Fresh from producing the Robert Plant and Alison Krauss record Raising
Sand, T Bone Burnett has set his sights on another figure whose image
is forever ingrained in struggle, gumption and wherewithal: John Mellencamp.
The Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer may have gotten a shot in the arm creatively
with 2007’s Freedom’s Road, but now he’s
returned to the frontlines with Burnett paving the way on a powerful 14-track
opus: Life, Death, Love And Freedom.
Whether he realizes it or not, Mellencamp often aspires to the emotional plateau
of Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young. “Longest Days,” the stark and
barren opener on Life, Death, Love And Freedom, succinctly
bottles the sauce of the Boss, but Mellencamp remains defiantly individualistic
in its smooth delivery. The country bounce of “My Sweet Love,” featuring
back-up vocals from Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town, takes the listener down
another road without the drama and pageantry. But it’s typically drama
and pageantry that give Mellencamp’s music its distinct, striking flavor
and resonance. You needn’t go much further than “Don’t Need
This Body” where the singer questions his own mortality in lieu of growing
old gracefully or kicking and screaming to the grave. One can only hasten a
guess as to which path Mellencamp will follow, but the song’s reflective
tone gives rise to further introspection. Country folk and blues have a beautiful
way of doing that.
For his part, Burnett can turn a collection of acoustic instruments into a
cosmic country symphony (can you imagine the possibilities of a Gram Parsons
and T Bone Burnett collaboration?). This seems to work wonders on most projects
he heads up. For Life, Death, Love And Freedom, however, the
producer took one giant leap forward by integrating a new recording process
called Code. Engineered for optimum sound quality across all formats —
CDs, DVDs and digital — Code forgoes the compression that tends to cool
the warmth and sharpen the contours. But all the technical embellishments can’t
strip away the record’s sparse and elegant approach. “Mean,”
“For The Children” and “A Brand New Song,” each wrapped
in a sheath of effortless fortitude, are three more reasons why Mellencamp’s
role as a singer and songwriter with a conscious can still reach ears and touch
hearts. Even a few glossy rock and roll skeletons in the closet can’t
erase that fact.
~ Shawn Perry
