John Mellencamp
Cuttin' Heads
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John Mellencamp
Cuttin' Heads
Columbia, 2001
RiYL: Marlboro Lights, IU Hoosiers basketball, corn |
But being from Indiana isn't necessarily a bad thing, and neither is being called a Midwestern rocker. That hasn't stopped Mellencamp from taking out his frustrations with it on his records, where, for several years now, he's naughtily pushed the edges of that Midwestern label like a kid seeing how far his remote-controlled car will go. It can yield spotty results -- 1996's Mr. Happy Go Lucky, his experiment with loops and programmed beats, only gets a little more than halfway there -- and when you read in the promo material that Cuttin' Heads features guest spots from India.Arie, Trisha Yearwood and -- gulp -- Chuck D, one can't help but wonder where the man is taking this thing.
Luckily, there are no loops to be found on Cuttin' Heads, and the guest spots are used only to complement a strong, cohesive and surprisingly soulful record. Mellencamp's sound is damn near patented by now, and the same goes for his Marlboro-addled pipes. But Heads trades largely in social commentary and, as much as he might not like to hear it, by newly relevant if traditionally down-home ruminations on racism, war, peace, hate, love, and the state of a rattled nation.
Mellencamp's politics have been lyrical fodder since the first Farm Aid, but Cuttin' Heads is the most distilled, cohesive serving he's served up since 1985's Scarecrow. "I don't think we should look the same / talk the same / I think it's a shame," he sings in his best rasp. The twangy title track adds Cajun flavorings, female choruses and the Public Enemy MC to a narrative about a man in an interracial marriage called to "defend the honor of his wife" when "some man calls her race a disgrace," culminating in a gospel chorus admonishing others "don't call me nigga 'cause you know I don't like it like that."
"Crazy Island" is a cold, squinty-eyed glare at at the fragile promise of this country, with its "strip malls, handguns and heresies," that resonates more now than I'm sure it did when Mellencamp wrote it, although with its "Hey hey America!" chorus and "doo-doo-doo"s it's got the potential, especially in a beer-soaked lawn sing-along, to become as misread as "Rockin' in the Free World." And the ubiquitous but still irresistible first single "Peaceful World" is so timely makes you wonder if all those cigarettes have given Mellencamp a sixth sense or something.
As usual, Mellencamp lightens up a bit on the second half, with the comical "Women Seem," and the reggae-tinged "Shy." Album closer "In Our Lives" is a surprisingly revelatory look from the man who calls himself "Little Bastard."
His '80s successes are well behind him now, as are his big VH-1 audiences. Yeah, he'll probably be strumming "Pink Houses" until the day he puffs his last cigarette and possibly beyond, but Mellencamp 2001 finds himself in that Pearl Jam spot wherein he can record pretty damn well whatever he wants. Unburdened by the requirement -- or even the desire -- to record an album of Super Hits, Mellencamp seems free to continue his exploration, and even when his ambition exceeds his grasp, you know his heart's in the right place. Must be the Indiana boy in him, huh?
JEFF VRABEL | Jeff Vrabel may look like your average, strapping Midwestern-type, but lurking inside him is a passion for all things Springsteen, "Weird" Al, and regrettably, the Chicago Cubs. He's touched Britney Spears. He knows Slash's phone number. Obey him at all costs.