Customer Reviews

Dance Naked

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Thanks for reading. Barely a half hour long ( JUST OVER 29 MINS ), this CD is way too short!
Has some great songs though. I really like the title track and " When margaret comes to town"
Not as gritty as some of his work, but most fans will appreciate the style and content as familiar, solid music from this great singer/ songwriter.
My CD also came with a bonus CD, that had another 5 tracks ( live mixs, acoustic versions etc ) on it, making this a worthwhile purchase for me. (I admit I rarely listen to that though.)
Overall for fans only I think

Dance Naked was a surprise release by John Mellencamp. The album was released only a few months after Human wheels and was spurred on by his biggest hit of the 90's (and since Cherry Bomb in 1988), the Van Morrison cover "Wild Night". Me'shell NdegeOcello duets with Mr. Mellencamp and her pulsating bass provides a strong backbone to the song. The party atmosphere of that song is in sharp contrast to the rest of the album. The album's title is appropriate as the other songs are barer in nature. The title track, "Another Sunny Day 12/25", "L.U.V." and "The Big Jack" are especially strong. coupled with Human Wheels, Dance Naked find Mr. Mellencamp will to expose himself to the public.

This is really a good album, every song, from the hit "Wild Night" with Me'shell Ndegeocello is a good song, but why only 9 songs? It's not even like they are long. The longest is only 3 minutes 37 seconds. But, despite that fact, this album rocks. And in the tradition of Springsteen his songs tell stories of everyday life... "Brothers" is a Cain and Abel type of story, "Another Sunny Day" is a poignant song in the folk style about the state of the world. This album is so good, it really makes you wish it was at least one-more-song longer.

"Dance Naked," which just barely exceeds EP length at nine tracks and less than forty minutes, is nevertheless an adventuresome album for this artist. The album starts with three songs, including the title track, "Brothers" and "When Margaret Comes to Town," that are a deviation from Mellencamp's usual straightforward storytelling style. Instead, he uses catchy rhythms and repetetive choruses to a fine sonic effect. Unfortunately, the disc loses momentum with the fairly uninteresting (but nevertheless massively popular) cover version of "Wild Night." Van Morrison's original version is far superior. Then comes the rather dopey "l.u.v.," typical of the kinds of lyrical bludenrs Mellencamp occasionally pulls. Fortunately, he gets back to the good stuff with "Big Jack" and album ends as strongly as it began.

Mellencamp needed to do something different in order to reenergize his career. With "Dance Naked," he did so, and was mostly successful.

DANCE NAKED is a great rock/folk album. Take "Brothers," a story about two brothers who just don't get along...in fact hate each other. Or the title track, which remains romantic even though he's basically asking his girl to strip for him. Or "L.U.V.", a politcally-aimed song of what's wrong in the world. Or "Another Sunny Day", about the future and a man's hope how it will all turn out. Or...

Dear God, every song on this album is good. All nine of them shine with expert songwriting (even the remake of Van Morrison's "Wild Night") and superb instrumentalism. DANCE NAKED may not be Mellencamp's best (he's had a lot of time to record albums), but it's certainly right up there. A must for fans of the genre, or Mellencamp's legions of fans.

From start to finish, this CD rocks. There is one slow song, but it is done so beautifully that it doesn't disturb the flow of the set. 'LUV' is one of the highest energized songs he has done in a while. The prementioned slow song 'another sunny day' is just wonderful. Most Mellencamp CD's have 1 or 2 songs I could skip through. Not this one. The only thing bad about it is it's only 30 minutes long. Keep rockin' John and co.

This is a good album full of good tracks - no filler material. This is something different for John Mellencamp; a different kind of sound, and I like it. I bought the CD for the song "Wild Night", which I think is the best track on the album. I also like "Dance Naked" a lot, but all of the tracks are good.

This album is not full of country-tinged, midwestern sounds like a lot of his former work. It is lighter and danceable. It's more "feel-good" music than I've heard him do in a long time. I think this is his best album to date.

1994's Dance Naked was a surprise release by John Mellencamp. The album was released only a few months after Human wheels and was spurred on by his biggest hit of the 90's, the Van Morrison cover "Wild Night". Me'shell NdegeOcello duets with Mr. Mellencamp and her pulsating bass provides a strong backbone to the song. The party atmosphere of that song is in sharp contrast to the rest of the album. The album's title is appropriate as the other songs are barer in nature. The title track, "Another Sunny Day 12/25", "L.U.V." and "The Big Jack" are especially strong. Coupled with Human Wheels, Dance Naked finds Mr. Mellencamp having a willingness to expose his emotional self to the public.

It was said that Mellencamp ripped this album out in record time - this album was released fast on the heels of his "Human Wheels" album - a few good cuts ("Brothers", Dance Naked", "Wild Night", "L.U.V.") mixed in with a couple of clunkers

Like others have pointed out, this is a very short album at 30 minutes long. In that way it's similar to Big Daddy, but unlike his albums just before this, Dance Naked is much lighter in tone and more upbeat. JM stripped down his sound to match his earlier work, leaving out the folk instruments he had picked up, like the mandolin, violin, dobro and dulcimer.
The title track is a great start to the album. "When Margaret Comes to Town" is also catchy guitar rock, coming right before the album's huge hit, "Wild Night." Mellencamp covers Van Morrison and does a good job. The fact that it is sung as a duet with Me'Shell Ndegeocello makes it even more appealing. There are serious lyrics on this album (especially "Another Sunny Day 12/25"), but the music is generally upbeat.
Dance Naked lacks JM's famous story-songs, but it's still a gem in his body of work. The songs are nearly all three-minute ditties with catchy hooks and repetitive choruses. It's a nice CD to put in at a party.