John Mellencamp (Album)
Occupation
- Vocals, guitar: John Mellencamp
- Bass, Vocals: Toby Myers
- Violin, Keys, Vocals: Miriam Sturm
- Guitar, Vocals: Mike Wanchic
- Guitar, Keys, Vocals: Andrew York
- Keys, Loops, Vocals: Moe Z. MD
Production
- John Mellencamp
- Mike Wanchic
- Paul Mahern
John Mellencamp is the 15th studio album by the American rock and folk singer John Mellencamp. It was the first of three albums, which started Mellencamp for Columbia Records. John Mellencamp has been published both as a record and as a Compact Disc. The CD is encoded in HDCD process.
Contributors
For John Mellencamp Mellencamp attacked again back on the support of lyricist George Michael Green, with whom he already had titles like Human Wheels ( 1993), Rain on the Scarecrow (1985) and written Hurts So Good (1982). The violinist Lisa Germano, drummer Stan Lynch and guitarist Izzy Stradlin ( ex- Guns N 'Roses ) had as a guest musician with the title Miss Missy.
Achievements
John Mellencamp was twenty weeks on the Billboard 200 and reached there place 41 In Switzerland, the album debuted at position 48 and then immediately disappeared again off the charts. In Germany and Austria, John Mellencamp could not place in the charts. Commercial point of view the album did not meet expectations.
Your Life is Now was nominated in 1999 for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance category for the Grammy Award. However, the award went to Lenny Kravitz.
Reception
The Rolling Stone called John Mellencamp as a rock-solid work of a spirited Heartland artist who run after not only the past ("a rock-solid piece of work from a feisty heartland artiste who is not Merely coasting on the past" ), and awarded four of five stars.
In the opinion of Allmusic it is not the serious songs like Fruit Trader and Your Life is Now, which account for the strength of John Mellencamp. Rather, the best material are the pieces that were probably intended more as a stopgap, especially I'm not Running Anymore and Miss Missy. If Mellencamp wanted to really reinvent and improve her albums sales, so he should put more cheerfulness in his music. Allmusic rated the album three out of five stars.