John Mellencamp Albums (21)
'Life Death Love and Freedom/Life Death Live and Freedom [Deluxe Tour Edition - Digi'
Release Date 6/23/2009
Tracks 22
Label Hear
See Album Tracklist and Review
'Life Death Live and Freedom'
Release Date 6/23/2009
Tracks 8
Label Hear
See Album Tracklist and Review
'Life Death Love and Freedom'
Release Date 1/1/2008
Tracks 28
Label Universal
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
After making much of his artistic integrity and opposition to corporate interference for most of his career, John Mellencamp prefaced his previous album, 2007's Freedom's Road, by licensing one of its songs, "Our Country," for use in a television commercial for a truck. The broad exposure for the brief excerpt from the song helped give him his first singles chart entry in eight years, a one-week appearance on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 88; it's not clear how many trucks it may have helped sell. There don't seem to be any songs on Mellencamp's 23rd album, Life Death Love and Freedom, that could be used to sell products. The choruses of songs like "Longest Days" ("Life is short, even in its longest days") and "John Cockers" ("I ain't got no friends") just don't seem to lend themselves to association with shopping of any kind. And maybe that's the point. Mellencamp's second consecutive album to use the word "Freedom" in the title is really the 56-year-old singer/songwriter's reflection on the lack of freedom, along with a life that seems to be almost over, love still idealized (the Buddy Holly-like "odd song out" here, "My Sweet Love"), and death, plenty of death. Musically, Mellencamp seems to have been listening closely to the first five Bob Dylan albums, paying more attention to the first of them, the largely traditional, folk-blues-styled Bob Dylan, than the last, the folk-rock Bringing It All Back Home. "If I Die Sudden," for example, has much of the feel and sound of "In My Time of Dyin'" on Bob Dylan. But unlike the young Dylan, who probably sang such songs without any direct consciousness of his own mortality, the aging Mellencamp, who has survived one heart attack already, brings real conviction to his reflections on death. Unfortunately, he is not much reconciled to it. He looks back regretfully on his heedless youth, and he has the sense not only that he personally has failed to fulfill his promise, but that the world he sees around him has declined instead of improving. "Everything you were after has gone down the drain," he laments in the concluding track, "A Brand New Song." This follows "For the Children," in which he attempted to muster some hope for the next generation, managing the conclusion, "All I can do is my best and be thankful for what we've got." In truth, the forced pessimism of these songs is consistent for an artist who titled an early album Nothin' Matters and What If It Did and sang, in the chorus of his most famous song, "Jack & Diane," "Life goes on long after the thrill of living is gone." Now, however, he is able to invest it with an assumption of experienced, mature wisdom. Yet it remains as much about him as it is about the world he sees around him. [Life Death Love and Freedom was the first release to include a disc in the CODE format, a new technology playable on most DVD players.] ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
What does John Mellencamp have to do to get a break? Sure, we can get on him for the Chevy commercial, but the song's great. Yet something has been lacking in Mellencamp efforts since the days of Dance Naked and his self-titled Columbia record -- in other words, everything since Human Wheels (which never got a fair hearing). Artists get to experiment, and willingly populist artists -- which he most certainly is -- can get trapped. He tried to bring his audience along to where he was musically, but seemingly never solidified that place himself. Which brings us to Freedom's Road. This set is perhaps the darker side of Lonesome Jubilee, and takes the small-town vision of Scarecrow and Big Daddy and fans it out. The music is a rootsy, excellent blend of electric and acoustic guitars, fiddle, big fat drums, and lots of space. The other musical difference is the help of country superstar quartet Little Big Town (who really are to their genre what Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac was to rock and pop -- and look to cross over to that side, too) on backing vocals throughout. They add a depth of field on cuts like "Someday," with its staggered, layered harmonies, ringing electric guitars, and lost-in-America vision. It's followed by "Ghost Towns Along the Highway." Mellencamp is looking far outside Indiana here, and when he sings "Well, our love keeps on movin'/To the nearest faraway place/I guess no one believes it's/Ghost towns along the highway/Ghost towns along the main highway," a forlorn fiddle glides ragged above the electric six-strings and the drums shuffle to keep up in the void. "The Americans" and "Our Country" (which is here, of course) are the natural extensions of "Little Pink Houses." These are songs of determination, of definition of what it means to be an American from the Midwest in an era when America seems to be losing sight of itself. These two tracks have easily identifiable hooks and refrains, and with those big