The John Mellencamp Thread

[Ghost of Electricity]

So I caught an NPR interview with the artist formerly known as Cougar yesterday, which was actually a rebroadcast of an old interview, and the interview was decent. I used to listen to him in the early eighties when I was about twelve and he was the closest thing to earnest roots music being played on FM radio. So having a bit of a nostalgic soft spot for him, but not having thought about him in 20 years, I checked out the NPR stream of the new record and was pleasantly surprised. And as an added bonus, it's mono

[cryptique]

It's mono because it was all recorded live into a single microphone.

 

Pretty good record overall.

 

[LouieB]

I heard this interview too (old) and heard some of the material. It is decent. Only a big rock star could talk his way into three historic locations and make a record remincent of old material. At least this time he isn't selling his lead song to Chevy to get airplay. I guess he is hoping the older NPR crowd buys it instead.

 

This is an "interesting" recording season for some old timers....Brian Wilson is riffing on Gershwin too.

 

LouieB

[CortezTheKiller]

My Cougar Mellencamp experience is similar to yours Ghost. He had some cool, roots-oriented stuff in a decade largely void of such material. I can't say I've followed his career or paid much attention to anything he's released over that past three decades. However, I heard about this new album and was intrigued. Specifically it was this that piqued my interest.

No Better Than This was recorded over the course of a few break days afforded Mellencamp when he was on a tour of minor league ball parks last year, sharing the bill with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson. The album was recorded on vintage equipment – a 55 year-old Ampex tape recorder with just one microphone -- in Savannah at the First African Baptist Church, in Memphis at Sun Studios and in San Antonio in room 414 of the Gunter Hotel.

You can get the lyrics and online liner notes here.

[Analogman]

Bob Lefsetz had a post about this album the other day:

 

Mellancamp

 

And Mellencamp keeps recording music, which doesn’t sell, despite the fact he puts his heart and soul into it. He keeps doing the same thing to less and less of a reaction, isn’t that the definition of insanity? Or an indicator to take a different direction? Or change your philosophy?

 

He also has a box set coming out. He is putting on quite a show - a stripped down set, then a film, and then a full band set.

[LouieB]

Considering he is on Rounder records this time it is bound to sell more than they usually do, with some obvious exceptions.

 

LouieB

[Analogman]

Which is now owned by the Concord Music Group. I didn't know he changed labels.

[jcroach]

Mellencamp lives only about 20 miles from me. I used to run into him all the time. Dinner, Borders Magazine section, etc. Haven't seen him in a while. Had an embarrassing moment when his guitarist/sometimes co-producer Mike Wanchic was parked next to us at Target. I was trying to scold/corral my son when him and his wife were getting out of their car.

 

John is an intensely private individual and as Hoosier as the Indy 500 and breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches.

 

Check out his "Rough Harvest" album is you haven't heard anything of his since Cherry Bomb and Pink Houses. His "Trouble No More" album has some great blues and folk covers.

[Vacant Horizon]

Mellencamp lives only about 20 miles from me. I used to run into him all the time. Dinner, Borders Magazine section, etc. Haven't seen him in a while. Had an embarrassing moment when his guitarist/sometimes co-producer Mike Wanchic was parked next to us at Target. I was trying to scold/corral my son when him and his wife were getting out of their car.

 

John is an intensely private individual and as Hoosier as the Indy 500 and breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches.

 

Check out his "Rough Harvest" album is you haven't heard anything of his since Cherry Bomb and Pink Houses. His "Trouble No More" album has some great blues and folk covers.

 

i'm from ohio, so i feel a kinship to him. was never a fan, but at some point in the last few years i heard him interviewed on fresh air and was really impressed. i took another listen and realized this dude is on par with springsteen, neil young, tom petty, and to some extent, bob dylan. i recently got his self-titled album from 1998 and it is really good. words of wisdom for those of us approaching 40. i'll have to check out rough harvest.

 

now, i wonder, is this new one recorded in that CODE technology that is supposed to be digital with an analog sound?

[HungryHippo]

caught Mellencamp the summer he was recording this album. he told us that he and the band had just returned from Sun Sound where they laid down some tracks the old fashioned way. sounded appealing at the time but I totally forgot about it until I saw the cd at the mall tonight. the packaging caught my eye, yeah, I'm one of those consumers, so I picked it up and to be honest, I am very impressed with it.

[CortezTheKiller]

caught Mellencamp the summer he was recording this album. he told us that he and the band had just returned from Sun Sound where they laid down some tracks the old fashioned way. sounded appealing at the time but I totally forgot about it until I saw the cd at the mall tonight. the packaging caught my eye, yeah, I'm one of those consumers, so I picked it up and to be honest, I am very impressed with it.

I really, really want to love this album. The concept is so cool - how and where he recorded it. However, the songs just don't draw me in. I truly tried.

[Yaz Rock]

On the recently released 2-CD version of Scarecrow there is an acoustic version of Small Town that sounds so much like 1990s Jeff Tweedy singing. It could well be an Anodyne outtake if I didn't know better. Next time there is a Tweedy Show I will be requesting Jeff to play this. This version apparently was posted to youtube four years ago so maybe it was also part of another release.

[Analogman]

I like that song The Kind of Fella I Am. 

 

It's a great album. I may get the new 2 disc version. 

[Passenger Sid]

Listened to Scarecrow a few times recently. Good-sounding record. Yeah, Kind of Fella I Am is nice. Between A Laugh And A Tear jumps out for me.