Scarecrow (1985)
1. Rain on the Scarecrow
2. Grandma's Theme
3. Small Town
4. Minutes to Memories
5. Lonely Ol' Night
6. The Face of the Nation
7. Justice and Independence '85
8. Between a Laugh and a Tear
9. Rumbleseat
10.You've Got to Stand for Something
11.R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.
12.The Kind of Fella I Am
 
Every now and then, an album will be
released that is not only chocked full of great music, but seems to have
a certain, special feel or vibe to it. No, I'm not
necessarily talking about a "concept" album. There have been too many
of those, and in many cases the concept takes over and much of the music
gets lost. This is the album that really defined Mellencamp - who he
was, where he came from, and what he stood for in life.
This is the album about the great Midwest, or, more precisely the
Midwest that may have been great that now looks pretty bleak. Hailing
from a "small town" of Seymour, Indiana, Mellencamp seems right at home
as he's singing about the hard times that have taken over so many of the
lives that are closest to him. Sadly, progress takes no prisoners.
Specifically, this is a plight of the American Farmer. He leads off
with the first cut Rain on the Scarecrow that is bitter, angry,
and doesn't pull any punches. He's definitely pissed, as are the people
he's singing about in his songs. What could possibly be more depressing than working
16 hour days, 7 days a week only to lose your legacy and history because
too much food is being produced? Actually, only the title song
addresses this directly, but the whole album then takes off in, what is
almost, a "story" of "what happens next".
He cleverly includes a crude, homemade recording of a snippet of his
song that his Grandmother recorded many years ago (Grandma's
Theme), which seems to simply evoke simpler times. We can almost
perfectly visualize Grandma, with a beat up old guitar plucking away on
the front porch as the family is resting up for the next days work.
Mellencamp then plunges into the purely autobiographical Small
Town that is the cornerstone of the album. This is who he is, and
he makes no apologies for his background.
Although Mellencamp rocks just as hard and convincingly as he has
numerous times in the past, he injects a bit of that small town
americana into all of the tracks that give this record the push that
makes it graduate from good to great. Whereas his past records seem to
sound like they were made for a dance at a high school gym or the local
bowling alley in anytown, this record makes you feel as your watching
the band play at the local county fair where pecan pies are made and
hogs are decorated with ribbons.
All of this wouldn't matter if the music took a back seat, but it does
not. Most of the album is just Mellencamp (again) being himself. Songs
such as Rumbleseat and R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. are just as
powerful and melodic as anything he had ever done, and he clearly is
trying to define his persona with songs such as The Kind of Fella I
Am and You've Got to Stand for Somethin'.
Mellecamp would continue to have episodes of brilliance throughout his
career, but he never would do so again with such power driving rock and
roll behind his many messages.
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