Customer Reviews

Big Daddy

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a GREAT, GREAT ALBUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I remember reading a series of interviews John was giving at the time this CD was released and he just seemed so depressed and mad and bitter and . . . well, defiant, that I couldn't wait to hear this music. There's nothing new about an artist reaching new heights in his artistic career while sinking to new lows in his personal life. With Big Daddy, Mellencamp created an album that was at once deeply personal yet able to touch a wide audience. Unsure of his place in the world, unhappy with his life and tired of what he saw as an endless cycle of work, tours, singles, albums, interviews, marriages, divorces, tours, singles, albums, marriages . . .�@Mellencamp spilled his guts. Much like Springsteen's Nebraska, Mellencamp turned up the intensity by turning down the amps. Although he didn't go quite as a stark as Bruce, he did create a stunning series of low key, half songs, simple arrangements and mood pieces that were still hummable and certainly unforgetable.�@While songs like Martha Say, Theo and Weird Harry, and Big Daddy of Them All, are populated by people we all know . . . Pop Singer is sung from the point of view of a man who is trying to make an impact on the world, but fearing that in the end all he is really doing is filling the airwaves and jukeboxes with the latest top forty smash. With words like "Never wanted to be no Pop Singer, never wanted to write no Pop Song" Mellencamp was inviting snide remarks. The fact that he chose to release this song as a single shows that the irony of it all isn't lost on this not so simple man. Although at times the world on this album can appear bleak, it never falls to self-pity or overblown sentiments. The playing is excellent throughout, John's voice milking emotion from each heartfelt lyric and the sudden blast of an electric guitar or whipcrack from the snare jars the listener from ever relaxing into a nice comfy groove. Some people have said that John's gift for melody let him down on this album, but those people just aren't listening. This album is filled with hooks and catchy-riffs, in fact, Jackie Brown may be the loveliest song this man has ever written. I don't know how Mellencamp feels about this album these days, I know he has taken back a few of the comments he blurted out during those interviews from this time, but for my money, this is strongest, strangest, most powerful work. The fact that it ends with the rave-up Let It Out suggest that better days laid ahead. That this was a bad mood that would soon pass. Thanks for sharing it with us. He has certainly made fantastic albums since Big Daddy, and he is not an artist who will ever settle down, (even after a heartattack) but if you ever want to hear John Mellencamp unhinged, (and slightly unplugged) buy this. It's like a ray of light on the darkest of nights.

Big Daddy finds John Cougar Mellencamp in a quiet, self-reflective mood. The album has a folk sound to it and although a few songs have electric guitars, it is mostly acoustic based. Songs like "Big Daddy Of Them all", "Void In My My Heart", "Mansions In Heaven", "Sometimes A Great Notion" and "JM's Questions" all deal with his family and his crumbling marriage. "Martha Say" is one of his most powerful songs and Lisa Gerimano's violin cuts through the songs. "Theo & Weird Harold" & "Jackie Brown" are like old Woody Guthrie Dust Bowl songs with their narrative tales. "Pop Singer" finds him railing against his early John Cougar image. The album closes out on an upbeat note with his raucous cover a 60's chestnut by The Hombres, Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out). Big Daddy is often overlooked, but it ranks right up there with any of his albums.

Folks, I'll make this short. This record has no anthems on it, no groundbreaking rock 'n roll-as-great-art tunes like "Scarecrow" and "Small Town". It is an understated, subtle masterpiece of a man exploring the depths of his soul and finding both tremendous pain and great dignity. JM goes to many places in the heart on this one, and each journey is remarkable in its own way. He is the type of plain spoken songwriter who can speak volumes in just a few lines when other writers would need entire books, screenplays and albums to say. Example: "There's a void in my heart / I can't seem to fill / I do charity work when I believe in the cause / but my soul it bothers me still". Yes, we've all been there ... some folks never find their way out of that place.

