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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fair., 28 Nov 2005
You can't avoid it - even Bob Dylan must admit, that after the heady second peak of Blood On The Tracks and the stellar follow-up Desire, things went downhill. Slow Train Coming deserves better than it gets, but the ensuing decade, the eighties was utterly wretched for Dylan - and his nineties weren't much better until 1997.However, amidst all the Christian hoo-ha and bleating about writers' block, is Oh Mercy, a curiosity of an album, a diamond in the rough that was the eighties. Regarded at the time as a return to form, Oh Mercy isn't quite on a par with, say, Highway 61 Revisited or the other Dylan classic albums, but it is certainly a fair work. Fairly short for Dylan and with not nearly as much verbal complication as he was known for - one song is even called 'Political World,' which tells you plenty - the album, musically is very relaxing. Put together entirely at night, this is a record made in the twilight of the day, in the twilight of a man's life, to be listened to as such. The sparse arrangements feature delay-ridden harmonicas and twittering lead guitars, but nothing can smother Dylan's voice and above all his songs. 'Political World' is an opener, with a funny oompah-oompah rhythm and a fairly blatant lyric; it's enjoyable. 'What Was It You Wanted' sounds like a musical interpretation of a swamp, and when he utters the words 'what was it you wanted?/I'm not keeping score,' I almost guarantee a chill will go through you. Furthermore, 'Everything Is Broken' shows Dylan making the kind of knockabout blues that would lend his last studio album to date a great deal of charm. Oh Mercy is too often overlooked. Not quite a classic, it is well worth several listens, and is a delightful record.
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