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John Mellencamp's newest album reunites him with producer T-Bone Burnett, who helmed Mellencamp's Life Death Love and Freedom release from 2008. Recorded quickly at various musically historic spots in the south between tour dates, No Better Than This has a refreshing immediacy.

Label Rounder / Umgd
Release Date Aug 17, 2010
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Better_Than_This
Producer T Bone Burnett
tracklist (all songs written by John Mellencamp)

1. Save Some Time To Dream
2. The West End
2. West End, The
3. Right Behind Me
4. A Graceful Fall
5. No Better Than This

6. Thinking About You
7. Coming Down the Road
8. No One Cares About Me
9. Love At First Sight
10. Don't Forget About Me
11. Each Day of Sorrow
12. Easter Eve
13. Clumsy Ol' World






John Mellencamp/T-Bone Burnett

Anyone who may have doubted that John Mellencamp's recent retrospective box set On the Rural Route 7609 would indelibly mark a significant turning point in the famed Hoosier rocker's career need only take a listen to his new August 17 album No Better Than This (Rounder). Recorded using a single microphone and an Ampex tape recorder half a century old by legendary producer T-Bone Burnett, Mellencamp's thirteen new raw and ragged songs manage to toss in every stylistic influence of traditional, uniquely American music: country and folk ("Clumsy Old World"), bluegrass and rockabilly ("Coming Down the Road"), blues and gospel ("Right Behind Me"), all elements of the roots-driven rock that has come to define, particularly in recent years, the Mellencamp sound.

Recorded on the fly, in a variety of historical locations (including Memphis' Sun Studios), No Better Than This puts Mellencamp's basic songwriting skills in unique perspective. "I am done being a rock star,” he says in a recent interview. “I have no interest in that, in having the biggest concerts. I have only one interest: to have fun while we’re doing this and maybe have something that somebody might discover." Whether or not Mellencamp's decision is more economic than philosophical is pretty much a moot point (ask Springsteen, Petty, Seger, Miller). What he's managed to do over the last decade is admirable: keep moving, evolving, exploring, even revisiting his roots, as he does here. If 7609 is a bookend, No Better Than This wipes the slate clean and resets the odometer.


John Mellencamp - Hurts So Good (1982)

John Mellencamp - Cherry Bomb (1987)


Well I lived on the outskirts of town
In a eight room farmhouse, baby
When my brothers and friends were around
There was always somethin' doin'
Had me a couple of real nice girlfriends
Stopped by to see me every once in while
When I think back about those days
All I can do is sit and smile

That's when a smoke was a smoke
And groovin' was groovin'
And dancin' meant everything
We were young and we were improvin'
Laughin', laughin' with our friends
Holdin' hands meant somethin' baby
Outside the club, cherry bomb
Our hearts were really thumpin'
Say yeah yeah yeah
Say yeah yeah yeah

The winter days they last forever
But the weekends went by so quick
Went ridin' around this little country town
We were goin' nuts, girl, out in the sticks
One night, me with my big mouth
A couple guys had to put me in my place
When I see those guys these days
We just laugh and say do you remember when

Chorus

Say yeah yeah yeah
Say yeah yeah yeah

Seventeen has turned thirty-five
I'm suprised that we're still livin'
If we've done any wrong
I hope that we're forgiven
Got a few kids on my own
And some days I still don't know what to do
I hope that they're not laughin' too loud
When they hear me talkin'
Like this to you

Chorus