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Bob Dylan
Oh Mercy
There was one timeless and great Dylan album in the 80's... "Oh
Mercy", produced by Daniel Lanois. A decade later, Lanois worked with Dylan
again and found the great Dylan album of the 90's. There's something combustible in
the combination.
With the spacious sounds that he brought to U2 on "The Joshua
Tree", Lanois gives Dylan a vast landscape of guitars and drums, but Dylan's voice is
up-close, intimate, whether he's delivering tongue-in-cheek diatribes about modern times
("Everything is Broken", "Political World") or spilling his guts about
lost love ("Most of the Time").
The ongoing dialogues with God that have continued since his
famous "born again" period become downright soul-searching here.
"Ring Them Bells" is a dirge for society's slow and steady spiral into
chaos. Later, he turns the moral microscope on his own brokenness, and sings,
"What good am I, if I'm like all the rest/if I just turn away when I see you're
dressed?" "What Was It You Wanted?" might the bitter scorn of a
jilted lover, or it might well be God himself, sarcastically demanding what more the world
would ask of him, just as he did to Job when Job wanted answers. And in
"Shooting Star", he cries out, "Saw a shooting star tonight/and I thought
of me/ was I still the same/ if i ever became what you wanted me to be."
To those who thought Bob Dylan's dealings with God were over, here is a
devastating spiritual journal of doubt and struggle.
Outstanding Tracks: "Most of the Time", "Ring Them Bells",
"Shooting Star"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: A Masterpiece
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