John Mellencamp’s new live EP, which reworks eight songs from last year’s Life, Death, Love and Freedom, kicks ass. I liked the album, even if some of it sounded like stuff he’s done before (and done better). There were a few songs that sounded familiar, and ended up being clever rewrites of older songs. Like too many new albums by old artists, I played it a few times and put it away.
The live EP kicks off with “If I Die Sudden” followed by “Troubled Land,” a breathtaking one-two punch that knocks the sand from the original versons, as it knocks the breath out of you. Listen to when the band kicks in on “Sudden,” and realize why you like music in the first place.
This still sounds like stuff you’ve heard before, because Mellencamp doesn’t ever stray too far from the same path. His songs often appear embarrassingly easy, I can start listening to nearly any one of them with a guitar in my hand and have it figured out by song’s end. You don’t fault him for his simplicity. Rather, you ask yourself how he has managed to make the old forms sound so new.
After living with the EP for a while I gave the album another chance, and discovered the problem. It’s too fucking long. Artists are convinced they need to work a whole hour in order for you to get your money’s worth, but it’s too easy to lose interest. The 32-minute EP help my attention throughout, one song at a time. I then timed Revolver, perhaps the best album ever, and it was only three minutes longer.
Rock fans naturally gravitate toward what everyone else doesn’t like. Mellencamp is tremendously popular, but it is still a bit of an underdog. Some people will never forgive him for “Jack and Diane,” or his participation in a Chevy commercial. The sellout wasn’t the problem, it was that the song was terrible.
Even if a lot of people diss little John, I believe him to be on the front line. He is ahead of his peers, including Dylan, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, and Van Morrison. All these guys have been around for ages accumulating a substantial body of work to which they continue to add. For me, Mellencamp seems to be the last one standing–although Young might still have a surprise or two left.
