A killer of an album, i've tried a number of other Mellencamp albums, his American heartland albums like 'Scarecrow', and his more latest albums, but it's this album that is his masterpiece, there's a certain Hard Rock feel to it, especially on 'Human Wheels' and 'What If I Came Knocking', and i like the way Mellencamp can get angry, he uses female backing singers at certain points, that in certain instances don't stay in the background!, there's a bit of a Gospel feel to things at times, it's a nice brew of a number of things, that really all come together nicely, a lovely album,i played this back when my Blog was fairly new [7th March 2010].
John Mellencamp is American, and now 61, all the greats get old eventually, it's not a young guys game anymore, he recorded this album in 1993, the front cover is really poor, not the sort of thing i would have bought, but wow! i liked the music, so it's stuck.
Most of the album i thoroughly enjoyed, tracks 2-4, 8 & 10 were just superb, the real winners were tracks 2 & 10, so incredibly good, here's a synopsis of both,
2 Junior - In a way the surprise of my listening experience today, the two tracks beside it are stunners, but this really caught my mood today, are hard nice jungle rhythm, Drummer Kenny Aronoff nicely plays bongos, and gives that certain jungle feel to it, he's really quite superb, the chorus brings in a keyboard synth i guess [1:15+], a nice change in attack, the start of each verse brings a nice memory rush, the words to the opening verse return [3:19+], with extra power, a great experience.
10 To The River - This is a Janis Ian song, she entitled it 'All Roads To The River', i remember listening to her version first, nothing really special about it, so i just cannot believe that Mellencamp has transformed this song into something so compelling, it's hard to believe it's the same song, and kudos to Mellencamp in seeing its new possibilities, again Kenny Aronoff comes to the fore, a nice kick of a drum attack at the start and throughout, gives the song that extra oomph, and it's also that instrument at the beginning, maybe an organ, lovely sound, and listen to the rumbling bass during the verses, it really gives it a great vibe, there's so many layers of instruments going on, it's a heady brew of wonderful things, and i just love the way the song quietens down to a stop [2:16], but with one hard hit of the drum off it goes again, Mellencamp's voice is in top form, he really sings so strong, one of the very best songs on the album.
Most of the album i thoroughly enjoyed, tracks 2-4, 8 & 10 were just superb, the real winners were tracks 2 & 10, so incredibly good, here's a synopsis of both,
10 To The River - This is a Janis Ian song, she entitled it 'All Roads To The River', i remember listening to her version first, nothing really special about it, so i just cannot believe that Mellencamp has transformed this song into something so compelling, it's hard to believe it's the same song, and kudos to Mellencamp in seeing its new possibilities, again Kenny Aronoff comes to the fore, a nice kick of a drum attack at the start and throughout, gives the song that extra oomph, and it's also that instrument at the beginning, maybe an organ, lovely sound, and listen to the rumbling bass during the verses, it really gives it a great vibe, there's so many layers of instruments going on, it's a heady brew of wonderful things, and i just love the way the song quietens down to a stop [2:16], but with one hard hit of the drum off it goes again, Mellencamp's voice is in top form, he really sings so strong, one of the very best songs on the album.
