Nashville City Paper Life Death LIVE and Freedom Review
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
By Ron Wynn
John Mellencamp - Life Death Live and Freedom - (Hear Music)
While John Mellencamp was thrilling and impressive during the studio version of the Life Death Love and Freedom CD, he’s taken things to even greater heights vocally and emotionally on these live versions of songs culled from concerts done during last year’s tours.
Whether it’s “Troubled Land,” “Jena,” “My Sweet Love,” or “Don’t Need This Body,” you hear Mellencamp singing without reserve or inhibition, at times powering through the melody and turning the lyrics into vibrant exhortations, then suddenly switching the mood and tempo back down before reviving things again.
Backed by a fine six-piece unit whose two guitars, keyboards, violin, bass and percussion created fierce, percolating backgrounds, Mellencamp provided audiences with an intensity and soul not obtainable in a sterile studio environment.
Click HERE to read the review on their website.
By Ron Wynn
John Mellencamp - Life Death Live and Freedom - (Hear Music)
While John Mellencamp was thrilling and impressive during the studio version of the Life Death Love and Freedom CD, he’s taken things to even greater heights vocally and emotionally on these live versions of songs culled from concerts done during last year’s tours.
Whether it’s “Troubled Land,” “Jena,” “My Sweet Love,” or “Don’t Need This Body,” you hear Mellencamp singing without reserve or inhibition, at times powering through the melody and turning the lyrics into vibrant exhortations, then suddenly switching the mood and tempo back down before reviving things again.
Backed by a fine six-piece unit whose two guitars, keyboards, violin, bass and percussion created fierce, percolating backgrounds, Mellencamp provided audiences with an intensity and soul not obtainable in a sterile studio environment.
Click HERE to read the review on their website.