No Better Than This
- John Mellencamp
- Band Name: John Mellencamp
- Record Label: Rounder
- Release Date: Aug 17, 2010
- Critic Score
- Most active
- Publication
- Most clicked
-
Compelling and heartfelt, No Better Than This feels tantalizingly timeless.
-
The direct, spare No Better Than This-Mellencamp even eschews stereo-has a timeless sound and songs that do right by their classic blues, rock, and country inspirations.
-
It's about people, and Mellencamp continues to write and sing about them better and better with each passing year.
-
90No Better Than This is a step beyond his best work, revelatory and free, the sound of a man who's unshackled from commercial considerations or outside influences. And ironically, it's a record that could've been made in 1954, which means it comes out of the speakers sounding remarkably fresh and new.
-
Whatever you think of Mellencamp, this is the kind of record that will compel a re-evaluation, an out-of-leftfield shot that mostly works because of its modesty, shagginess and humor--qualities not normally associated with the singer in the past.
-
For much of the record, Mellencamp is eyeing death and laughing at the devil or, as in the back-porch-folk of "Easter Eve," bonding with his son by brawling with strangers. A little cranky, but far more carefree Mellencamp slips into a rocking chair groove on the lost-lover lament of "Don't Forget About Me" and concedes that he's "spotty at best." Over the course of his 30-plus-year career, sure, but not here.