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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Yes, This ROAD Has Some Ruts, But It's Mostly Smooth Sailing!, March 12, 2007
While there may be some bumps along the way (cliched lyrics, underdeveloped melodies), John Mellencamp's new FREEDOM'S ROAD is a welcomed addition to an already sterling catalog. Not as strong as, say, SCARECROW, THE LONESOME JUBILEE, HUMAN WHEELS or MR. HAPPY GO LUCKY, but certainly better than DANCE NAKED and WHENEVER WE WANTED, the disc, for the most part, successfully showcases many of Mellencamp's strong points, as well as a few of his weaker ones. Things kick off with the easy, yet edgy, groove of "Someday", a classic JM cut. Awash in crisp instrumentation, a powerful lead vocal and soaring backing vocals, the track wraps around the pointed lyrics ("How many times can a spirit be broken/For this is the kingdom of heaven we're given/Good fortune will come to those who create peace") and doesn't let go. A great album opener! The same can be said for "Ghost Towns Along The Highway", which has an almost eerie, airy vibe to it. As Mellencamp questions whether Americans are being displaced against their will, or it's just their nature to roam, an angelic chorus chimes in, adding a touch of sorrow to this wistful, albeit powerful, track. Not as strong is "The Americans." Mellencamp has always been at his best when his music just seems to flow out of him. Conversely, he's at his worst when it seems forced. "The Americans" definitely seems forced, what with it's cliched lyrics and "been-there, done-that" melody....you know he's trying to "say" something, but what? Is it a simple, honest statement? Is he being condesending? Is he masking his true feelings? All in all, "The Americans" just doesn't gel the way Mellencamp's best material usually does. Far and away superior is the lovely "Forgiveness," probably the album's strongest cut. Cushioned by a muted, simple arrangement, Mellencamp bares his soul like rarely before: "When I think of all the wrong I've done/I can't believe it's me I'm talking about/I bet the same goes for you." Such naked honesty is to be applauded, as is the sentiment - no flowery prose or wisely rhymed couplet, just the truth, spoken/sung from the heart. Without a doubt, "Forgiveness" ranks as one of Mellencamp's Top Ten best songs....ever! Next up is the disc's cryptic title track. Mellencamp makes it very clear that there's evil and good, right and wrong, but he never comes across as preachy. Augmented by John Gunnell's killer bass riffs, the cut is another strong addition to the disc. Musically, "Jim Crow" is both captivating and hypnotic, but lyrically it once again seems forced, like Mellencamp is TRYING to make a point. Actually, if any real point is made, it's how well Mellencamp handles himself with a female duet partner; in the past, it's been with the likes of Rickie Lee Jones, Trisha Yearwood and Me'shell Ndegeocello...here it's Joan Baez. There's just something about the timbre of his voice that works so well with a female counterpoint. I, for one, wouldn't mind seeing at least one female guest star on any and all future releases! Heck, I'd even go for an album of duets! You have to sit down with the lyrics to "Our Country" to really appreciate it, and to realize it's so much more than just a "car commercial" ditty. Among jangling guitars and sweeping choruses, Mellencamp addesses America, in all it's wonder and warts, beauty and bile. Things aren't perfect, but the dream is still alive, and that's all that matters. "Rural Route" has a sort of Southern Gothic vibe to it, all spooky and sinister. The sparse arrangement snakes around the dark lyrics ("Air stinks of crystal meth/On the rural route/Someone predicts a young girl's death/On the rural route/Father refuses to answer any questions/From the rural route"), resulting in a tale and a song that is chilling, mesmerizing and tuneful all at the same time. THAT'S class-A songwriting! "My Aeroplane" is FREEDOM'S ROAD's most care-free number, all groovy garage band instrumentation and smiley-faced lyrics. Thing is, it works! The album wraps up with "Heaven Is A Lonely Place" and the hidden track "Rodeo Clown." "Heaven...." has a killer retro feel to it - dig the guitars! - and sharp lyrics, while "Rodeo Clown" is the disc's most politically charged cut. Sadly, it stands out like a sore thumb, not really fitting in here. I'd wager this is one of the songs from an earlier disc - circa 2005 - that Mellencamp shelved because it was too political. I'm sure a number of FREEDOM ROAD's tracks were taken from that scrapped effort, with new ones written and added later on, which at times gives the album a slightly schizo, two-albums-in-one feel. However, I'm just glad to have John Mellencamp recording again, something he said he might stop doing because he didn't think anyone was listening any more. Forget that, John - after almost 30 years, you're still writing "a song that everybody could sing along!" (As with all my reviews, I have to dock the disc half a star for not including the lyrics).
