Sneak Peek: John Mellencamp

John Mellencamp's new album, Freedom's Road, isn't released until Tuesday, but I can tell you now it's his best since 1985's Scarecrow. Some folks are poo-pooing the simplicity and pop appeal of his surly "state of the union" address, but that's EXACTLY why I like it. Lil' Bastard is mad, but he figures the best way to address enemies is with catchy songs and straight-forward poetry. Here's an excerpt from my upcoming review:

A couple years ago, I spent a rainy November night in Bloomington, Ind., talking politics with John Mellencamp. Actually, he did most of the talking, and smoking, and lambasting powers-that-be past, present and recently re-elected. Over the span of a pack of American Spirit cigs, rock’s surliest liberal set up enemies and knocked ’em down: one Reagan, two Bushes, most Republicans, a few Dems.

As his young blonde sons Hud and Speck wandered about their home, an Italian-style villa on the shores of Lake Monroe (the same lake featured in the Jack & Diane video), their Hoosier Daddy hunkered in the shadows of his snooker room and talked about being a blue-collar Democrat in a blood-red state. “I didn’t feel like a stranger in a strange land until this election,” he said.

At the time, Mellencamp, who had just been a vociferous part of the Bush-bashing Vote for Change concerts, wasn’t sure what his next musical move would be. People were protesting his concerts. When did Mr. Ain’t That America become an unpatriotic villain?

That uncertainty brings us to today’s release of Freedom’s Road, Mellencamp’s best album since 1985 masterpiece Scarecrow, another disc that muscularly merged his cantankerous aesthetic and his pure pop sensibilities.

Back then, Mellencamp was being called a pop pretty boy, so he made an album about the plight of farmers and the apathy of Ronald Reagan. Twenty-two years later, he’s being called a traitorous lefty, so he writes a love letter to America with a slyly poisoned pen. Maybe the former Johnny Cougar is best when his back’s against the wall.

Comments

[sparky]

I can't believe that he let you back into his home after you clogged up the plumbing on your last visit.

I hope you dropped the duece in the truck stop on the way.

[Sara Hall]

Eeeek! You met THE man! Sooo jealous! What I'd give..... ;)