John Mellencamp – Rough Harvest

Artist: John Mellencamp

Title: Rough Harvest

Label: Mercury

Rating: 5.5/10

I expected so much more from John Mellencamp on his latest release, Rough Harvest. He is one of the best, many will agree. He is an undisputed legend that promises and delivers, but with this album, I am definitely not impressed.

He covers “Under The Boardwalk” and the usually beautiful “Farewell Angelina”, both leaving me with little more than a longing for the best song on the album, “Jackie Brown”. He and the female vocalist in “Under The Boardwalk” completely butcher the song, and I mean butcher. It’s a terrible cover of a popular song. Then we have “Farewell Angelina”, which has been covered by so many, and in all of its loveliness, but here it is reminiscient of some winter holiday song. There is some quality there that I can’t seem to name, but it is there all the same, and it completely detracts from what the song is really all about. The mood is ruined.

“Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First)” and “Wild Night (Live)” are winners for Mellencamp fans, no matter how you look at it. Both were previously released. I really like “In My Time Of Dying” and “Rain On The Scarecrow”. These songs gave me what I expected and are really good, with the hardened quality that only a voice and soul like his can deliver. They are raw, almost rockabilly songs that bleed of the man that was once known as John Cougar Mellencamp, now minus the Cougar. “The Full Catastrophe” has something of this character, but has a little more twang, a lot like “When Jesus Left Birmingham”. Many of the songs here have this sort of sound, and most sport depressing lyrics. I think that he strove for inner reflection, but all I got from it was negativity.

Maybe I am simply too stuck on the music from his past to be able to truly appreciate this album. Either way, one thing is for sure: there is no vocal compatibility between his own and the back-up vocals, though the back-up is beautiful in its own rite. “Jackie Brown” is by far the best song on the album. I can’t seem to stop listening to it. Mellencamp asks, “Is this your life, Jackie Brown?” and then somehow manages to paint a starkly realistic yet emotional picture for the listener, so that you feel you know Jackie, because everyone knows someone like him. You see him, feel him, you identify with him. If you really love Mellencamp, this may be for you, but I wouldn’t suggest it. Still, for me, I’d probably think it worth buying for “Jackie Brown” alone.

+ alissa shugats