[Adapted from a review originally published in On The Town Magazine
So many people have tried to be Bob Dylan since 1962 that it's amazing there aren't more outright impersonators out there (the rumbly-mumbly-whiny vocal thing must just be too hard to perfect).
Bruce Springsteen spent several years at it before deciding he was better off just being himself; The Byrds went and released "Mr. Tambourine Man" as their very first single; and Neil Young and Counting Crows and who knows how many others have followed Dylan's lead in combining serious themes, vibrant language and rootsy American music into a thought-provoking, socially-conscious yet entertaining meld.
John Mellencamp first came on the scene in the late 1970s as Johnny Cougar, a hunky, mid-western, small-town, three-chord rock-and-roller whose musical dreams had spun wildly out of his control in the hands of smarmy agents and record company executives. He and his cheesy stage name toiled in relative anonymity until he broke out with American Fool, one of the biggest albums of 1982—you probably remember the hit singles "Jack and Diane" and "Hurts So Good."
From that point on, Mellencamp began reclaiming his identity, recovering first artistic control over his music, then his name and finally his dignity. By 1985's Scarecrow, he was ready to begin airing out his own dark, earthy yet undeniably sincere take on the American Dream and those it leaves behind.
The Lonesome Jubilee, released as the bloom began definitively falling off the Ronald Reagan/Morning in
He adds weight and flavor to his message with dynamic arrangements, bringing accordion, fiddle and tambourine to the forefront of the music while keeping the standard guitar-bass-drums trio bulling it along from underneath. The arrangements are among his best, with accordion propelling the hard-edged “Paper In Fire” and Crystal Taliefero’s harmony vocals lighting up “Check It Out.” Even secondary tracks like “The Real Life” and “We Are The People” are full of purpose and a ferocious sense of justice.
While never a wordsmith on the scale of Dylan, Mellencamp here musters heart, soul and vision enough to create an album of lasting power and resonance, that belongs in any classic rock collection worthy of that label.