Customer Reviews

Rough Harvest

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

After leaving Mercury for Sony, John Mellencamp still was contractual obligated to Mercury for one more release. Instead of giving them a bunch of subpar, leftover tunes, he set about to rework songs from his back catalog. Most of the songs are album tracks or minor singles, but they are not generally considered his most popular. What Mr. Mellencamp does is strip the songs down to their skeleton and adds back just a little bit of skin. The songs have a stark, raw, personal sound that makes them sound new again. "Love & Happiness", "Human Wheels", "Jackie Brown" and "Under The Boardwalk" stand out, but there isn't a bad track in the bunch. Rough Harvest is great listen as it is interesting to hear an artist go back and revisit old songs. It would have interesting to hear him give the same treatment to more familiar songs like "Cherry Bomb' or "Jack & Diane".

An "intermezzo" is a piece of music composed for the purpose of linking two larger compositions together. Mellencamp has used this term to title one of his songs, namely "Key West Intermezzo (I saw you first)". This CD functions as an intermezzo between releases of new, original work.

This intermezzo has a function. It serves to present some of Mellencamp's best tunes in a different light, bringing their messages home ever more fully. These songs either represent Mellencamp's influences (the strikingly beautiful "Farewell Angelina" and "In my Time of Dying") or Mellencamp's most profound, and often most personal, songwriting efforts. "Jackie Brown" gets a more rythmic, percussive arrangement, as does "Between a Laugh and a Tear". "Scarecrow" gets its tempo slowed a bit, and its arrangement made stark, so that it no longer sounds like a heartland rocker's tune, but rather like something a delta bluesman would perform. Although a few songs remain faithful to their mostly-acoustic original recordings (see "Key West Intermezzo" and "When Jesus Left Birmingham"), many of these tunes utilize their new arrangements to demonstrate their strength and vitality.

Throughout his career, Mellencamp had developed from a rocker who showed occasional depth and insight into a great songwriter. The versatility of his tunes stand as a testament to his ability to communicate some fundamental truths about the realities he sees around him. By stipping down his arrangements a bit, and calling upon his blues, folk and country influences, Mellencamp enables his work to communicate more clearly the everyman experiences and insights that form the cornerstone of his best work. For example, "When Jesus Left Birmingham" has as its protagonist a man who observes, in himself and in those around him, the limitations of the human ability transcend worldly circumstances and act solely according to the dictates of the conscience and heart. Stripping the song down a bit allows the starkness of the song's observations to ring even more truly.

If you like Mellencamp, you might be pleasantly surprised by this recording. I highly recommend this CD.

You'll never hear these songs on eighties music stations, which is where you'll find most of John Cougar Mellencamp's work. But if you're looking for John "Cougar" Mellencamp's latest release, look elsewhere. In Rough Harvest, Mellencamp & co. cut softer, more introspective songs, similar to those of his last two albums ("John Mellencamp" and "Mr. Happy Go Lucky"). In fact one of the songs on this almbum is an alternate cut of "Mr. Happy Go Lucky's" big hit, "Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First.)" Fans looking for a throwback to earlier Mellencamp will enjoy a live rendition of Van Morrison's "Wild Night" which Mellencamp and Me'Shell NdegeOcello covered so well. While the in-your-face style of "The Authority Song" and "Paper in Fire" are absent, Rough Harvest does include a few fast-paced songs like "Love and Happiness" and my pick for best song on the album "Human Wheels". I'd rank this album in my top ten for the 90's, with breathing room. This is a great album for both Mellencamp fans and those unfamiliar with his previous work.

Sure John Mellencamp was fulfilling his Mercury record contract, but I like this idea much more than another greatest hits record or live album.

An early reviewer said it best this CD is Mellencamp Unplugged. Mellencamp and his band took a number of his early songs and based on old interviews or two, I think these are some of his favorite songs and reworked them. The CD sounds like the Studio C CDs put out by radio station KBCO each year.

The songs are given a country style and some come out in a more enjoyable. I especially enjoy "Love and Happiness" in this style. I've always like "Human Wheels" and the covers, "Farewell Angelina", "Under the Boardwalk" and "In My Time of Dying" are excellent. Two other gems are "Between a Laugh and a Tear" and "Jackie Brown." The whole effort gives you a feel of a concert in a small bar.

This is a CD for Mellencamp fans and shouldn't be looked at as a complement to his greatest hits CD. Keep that in mind and you will enjoy this CD.

A masterpiece by John. His new interpretations of his old songs are sung with new conviction and absolute heart and soul. I simply love it.

I'm a long time Mellencamp fan. This album sums up his excellent career. A must own for any John Mellencamp fan. I have every album he's done and this is one of his best and that is saying something!! Do yourself a favor and get this Disc.

this is just a great album... it feels like a private concert with john and the band. i'd pick out my favorite track, but the album is just so good that it's hard to pick any out... my only complaint, if you could call it one, is that thefinal two tracks, under the boardwalk and wild night, were tacked on by his record company... but although they take away from the feeling of the album, they are still great tracks... all and all, this is definatley up there with the best that i could do as my favorite jm albums... now all we need is a live album and my collection would be complete...

Just flip in this cd, close your eyes and you will think that John and his band are in your living room actully playing just for you. In this cd john takes his famous songs and records them with a different twist, some slower and easier and some quicker and smoother. It really is so cool I wish that many other artists would do this with their music. Instead of putting out some live cd or a greatest hits. If your a Mellencamp fan or not, you will like this cd.

I want to like this record, I really do, but... The problem with having an artist owe Company A product (and don't let anyone tell you this isn't PRODUCT)after signing with Company B is a project like this...music released solely to fulfill that obligation to Company A. This is being lauded as an intimate look at JM's band and music through stripped-down versions of previously recorded songs. Interesting concept, if done well. But that's not the case here. Most of these interpretations are downright boring, even to these ears, and I love John Mellencamp. Actually, it's kind of liberating to say I don't like this because it means I'm not a groupie anymore, salivating over whatever is thrown out there. I wish Mercury would have released a live album from, say, the Scarecrow tour or the Whenever We Wanted tour, an honest record of this artist at his very best. That's something I would play regularly. Can most Mellencamp fans honestly say that about "Rough Harvest"? I doubt it.

This is a CD probably for Mellencamp fans only. It's a new take on some great songs. Some of the new versions are outstandings. Some are just okay. I really applaud his effort to take a chance and put out a CD like this one.