The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
Adult  |  Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  In Pictures
 
CD Reviews  |  Classical  |  Live Reviews  |  Music Features

John Mellencamp | Life Death Love and Freedom

Hear Music
By MIKAEL WOOD  |  July 15, 2008
3.0 3.0 Stars
mellencampinside.jpg
Even beyond the title — what, justice and the American way were busy? — it’s easy to tell that John Mellencamp is in Serious Statement territory on the follow-up to last year’s Chevrolet-pimped Freedom’s Road. First, the album cover finds our heartland heartthrob staring off pensively in front of a wall with a peeling paint job; we can see that he’s too concerned with pondering the (American) human condition to sweat interior design. Second, Mellencamp made the record with T Bone Burnett, the high-end avant-roots producer whose liner-note presence always signals an artist’s desire to embrace the Real. Here, Burnett provides Mellencamp with a slightly drier riff on the gorgeous goth-folk sound he got on Robert Plant & Alison Krauss’s Raising Sand. The arrangements are sparse compared with those of Mellencamp’s pop hits — many don’t even allow drums — but they’re rich with textural detail. (Dig the tasty electric-guitar playing of Burnett and Andy York in “My Sweet Love.”) The approach occasionally reveals soft spots in Mellencamp’s songwriting: “This getting older ain’t for cowards,” he announces in “Don’t Need This Body”; “This getting older is a lot to go through.” Yet for the most part Life Death Love and Freedom makes good on — and somehow makes entertainment of — its sober sense of purpose.
Related: John Mellencamp, Dirt merchants, Indie springs forward, More more >
  Topics: CD Reviews , Entertainment, Music, Pop and Rock Music,  More more >
  • Share:
  • Share this entry with Facebook
  • Share this entry with Digg
  • Share this entry with Delicious
  • RSS feed
  • Email this article to a friend
  • Print this article
Comments

[ 11/29 ]   "Night Song"  @ St. John's Episcopal Church
[ 11/29 ]   Wynonna  @ MGM Grand @ Foxwoods
[ 11/29 ]   Mountain Goats + Final Fantasy  @ Wilbur Theatre
[ 11/29 ]   Phish  @ Cumberland County Civic Center
[ 11/29 ]   John Fogerty  @ Orpheum Theatre
ARTICLES BY MIKAEL WOOD
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   ANNIE | DON'T STOP  |  November 17, 2009
    Things have gotten pretty crowded in the electro-pop demi-monde since Annie released her indie-hit debut, Anniemal , back in 2004.
  •   JACKSON 5 | I WANT YOU BACK! UNRELEASED MASTERS  |  November 10, 2009
    If you’ve ever wondered how great it might be to hear a slowed-down version of “ABC” that lacks all the youthful charm of the original, this set of previously unreleased Jackson 5 recordings is for you.
  •   PINK MARTINI | SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS  |  October 30, 2009
    The members of Portland’s Pink Martini have covered plenty of well-known songs in their decade and a half together, like “Que Sera, Sera” on their 1997 debut, and the theme from I Dream of Jeannie in their early live shows.
  •   ERIN MCKEOWN | HUNDREDS OF LIONS  |  October 21, 2009
    This local folkie has spent the past few years sifting through the ample riches of the Great American Songbook, first on 2006’s excellent Sing You Sinners , then on Lafayette , a spirited follow-up taped live at Joe’s Pub in New York.
  •   BARONESS | BLUE RECORD  |  October 14, 2009
    For a band of ultra-prosaic album titlers, Baroness are big thinkers when it comes to their music.

 See all articles by: MIKAEL WOOD

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2009 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group