Search - John Mellencamp :: John Mellencamp + 2

Some Great Moments on this Self-titled Release...

Jonathan Ringlefunkk | Daytona Beach, FL | 04/15/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"...but, overall, not one of John Mellencamp's best.



Recently picking up his newest release ("Freedom's Road") put some perspective on several of John's late-nineties and early 2000s albums for me. While they still have far more to offer artistically than the bulk of popular music during this time-frame, they do not stand up as well to the rest of his catalogue.



"John Mellencamp" runs the gamut stylistically. "Your Life Is Now" and "Eden Is Burning" fit the "Lonesome Jubilee" era, with its violins and folk-informed acoustic guitars, while "I'm Not Running Anymore" and "Break Me Off Some" - with drum loops and scratching - clearly owe more to his mid-nineties release, "Mr. Happy Go Lucky." When the underlying song is strong enough, this mixture of styles adds flavor and benefits the entire album; unfortunately, that is only the case about half the time.



The great moments are the heartfelt, almost anthemic quality of "Your Life Is Now," the exuberance of harmonica-laden "Miss Missy," "It All Comes True," with its trademark Mellencamp-style storytelling and sincerity and quietly building insistence, and "Days of Farewell," where hip-hop style drum loops and bass meet gospel vocals/shouting (a la "When Jesus Left Birmingham" from the criminally underrated "Human Wheels" album) and violins.



The bad moments include the rhythmic challenges John encounters in his near-rap verses from "Where the World Began" (an otherwise fun, catchy song), the undeniable cheese-factor at work on "Summer of Love" (the whistles that worked so well in "Suzanne and the Jewels" - again off "Human Wheels" - push this one beyond help), and what may be the most painful vocal moment on any John Mellencamp album - the key-changing bend and reach on the line "Yeah - we had some good times..." on "Positively Crazy," a tune that was clearly intended to be lazy but lands somewhere between coma and death.



The remaining tracks are lackluster at worst - true fans of Mellencamp will find something to appreciate in each of them. I personally enjoy "Fruit Trader," though it really offers little more than a comfortable, familiar introduction to the rest of the album. "I'm Not Running," with its loops and horns, serves only to lighten the mood a bit between "Positively Crazy" and "It All Comes True."



"John Mellencamp" lacks the cohesion or charm of other Mellencamp albums but does, however, provide something for fans of any one of those. It's a good starting point in that it summarizes John's various stylistic offerings, but a bad one in that it doesn't consistently demonstrate the strength of his songwriting ability.



On a 5 scale, I'd give this about 3.5 stars if I could; compared to other John Mellencamp albums, it's a 3, but compared to the rest of the musical universe, it's a solid 4.







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