I think JM did find his way out, especially on the advent of his third marriage, which came (I think) after the recording of "Whenever We Wanted". On this record, his second marriage was breaking up do to his repeated infidelities. To give you an example of his mindset during the recording of this record, here's a quote he made regarding the demise of his union to Vicki Mellencamp: "I want to get back together, but I really don't see what would change, and I don't want to hurt this woman anymore. She doesn't deserve it."

I think that this record represents a time in JM's life in which, deep in his heart, he felt truly lost. You can hear it in his voice and in his words, and that is a lot of what makes this record a masterpiece.

On apersonal level, this is the most satisfying album JM has ever made. He wrote the most wonderful lyrics with absolutely beautiful songs. This is John's finest moment in storeytelling, even better that Scarecrow and The Lonesome Jubilee-classics in their own right. But he does something different here and I don't think I have ever figured it out, but it works. Don't miss the hidden track at the end of the album, it's worth the price of the album alone!

Mellencamp really shows his folk roots on this album, and it works very well. The songs show that Mellencamp is rather weary and despairing. The masterpiece here is Jackie Brown, which is one of his best songs ever. The album ends with the unlisted song Let It All Hang Out, which is fun, in contrast to the heaviness of all the other songs. I don't have a bad thing to say about this one; there isn't a weak song on the album.

When I first got Big Daddy I was so dissapointed. After Four straight platnuim records, I expected Big Daddy to have the same intensity level of the previous Four. THis record was such a downer. However, I relized John was writing about the destruction of his second marrige to Vicky. I also thought, well, he's been advancing on each record from American Fool on, that the bubble's got to curst somewhere. But then I really listened. Even though he was singing in a lower key than the previous four records, it had an even greater intensity. I love the honesty of Void in my heart and pop singer. A must for all JM fans.

When I first bought this CD the year it was released, I listened to it once, and hated it. As the years went by, it has become my favorite. It is very different from anything he has done before. It is pretty close to a country sound. This CD has grew on me so much, it is the first I grab out of his collection. 'Jackie Brown' is an excellent, sweet song. One of his best. From the start to the end, this is Mellencamp's finest work. Let's not forget about the band. As always, they are underrated. Wanchic, Meyers, York, and Aronoff are incredibly talented, and deserve much more recognition.

I think this is a great CD. Every song is good. Jackie Brown and Void in my Heart are great songs. If you are a fan of Mellencamp's CDs, not just his hits, then you will like this CD.

Scarecrow, Lonesome Jubilee and Big Daddy form a trilogy of socially conscious, folky, earthbound music ... but this is the album I go back to. Its instrumentation (fiddle, accordion, drums?, electric guitar?) is unique yet understated. And it manages to be forceful without being preachy. And it's quite introspective. "Mansions in Heaven" and "Jackie Brown" are two great examples of the writing here.

Personally, Big Daddy is my favorite JM album. It is a little on the lean side in terms of recording minutes (each song is quite short), but it is strong on tunes and lyrics. It is much more laid-back than JM's earlier work and he has retained the folk instruments of The Lonesome Jubilee. People may say that lyrically he is being clichéd and rehashing his previous work, but I really like this album. Apparently (and obviously from the cover photo and title) JM was feeling reflective as a father, and it helps.
The title track is a catchy little song. The next two tracks are listed as singles on my cassette copy of the album, but they aren't my favorites. The two story-songs, "Theo and Weird Henry" and "Jackie Brown" are what hooked me. "Jackie Brown" especially got a lot of airplay in South Africa. It's a sad song about growing up poor and dying alone and almost forgotten.
Side two is actually the stronger part of the album. "Pop Singer" was the first single, JM's ironic look at himself. I just love the tracks "Void in My Heart" and "Mansions in Heaven." Those are tunes I never get tired of hearing. When I have come across this album in a jukebox, those are the two songs I put money in to hear first. Mellencamp also has his political commentary here. "Country Gentleman" and "J.M.'s Question" lament the greed and the poverty of the late `80s. The CD also has a bonus track I have not heard in its entirety.