Bob Dylan’s Oh Mercy

Released in 1989, Oh Mercy marked an important creative turn for Bob Dylan, pairing songs such as “Political World,” “Everything Is Broken,” “Most of the Time,” and “Man in the Long Black Coat” with Daniel Lanois’s distinctive production.

The album’s story also includes the studio sessions, alternate and discarded material, and the ways its lyrics explore moral unease, isolation, belief, and damaged relationships. Reviews and retrospectives assess both the finished record and its place in Dylan’s late-1980s career, distinguishing it from his later Lanois collaboration, Time Out of Mind.