choruses, one can see the video footage from all across the country rolling by on a TV screen, or feel the vibe out on your neighborhood street, that this is the way it should be: open, honest, willing, and, above all, tolerant. There is no Ugly American syndrome in either of these songs: "If you ever need some help, come and look my way/'Cause I try to be here for everyone/I'm an American/And I respect your point of view...and I wish you good fortune with whatever you do." This is no rallying cry, it's a simply declaration and exhortation to be the citizens of the world this country has always seen itself as (and was seen as by so many) -- at least until 9/11. That this is stated inside rock & roll songs is all the better; it's a great export that has given voice to different world expressions of what that is -- and it certainly beats jingoistic sloganeering. It's not all optimism, however. The collision of spooky old-time folk, country, and blues that meet in rock drenches the title cut with its double-time snare, edgy Rickenbacker guitars, funky middle-eight bass break, and infectious group chorus. Mellencamp sings it straight: he doesn't have to shout or growl: "Sometimes there'll be rape/Sometimes there's murder/Sometimes there's darkness everywhere.../There's information, but no one cares.../Freedom's road can get narrow.../If you're looking for the devil/He's out there, on freedom's road." And moving forward a track he digs for accountability in "Jim Crow," with Joan Baez on duet vocals. With a spooky string section echoing in the background, a lone electric, and layered acoustics, he sings "Look what Jim Crow's done/Gone and changed his name/Don't know what he's calling himself these days/But he's still acting the same," and Baez counters "You can call it what you want/But it's still a minstrel show." The guitars get angrier, rising as do the strings countering them; it's a cut full of drama, shame, and an indictment to repentance with the blind weight of the history of America's injustice to its own. When "Our Country" follows, it's a statement of not just rights and dreams, but responsibilities. The TV commercial makes the track seem more romantic than it is. In Mellencamp's view, just because the power game has shifted the dialogue toward protectionism and paranoia, it doesn't change the vision that -- most of -- America's populace wants to be what we have always said we were. In other words, we owe that not only to ourselves, but to the world. That it's the best hook Mellencamp has written in ages underscores this fact. Is it overly optimistic and idealistic? Maybe, but perhaps in the face of all the frightening ambiguity that comes from actually becoming the melting pot of the world -- we have now realized our collective ideal -- we need to restate the obvious because it's been covered over by insularity and darkness. All of this in a mainstream rock & roll album? You bet. It's got it all: pleasure, desire, jeremiads, love, disillusionment, big drums, rollicking guitars, and above all an accessible kind of passion. The scorcher that intersects American music at the crossroads of Johnny Rivers, J.B. Lenoir, Gene Vincent, the Staple Singers, and Mellencamp's own "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A." is the closer, "Heaven Is a Lonely Place." The track actually ends at 4:30, and after a little over three minutes of silence, there's a tough surprise that lasts until the 12-minute mark. Freedom's Road is not merely a new (or another) John Mellencamp album, but the work of a populist artist at his very best; he's spinning his heart-worn, ragged roots rock tomes about struggle, determination, and the possibility of redemption. He's not promising anything like a foregone conclusion at this point, but it's there if we want it bad enough. Song-wise, this is a stronger album from Mellencamp than we had any right to expect, and an excellent from-the-cradle album when we need it most. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Trouble No More, John Mellencamp's first covers album, came together rather quickly, following his performance of Robert Johnson's "Stones in My Passway" at a tribute concert for the late Billboard editor Timothy White. From all accounts, it was one of the highlights of the show, and it lead to this quickly recorded collection of covers. In a little over two weeks, Mellencamp and his band cut a bunch classic blues and folk songs, mixing in a Lucinda Williams song, a Hoagy Carmichael tune, Skeeter Davis' "End of the World," and "Teardrops Will Fall," recorded by Wilson Pickett, for good measure. All this suggests that Trouble No More is a loose, rather unorthodox affair, sometimes playing it fairly traditional and sometimes not, which is precisely what this record is. While there are no radical re-inventions here, even with him penning new lyrics to the traditional folk tune "To Washington," all the music sounds distinctly Mellencamp, since it has the same Appalachian-tinged classic rock foundation that he's been trafficking since The Lonesome Jubilee. The arrangements go back and forth between spare, bluesy cuts featuring no more than one guitar to a full-blown band, so big it nearly sounds ornate. Mellencamp takes this music seriously, so he gives committed performances, even if he takes it serious enough to really loosen up and give the music a little grit and unpredictability. So, Trouble No More is a fairly somber affair, but that's really no different than Mellencamp's other albums. What gives it some distinction is that there's a freshness to the music, largely derived from its quick recording, a quality that has been lacking in his records for many years now, arguably since Big Daddy. That freshness makes Trouble No More a cut above the average covers record of the late '90s/early 2000s, and a cut above many recent Mellencamp albums, as well. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
