John MellencampBest John Mellencamp Albums Ranked

Life, Death, Love And Freedom

rollingstone

8.0

“Earlier this year, John McCain used John Mellencamp’s hits "Our Country" and "Pink Houses" during stump speeches, until the Democratic singer asked him to stop. It’s unlikely that the Republican candidate would find anything useful for his campaign on Life, Death, Love and Freedom. Mellencamp teamed up with producer T Bone Burnett to create a […]”

John Mellencamp

rollingstone

8.0

“The title of John Mellencamp’s fifteenth album is his name, which is a way of signifying that it’s both a self-portrait and a career plateau-cum-new beginning. Mellencamp strikes a balanced middle ground between his origins as a straightforward Midwestern rocker and his later compulsion (à la Neil Young) to chase less-commercial tangents. His first album […]”

Big Daddy

rollingstone

8.0

“It doesn’t seem right, using a word like mature to refer to a guy who used to bill himself as Little Bastard — but these days, the word is just about inescapable when you talk about John Mellencamp. For somebody whose work has always suggested a morbid fear of aging, he’s slipping into rock & […]”

“Written, arranged and recorded during a sixteen-day blowout at the Shack (as stated on the inner sleeve), Uh-huh proves that spontaneity often wins out over endless production tinkering. Stepping away from the shadow of those great soul searchers Seger and Springsteen, Mellencamp has opted for a lean, slightly distorted rec-room sound, and while the lyrics […]”

Other People's Stuff

pastemagazine

7.2

“Although the title’s something of a misnomer, it does accurately sum up the vintage sentiments that give this album its common bond. Still, it’s a viable concept, especially given Mellencamp’s reputable stance as a heartland hero and blue collar troubadour. That is, of course, the tack he’s taken for the better part of his career, ever since he shed the posturing of his initial incarnation as John”

Strictly A One-Eyed Jack

rollingstone

7.0

“Bruce Springsteen joins the roots-rock icon on an album steeped in a sense of fading mortality”