July 24, 2008

John Mellencamp "Life, Death, Love and Freedom"

I received my copy of this to review. I'd h eard great things about this CD, one friend (BV!) going so far as to say it was very much like something Springsteen would write. Well, that gave me an attitude of "Ha, sure, John is okay but comparing him to Bruce? A bit much."

I hadn't even bothered to pay attention to John Mellencamp for years. But let me tell you - this album really is GREAT. I loved it at first listen, which is rare for me. I am tempted to go back and see what his last few albums sound like to compare them. I can say he's matured a lot and his music shows it, but geez hopefully we all have. My last album by him was in 1985, Scarecrow. I would recommend this and rate it a "B+". Sorry this review is not more analytical....for a much more deatiled and well-written review visit Vinyl Bob at Rock and Roll Meandering Nonsense.

You can watch the video release of "My Sweet Love" here.

US Tour Dates

July 23 Riverbend Music Center - Cincinnati , OH

July 25 Ford Center - Oklahoma City , OK

July 27 Red Rocks Amphitheatre - Denver , CO

July 30 Santa Barbara Bowl- Santa Barbara, CA

July 31 Greek Theatre - Los Angeles , CA

Aug 2 Greek Theatre - Berkeley , CA

8 comments:

The Rock Brigade Blogger said...

I haven't paid much attention to Mellencamp much over the last 10 years or so either, but I did like Scarecrow and The Lonesone Jubilee. This one sounds interesting and I may "check it out". Thanks.

Sorry to hear about your cat. We have two pets in our family, I can understand.

Jon
The Rock Brigade
http://the-brigade.blogspot.com

Jeff said...

I never really liked Mellencamp all that much, but this CD is fantastic. It's so raw and powerful and channels the old blues and folk so well.

David Amulet said...

What did you like about it? What captured your attention at first listen? How did it show maturity? I'm interested in how you got to these conclusions.

Bar L. said...

Jon,
Thanks for the condolences.

Jeff, I am glad you like it too! I was so pleasantly surprised.

David, you weren't suppose to ask WHY. Ugh. Ask Jeff. He'll explain it better :)

Cinnamon Girl said...

I love JCM so I have been looking forward to this. T Bone Burnett worked on it with him, no?

I like the idea of him going more roots/folk. Lonesome Jubilee is a favorite of mine. Paper in Fire is an amazing song.

David Amulet said...

Oh, rats.

The Mistress of the Dark said...

I've never liked Springstein much myself. To much ego, little singing and from what I've been told of fans that have encountered him, not a nice guy either.

I enjoy Mellencamp on occasion, especially his earlier stuff before he started bringing back his real last name. I may give this a try just for the heck of it.

Bar L. said...

Mistress,
I'll assume you're talking about Bruce Springsteen here...but I disagree 100% on him having too much ego (sure he has some or wouldn't be able to get in front of 40,000 people and do what he does, plus we all have some). Bruce is one of the most down to earth, generous, rock stars ever. He never turns down a fan who wants a picture or an autorgraph, he gives his heart and soul and every ounce of energy to his performance, he writes music that is relevant, intelligent and important. AND whoever said he doesn't sing much must be thinging of the wrong person, that's all he does for three hours straight.

Let me know what you think of John's CD.

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