John Mellencamp is nearly the Rodney Dangerfield of rock & roll, getting no respect no matter how much he may deserve it. Throughout the '90s, Mellencamp essentially worked away from the spotlight, crafting a series of solid records without anyone paying attention. He had the occasional hit -- a cover of Van Morrison's "Wild Night," the subtly insistent "Key West Intermizzo (I Saw You First)" -- but he was no longer part of the rock critic discourse the way he was in the '80s with Scarecrow and The Lonesome Jubilee. Such neglect actually helped Mellencamp grow, as his 2001 effort, Cuttin' Heads, proves. This may not be a record that brings chart success, or even critical acclaim, but it does find Mellencamp at a kind of peak, turning out vividly socially conscious roots rock that works not because of the message, but because the music is seductive and sinewy enough to deliver the message. The grooves and riffs are earthy, so much so that when Chuck D drops a rap at the bridge in the title track, it seems natural, not forced; similarly, India.Arie's presence on "Peaceful World" enhances the plea for understanding at the core of the album, instead of distracting from it, and it feels as right as Trisha Yearwood's duet on "Deep Blue Heart." Ultimately, this is a record of small, subtle triumphs, but they are triumphs all the same, finding Mellencamp crafting music that's earthy yet succeeds because of the small details. It's a laid-back record -- even when it rocks hard, it rocks like a bunch of guys having fun on a back porch on a Saturday afternoon -- but that's its charm, since it's natural, real, and unassuming: in short, the kind of record Mellencamp's been trying to make since he shed the Johnny Cougar tag. No, there aren't songs as undeniable as "Lonely Ol' Night" or "Rumble Seat," but there are no slow stretches and it's a true testament to his talents as a craftsman, which is more than enough. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
John Mellencamp responded to his massive heart attack and close-call with death with Mr. Happy Go Lucky, the most overtly ambitious album in his career. Mellencamp has always been a bit of a fatalist, so it isn't any great surprise that there is an undercurrent of dark mortality running through most of his songs. What is a surprise is his musical approach. Although he hasn't abandoned the essential elements of his music -- the rootsy instrumentation, the violins, the simple song structures, the gritty folk-rock -- he has augmented it with the help of Junior Vasquez, a noted dance producer. Vasquez doesn't push Mellencamp into dance, but he adds certain dynamics and techniques from club music to Mr. Happy Go Lucky which ocasionally gives the album a greater depth. It's a gentle change, not a forceful one -- nothing sounds like dance music, but there are deeper rhythms and bass throughout the album, which breathes life into well-crafted songs like "Key West Intermezzo." Since he doesn't pursue dance completely on Mr. Happy Go Lucky, Mellencamp doesn't end up alienating his fans, but the reluctance to give himself over to dance makes the album uneven. Ironically, the tracks that exhibit Vasquez's influence the least are the least successful -- they simply sound like Mellencamp is going through the motions. Nevertheless, Mr. Happy Go Lucky proves that Mellencamp has more surprises in him than many listeners would have expected and suggests that he is in the process of revitalizing his career. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The weary rock of Human Wheels was generally ignored, so John Mellencamp quickly banged out Dance Naked, a brief collection of by-the-book rockers. Since he and his band are professionals and fine craftsmen, it's an enjoyable record, but it has even fewer standout songs than the similar Whenever We Wanted. It's a problem that a cover of Van Morrison's "Wild Night," sung as a duet with Me'Shell NdegeOcello, is the best cut on the record, since that emphasizes how similar and undistinguished Mellencamp's songs sound. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Following the stripped-down rock & roll of Whenever We Wanted, the somber Human Wheels comes as a bit of shock. Throughout his mid-'80s peak, John Mellencamp infused his best work with despair, but he never has sounded as beaten and broken as he does on Human Wheels. It's not just that the record sounds murky and bleak, but his singing is weary and the lyrics are filled with resignation. Consequently, Human Wheels isn't a particularly easy listen, even though it doesn't depart from his signature sound, but it is a rewarding one, and the record is arguably his most affecting. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
