painting on the side of a building in NYC and got permission from the artist to use it for the album cover. 

This was widely regarded as Dylan’s “comeback” album after the string of critically-derided albums in the earlier 80s. It is excellent. Daniel Lanois, the producer, was able to work well with Dylan, and created a unique sound that unifies the album. Dylan writes extensively about recording Oh Mercy in his book, Chronicles Volume 1.

My favorite songs are Ring Them Bells, What Was It You Wanted, and Shooting Star. The song “Dignity” was inexplicably left off the album, but Dylan performed a great version of it on MTV Unplugged:

https://youtu.be/atseImSMIWs?si=jpk8EVWijteHSWKH

Dylan worked with Lanois one more time, on the album Time Out Of Mind, which won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 1997. Only three albums away! 

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