John Mellencamp - Trouble No MoreJohn Mellencamp - Trouble No More: The Making of a John Mellencamp Album

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

gif

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.

gif

Trouble No Morestarstarstarstar

Trouble No More: The Making of a John Mellencamp Albumstarstarstar

gif

Of Further Interest...

Billy Bragg & Wilco - Mermaid Avenue, Vol. I / Mermaid Avenue, Vol. II

Bright Eyes - Digital Ash in a Digital Urn / I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning

Ramblin' Jack Elliott - I Stand Alone

gif

Trouble No More is available from Barnes & Noble.
To order, Click Here!

Trouble No More: The Making of a John Mellencamp Album
is available from Barnes & Noble. To order, Click Here!

gif

Ratings

1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!

gif

Copyright © 2004 The Music Box