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John Mellencamp
Trouble No More
(Columbia)
Trouble No More: The Making
of a John Mellencamp Album
(Redline)
First Appeared at The Music Box, March 2004, Volume 11, #3
Written by John Metzger
There always has been more to John Mellencamp than initially meets the eye.
Beyond the pop-rock star whose success was fueled by the rise of MTV, lies an
artist who has fought tirelessly to maintain his credibility despite massive
mainstream exposure, and this is what has given his career the ability to
survive well after the strains of Jack and Diane had faded into the
backdrop of ’80s pastiche. Indeed, lurking within his catalog are gems like Scarecrow and The Lonesome Jubilee, which show that had he not been
quite so prosperous, he’d have fared equally well as a folk or blues artist.
Within that context, Mellencamp’s latest endeavor Trouble No More
makes perfect sense. After sorting through hundreds of albums, he plucked twelve
songs from the annals of American history, ranging from Woody Guthrie’s outlaw
ballad Johnny Hart to a scorching rendition of Son House’s Death
Letter to a sterling cover of Lucinda Williams’ Lafayette. Elsewhere,
he delivers Hoagy Carmichael’s classic Baltimore Oriole with a raspy, Tom
Waits-ish growl; turns the Dickey Doo & the Dont’s tune Teardrops Will Fall
into pure Appalachian soul; and paints John the Revelator with a powerful
gospel hue.
Never before has Mellencamp sounded this relaxed in the studio, and this
undoubtedly is a by-product of the organic evolution that occurred during
Trouble No More’s recording. The seeds for the album took root at a tribute
concert for Billboard editor Timothy White, at which Mellencamp
reinvented Robert Johnson’s Stones in My Passway. Executives at Columbia
Records witnessed the emotional potency of his performance and agreed to allow
him to pursue his vision, out of which grew his modern-day take on To
Washington, a protest song that, in its new capacity, challenges the essence
of the Bush Administration.
The project is highlighted quite nicely on Trouble No More: The Making of
a John Mellencamp Album, a short film that culls 120 hours of footage into a
50-minute drama. Now available on DVD, the documentary is an inessential, but
largely entertaining affair that perfectly captures the ups and downs of the
recording experience — including the tedium, the tension, the passion, and the
intensity of the process. It demonstrates the manner in which songs are
typically constructed, and it shows Mellencamp’s devotion to obtaining an
earthier sound via the utilization of vintage analog equipment. Clearly, the
documentary’s creation was usurped, and it subsequently was employed as a
marketing tool, airing on TRIO last October. As such, it’s likely to be of
little interest to casual fans. Still, it does serve its purpose quite well, and
at the very least, it gives an insightful overview of the creation of one of
Mellencamp’s finest endeavors to date.
Trouble No More — 
Trouble No More: The Making of a John Mellencamp Album —
Trouble No More is available
from Amazon.com. To order, Click Here!
For Canadian orders, please
Click Here!
For UK orders, please
Click Here!
Trouble No More: The Making of a John Mellencamp Album
is available from Amazon.com. To order, Click Here!
For Canadian orders, please
Click Here!
Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2004
The Music Box
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