John Mellencamp – Life Death Love and Freedom
Artist: John Mellencamp CD Title: Life Death Love and Freedom Studio: Hear Music Track list: --Longest Days - 3:11 --My Sweet Love - 3:27 --If I Die Sudden - 3:45 --Troubled Land - 3:23 --Young Without Lovers - 2:49 --John Cockers - 3:51 --Don't Need This Body - 3:26 --A Ride Back Home - 3:12 --Without A Shot - 3:40 --Jena - 3:41 --Mean - 2:34 --County Fair - 3:41 --For The Children - 4:36 --A Brand New Song - 3:58 |
Overall: 4/5
John Mellencamp returns for his 20th studio Album with “Life Death Love and Freedom”, and you can bet that all of the above are covered in depth. Mellencamp (and I’ve been listening to him since he was John Cougar), is not afraid to explore his growing old, and LDL&F is very pensive and reflective, exploring those themes while still coming up with grooving folk rock. Don’t expect much in the way of rousing anthems tho, the rock here is tempered with spirituality, politics, and frank examinations of the old versus young. While not exactly being an honest to goodness ‘get off my lawn’ curmudgeon, it’s clear that Mellencamp has his own mortality on his mind, and isn’t ashamed to have some fun with getting older.
I do admit to not having followed his last several albums, and what struck me most picking up here with this one is how closely this work mirrors that of Bruce Springsteen, both in the move to embrace folk, spiritual and other genres but also in the choice of clearly fictional voices for the lyrics. I find it hard to identify with artists when they go down that path so strongly, it lacks authenticity. I find this more damning of Mellencamp tho, as I feel a lot of this fame resulted not from just his musical talents (which are unquestionable) but as much from the empathy his fans give to his lyrics. It is what is is tho, and it’s clear this album is meant to apply to the sensibilities of his aging fans as well, but this choice comes at the price of losing those boot stomping sing-alongs.
The star of the list for me is “If I Die Sudden”, a grungy hymn that has bite and wit, part negro spiritual and part fuzzbox blues, combining in a humble denial of fame. Pair with “Don’t need this body” and “A Ride Back Home” and you have a veritable trifecta of thoughts on the the matter of passing on. The absurdity of death does not escape his characters, with one noting that getting old isn’t for cowards, and another noting that he’s too much a coward to end his own life. The closest thing to up-tempo on the album is another take on this theme, “John Cockers”, but this track is different in that it seems more character study of a defeated man.
The theme of friendship is also referenced quite a bit, particularly the idea that the singer has a lot of contacts but no friends. Love gets put under the microscope quite a bit too with a lot less optimism than I can ever recall from Mellencamp, and the Iraq war is fairly heavy on his mind too, with “Troubled Land” focusing on the mess we’ve made and “Without a Shot” lamenting the sheep we’ve all been to the political forces working with or without our consent.
The surreal “County Yard” seems to reference the change we’ve seen to the country over the course of Mellencamp’s life, and it ends with a rather heavy twist of the knife, leading one to wonder what to make of it all. It’s telling then that the album concludes with the somewhat somber and defeatist “A brand new song”, which while melancholy seems to be thankful for the people we can count on and positive about our impact regardless of the efforts we leave behind, specifically the refrain of "Without a song" echoing "Without a shot" and contrasting the title's positive vibe.
LDL&F arrives in stores on July 15th. I think it will get a warm reception but I’d be shocked if it gets tremendous airplay, with the possible exception of “If I die sudden”, which could resonate with people who have become used to the sudden loss of celebrities over the years. It’s also a very catchy blues riff and I think that of the tracks on the album the humility it shows might be contagious. John Cockers’ tempo could also strike some interest, will be interesting to see how that develops. I think that it’s best to consider this album in the whole however, which is something different in the era of downloadable MP3 tracks. The statement that this disk makes about one man’s explorations, experiences, fears and hopes is very human and personal, and it stands as a whole.