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18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Follow "Freedom's Road" to Mellencamp's house., January 23, 2007
Freedom's Road is an unparalleled assembly of musical masterpieces. John Mellencamp has never made "the same record" twice regarding sound and style. He holds true and stays the course with this release. While the "Cougar" fans may have stopped buying Mellencamp's releases some time ago, it is their loss that is most sad. John's songwriting did not even begin to peak until "Mr. Happy Go Lucky" in the mid/late '90's. Amazingly, that is 10 years ago. Mellencamp has been writing fresh, meaningful songs since then. However, some may say that as well-written as the songs were, they were lacking something. If that is true, John has discovered what was needed. It is the good ol' garage band rock-n-roll jam session sound that he brings to this party. Guitars cranking, challenging if not controversial lyrics, catchy hooks and beats, and superb band support. Throw all of that in with the backing vocals of the very talented Little Big Town throughout and you have the best Mellencamp release since the Cougar-Mellencamp days of the mid-late 80's. Most striking to me personally is that John is sending out his feelings and observations through incredibly catchy tunes. Highpoints are "The Americans" and "Someday" as likely radio hits. Tremendous album cuts include "Ghost Towns Along The Highway", "Forgiveness", and "My Aeroplane." By the way, if you think that "Our Country" is a tired old truck ad, think again. The song merits a full listen. I highly recommend Freedom's Road to any rock music fan. I challenge anyone willing to step up to the plate and at the very least question the state of our country. John Mellencamp has. Freedom's Road is a 5 star release that will have you strumming the guitars and pounding the drums of your imagination.
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Still on an artistic upswing, this is Mellencamp's latest in a trilogy of similarly-themed, meaningful rock., January 23, 2007
I usually resist writing a review of a new album until I've had it a while and listened to it a few times through. Unless we are talking about a live album or a greatest hits compilation or something of that sort, reviewed from a rather technical aspect, I find that most albums - unless they immediately stand out as something truly amazing and/or original (and that doesn't happen often) - take a while to grow on me and my opinion of them tends to change after I take few listens. Fickle record buyers and listeners should beware not to pick up a new album, skip through the tracks and then dismiss it simply because nothing jumps out as a catchy single and/or something like the artist's past mega-hits.
I find this ideology applies to no one more than Mellencamp - and perhaps every classic rock artist still making albums to a fraction of the sales they had in their heyday. Adults don't buy albums the way kids do and if there is no new single from Mellencamp and his counterparts, fans may not even know he has a new album out, much less see any reason to buy it since he long ago stopped trying to duplicate his past hits just to stay on the singles charts. (This is also why the top tours every year are constantly from classic rockers, but their albums sell half of what the latest from 50 Cent and the like sell - too bad, but good for these guys standing their artistic ground).
So normally I would let my opinion of a new John Mellencamp record simmer until I have mulled over each song a bit more in order to discover my true feelings about it. But, since buying it this morning, I have listened to the album through a few times, revisited key songs that stand out a few more, and I think it is safe to say that this album earns a recommendation. It is not one that feels like an instant classic, nor does it do anything earthsatteringly new that we have not heard from Mellencamp before, but it is still a refreshing return to form from an artist we have not heard from in quite a few years. He is back in his "Human Wheels" mode here which, come to think of it, he has never really abandoned since that album in the early 90's. Like "Human Wheels" and his albums since, the sound is sparse, the lyrics are contemplative and there is not a "Jack and Diane" type song in site. Hell, the closest single Mellencamp has had to those classics in the last 15 or so years was "Peaceful World," but despite its peppy, infectious beat, it was still lyrically the same as all of his recent pubic-service-messages-as-music tunes.
