Oh Mercy remains a staggering moment in Bob Dylan’s discography. There was a performer who felt a step out of time, clawing back some of the relevancy he had enjoyed and endured through the 1960s and 1970s. His dabbling with faith, the pop excess of works to follow, it suggested a missing piece in the studio. What it was, who knows? The piece itself was what had guided Dylan to some of his very best works, and it appeared once more, briefly, on Oh Mercy. Not just in the studio, which had become a place where Dylan would revisit his faith and songs of the past, but on stage, too. Man in the Long Black Coat highlights this, and where performances of it now are more than rare, this show in Fürth, Germany, reintroduced it to audiences who were seemingly swayed by Dylan’s return to form, and roots, on the MTV Unplugged release.
Just two years on from this performance and Dylan would release what is considered his return to critical and commercial acclaim with Time Out of Mind. There the turning point comes, with a man now capable of coasting through not just as a legend, but as a performer whose contemporary material is of a high standard also. Even if it were not, as has been the case for some releases this century, it would be lapped up all the same, thankful we are that Dylan is no longer wearing grey static blazers and turning in Mark Knopfler-featuring works. Man in the Long Black Coat draws on a fundamental skill Dylan has for picking out new arrangements in old music. His 1989 release, Oh Mercy, is a rare shot of brilliance in a decade defined by miserable output. His stage work was no better, with the rock and roll of the 1980s, the excess which it gave to bands of the time, leaving its mark on Dylan also.
Seven years on, though, and Man in the Long Black Coat sounds as thrilling as it should have been on release. Instrumental depths like this were a rarity at one point for Dylan, but his reimagining of Man in the Long Black Coat now fits in with the modernised flair, the flickers of fresh fires, is outstanding. Instrumental focus is the key to this one, a few mouthfuls of harmonica to pair with those harsher, darker-sounding moments from Bucky Baxter and John Jackson on guitar. Dylan’s elongations, the “coat” turning into a “cooooooat” for instance, is a nice adaptation to make. It highlights the ever-changing presence of Dylan on stage, his desire to continually overhaul his sound. Those elongations serve the song well.
Man in the Long Black Coat sounds like a mourning ballad here, a song of loss where the protagonist remembers the little details, the dust and hurricane-like presence of a man in a long black coat, no longer present. It makes all the difference to the crowd, with the occasional hammer of Winston Watson on drums highlighting the change in tone. Tony Garnier on bass, too, has some exceptional offerings for this one. Man in the Long Black Coat is an underrated gem from Dylan, a song which defines Oh Mercy even now. Life and death are on the cards for Man in the Long Black Coat, and the gravitas Dylan adds with those moments where he surges above the instrumentals, defines the song in a new and twisted style, is where the magic appears. Frequently so, on this demanding and decisive live version.
