Customer Reviews

Life Death Live & Freedom

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I really enjoyed listening to this. The first two songs have firepower compared to the studio releases...they rock and are sung with clarity and determination. "Don't Need This Body" and "A Ride Back Home" are also markedly different. Listened to this all the way through when I purchased it and bottome line is it's a great pice of material. Great in the context of showcasing John's gritty vocals and great band - live.

Stumble upon this at a record store (they still exist!) today. Good tough live performances, a bit less maudlin than the album versions (I like the album, but it is dark -- these performances are angry, but energetic). If you were curious on hearing more "rock" versions of some of the tunes from the last Mellencamp album, here they are. Nice find.

I am a huge fan of John Mellencamp's and have seen him live on numerous occasions. This CD puts me back in the audience, rocking out. I love the way it captures the spirit of John live and a whole other take to these songs. He's in his element here, performing for us.

My only disappointment was that Amazon doesn't offer the digital booklet with it's MP3 download of the CD.

Though I do not always see eye-to-eye politically with mellencamp his music has always been great. always been well written. some of the songs tend to paint pictures in my mind, of the subjects/places he's singing about. Though This wouldn't have been my first choice of albums to hear live, it works out pretty good. I have all of John's albums and I loved the remastered albums that came out with bonus tracks (though some of those tracks were either unnecessary or previously released...i mean really how many different versions of wild night do we really need?) My only problem here though is the stupid cardboard sleeve. There are those among us who still want jewel cases. I do not intend to throw mine out, so the "ecologically friendly" thing doesn't pan out for me. I want cases that will last and will fit in with the rest of my collection. I really do wish that all artists will respect this. I know people believe that all music will be digital someday but as far as i'm concerened all the music i love will be cherished on hard copies as long as I am around and as long as those I pass it down to. So please stop releasing them like this. That aside, the music is what I am giving the five stars to. He may be getting older, and a bit more bluesier (but that's not a bad thing) but he's still putting out high quality work. and if you loved the studio version of this album you'll love this one too.

I love Mellencamp and was at the Greek Theater concert. This is Mellencamp's more mellow, bluesy stuff. Don't expect Jack and Diane here, but I love it!

John is still going strong. He is one of the few who can capture the right atmosphere in his songs giving me the feeling of driving through America an experience every live and the struggle that goes with it. And still with a feeling that something beautifull lies ahead!

Tremendous Cd.........although a little on the dark side..subject wise.
Hopefully we can get access to more live material from John and his band.

this is a live album, really better than the last three or four Mellencamp cd's. it's not too long and amazing to listen to. most of the great musicians who used to play with John aren't with him anymore, but the instant group is very good. you can buy this album. among other things, it's cheap.

I was completely unaware that this (not sure what to call it: EP? mini-album?) release had come out until I stumbled on it the other day browsing for some good CDs. I immediately snapped it up.

"Life Death Live and Freedom" (8 tracks; 33 min.) was recorded during Mellencamp's 2008 summer tour (more on that later) and brings live versions of a bunch of the songs from the 2008 "Life Death Love and Freedom" album. Let me state immediately that I like the live versions of these songs a lot better than the dour-somber studio versions. Check out the opener "If I Die Sudden", which bristles with energy. Also love "Don't Need This Body". Likewise with the short "Young Without Lovers", in which Mellencamp manages to get the crowd to sing along (even though it was a new song at the time). "Jena" and "My Sweet Love" are a nice way to round out this too-short release.

Short indeed. Not sure why a few more 'bonus tracks' from the 2008 tour couldn't be added, even if they weren't from the "Life Death" album, I mean really. That aside, I saw Mellencamp on the 2008 summer tour here at the Riverbend Amphitheatre in Cincinnati, and it was a great show, as usual. Saw Mellencamp again on this summer's tour with Bob Dylan, by which time there were far fewer songs from the "Life Death" in the setlist. This EP/mini-album (thankfully priced accordingly) is highly recommended for Mellencamp fans.

The songs MY SWEET LOVE and RIDE BACK HOME are "REALLY", the best 2 songs MELLENCAMP has MADE and SANG in over ten years.JUST great for a hits album, of later day stuff. I also thought "LIFE IS HARD" ( from CD HAPPY GO LUCKY ), is and always will be ...one of the better TUNES john has wrote in years. FUNNY thing is, it is the last track on that album. That song just FITS evrybody.....PLEASE john use it on your "someday" later years HITS VOLUME 2 cd. IT is GREAT fan FAVORITE that was not a RADIO hIT. MAKES GReat filler ( good song ) for a hits cd, from the late middle 90's to now. IN AWAY, the song LIFE IS HARD....is a AMERICAN ANTHEM for life in the USA in the 90's. SHOULD HAVE MADE IT to RADIO.