But "Freedom's Road" is really a capper to a trilogy started with 1998's self titled album which was meant to reinvent Mellencamp's musical image. And that it did to great effect; though one would not know it by the albums sales and lack of hits (only 2 - "Your Life in Mow" and "I'm Not Running Any More" - minor hits from an album that could have - should have - had five or six). Mellencamp began writing deeper songs (pop hits and sales be damned) and delivering music of a moody, stripped down nature; implementing instruments he never could fully explore while he was R.O.C.K-ing in the U.S.A. He followed that album with the even more ambitious "Cuttin' Heads" in 2001. To give an idea of just how relevant a writer Mellencamp is, the whole album spoke of the topics music soon would be full of after 9/11. But Mellencamp finished the record before that tragic day, but still over half the songs he had written sounded like they came from yet another artist affected by those events. He's been saying the same things all along, really: There are problems in the world, we need to come together, but there is hope for humanity and hope for this great nation.
The message continues with "Freedom's Road." And though we've heard most of this from Mellencamp before, he still does this sort of thing better than almost anyone else in rock. If there is a drawback to Mellencamp as a writer, its that he is a bit too on-the-nose in his lyrics. Rather than writing poetic lyrics that can be interpreted in different ways, or losing himself and his message in characters, stories and the music itself, he delivers his message rather bluntly (sample chorus: "I'm an American/I respect you and your point of view"). This is not a bad thing necessarily, especially if you don't want to dig for deeper meanings to understand what an artist is saying, but it lends a sameness and banality to songs that are already often stripped down and hard to differentiate.
That, however, is the worst that can be said of this effort and the only real knock I have for it. Beyond that, "Freedom's Road" has plenty of joy, inspiration, and truth going for it where it lacks the variety. ("Cuttin' Heads" felt like it was kind of all over the place musically, but that is one of the things I eventually came to love about it.) The album looks promisingly to the future by recognizing the mistakes of the past ("Someday," "Jim Crow") and embraces the idea that, despite its problems, America - and Americans - is still a great nation ("The Americans," "Our Country"), but warns of the need for severe change ("Ghost Towns Along the Highway"). Not all of the tunes are as promising and optimistic as others, but the overall message is that of hope. There is plenty of sorrow on display (such as father who turns out his own daughter in "Rural Route," one of the albums best, and best written, tracks) but, as is the point; the songs of hope overcome those of pain.
Mellencamp seems to have a desire to be a red-state/blue-state unifier (though he did gig on the Vote For Change Tour) and culturally he wants us all to get along. This is obviously a noble attribute, but it doesn't always make for the most exciting songs. Of course, I'd rather hear a guy try to sort out all of the different feelings and ideals that divide this country, rather than settle it all with a boot in you're a*s because (he thinks) its the American way.
In "Our County" he sings "There's room enough here/For science to live/and there's room enough here/for religion to forgive." Say what?! You can respect science and religion? At the same time?! Who-da thought? Amen to that, JM.
So, I still feel I owe "Freedom's Road" its time to fully grow on me, but it is already a better album of newly penned material from any artist I have bought in a while. I don't think it is as good as "John Mellencamp" or "Cuttin' Heads." Those albums seemed more musically ambitious. But its clear that this album is not about sonics. Mellencamp has a lot to say. If a straight shooter like him feels the need to speak his mind, I'll surely listen.
Highlights (IMO) include the fist-pumper "Someday," "Forgiveness" with its mellow guitar strum and laidback vibe, its got the type of groove that you can just picture being done in concert in between some of the big hits and/or more rockin' anthums - and fit right in with them all, "My Aeroplane" the albums biggest and best rave-up rocker, the afore mentioned "Rural Route," and, yes haters, "Our Country," which after a few listens (to the actual song and lyrics, not just fifteen seconds of the chorus during a car commercial) you will have to admit the song is well written an undeniably infectious. Its also the most vintage Mellencamp of all the tunes here.
***FYI - not to rob Amazon of any sales, but fans may want to know Best Buy has a version of this album that includes a second disc with four acoustic versions of songs from the album (almost all of them sound more natural in this form so I think its a worthy item), while Target is offering a presale password to get first shot at tickets for Mellencamp's upcoming tour if you pick it up there. $9.99 at both. And make sure to listen for the hidden track, a scorching barn-burner presumably called "Rodeo Clown" that starts around the seven minute mark on track 10.
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~ John Mellencamp
~ John Mellencamp
~ John Mellencamp
~ John Mellencamp
~ John Mellencamp
by John Mellencamp 
