John Mellencamp - No Better Than This
List Price:
Our Price: $9.00
You Save: $9.98 (53%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $4.86 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
CD Details
Artist: John MellencampEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
CD Release Date: 2010-08-17
Music Label: Rounder / Pgd
Soundtracks:
- Save Some Time To Dream
- The West End
- Right Behind Me
- A Graceful Fall
- No Better Than This
- Thinking About You
- Coming Down The Road
- No One Cares About Me
- Love At First Sight
- Don't Forget About Me
- Each Day Of Sorrow
- Easter Eve
- Clumsy Ol' World
Music reviews of No Better Than This
Music Review: He Has Been BETTER THAN THIS, But Not By Much!
Rating: 4 Stars
What is with the schizophrenia running rampant in the pop world today?!? So far this year we've had Cyndi Lauper wanting to be Big Mama Thornton, Tom Petty channelling Muddy Waters and Sheryl Crow offering up her best Dusty Springfield. Now we've got John Mellencamp, who, on his new NO BETTER THAN THIS, is sounding like everyone from Robert Johnson to Bob Dylan, back to Woody Guthrie...and on to himself.
However, Mellencamp has a secret weapon, and because of said weapon he ultimately fares the best. Unlike other artists who try something "new", Mellencamp never fully immerses himself in the new style...he just flavors his own sound with it. The result? He never loses himself, thus he never sounds like a fish out of water. (Killer production by T-Bone Burnett doesn't hurt either!).
Things kick off with the lovely "Save Some Time To Dream", a relaxed shuffle that could have appeared on pretty much any previous Mellencamp album...and fit right in!
An easy-going lead vocal, muted instrumentation and strong lyrics ("Save some time for sorrow/Cause it will surely come your way/Prepare yourself for failure/It will give you strength someday") all meld together, ultimately forming a classic album opener.
There's an eerie American Gothic vibe to "The West End" that is both hypnotic and chilling. Mellencamp's vocal is just this side of a growl, while the instrumentation is simply mesmerizing...the guitars (both electric and acoustic), banjo and bass just float in and about. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant!!!
Up next is one of my favorite cuts, the quirky "Right Behind Me." There's a twisted, atmospheric 1920's speak-easy groove to the track, gorgeously aided and abetted by Miriam Sturm's breath-taking violin playing. Moreso than any other song on NBTT, "Right Behind Me" jumps out at you like a little mini movie, all animated and alive. LOVE it!!
The arrangement for "A Graceful Fall" kind of plods along, and Mellencamp's vocal is sort of uninspired, but the song has some of the album's best lyrics: "It's not a graceful fall/From dreams to the truth/There's not a lotta hope here/If you've got nothing to lose." All in all, still another winner.
The same could be said about the disc's title track. I'm not nuts about Mellencamp's slightly affected lead vocal, but I love "No Better Than This"'s psuedo-rockabilly groove, while the lyrics rock ("Give me back my youth/And don't let me waste it this time/Stand me up at the golden gates/At the front of the line"). Yet another track that inches into the "Plus" column.
"Thinking About You" doesn't inch in, it plows it's way in, jetting right to the top of the Best Cuts list. A heartwarmingly sweet lead vocal is delicately cushioned by nothing more than a lone (albeit powerful) acoustic guitar, while the melancholy lyrics perfectly touch on lost loves and times long since past. One of NBTT's true gems.
The disc takes a slight dip at this point. "Coming Down The Road" has a somewhat stale, dated vibe to it, like a decades-old Country cut that should have been left buried on some ancient C&W 78. Mellencamp's vocal is strong, but even the arrangement seems to be a rehash of sounds that are used elsewhere (and to better effect) on the disc.
The same can be said about "No One Cares About Me"...the song just goes on and on and on and....! Unlike, say, "Right Behind Me", this track, with all it's characters and verses, does not paint a picture...it just continues on and on, to the point where you understand WHY no one cares about this guy! This is Mellencamp trying too hard, which in and of itself is a real rarity.
Things get back on track with "Love At First Sight", another acoustic-driven beaut. Once again, it's just Mellencamp's vocal and a lone guitar, both of which are in fine form. Add to the mix clever, kitchy lyrics and you have the album's most fun cut. (This is the sort of clever tune that has made Mellencamp the icon that he is).
"Don't Forget About Me" is another one of the tracks that sits squarely on the fence for me, but this time around I've got to say it ends up in the "Minus" column....and I'm sure why. Mellencamp's vocal is strong and solid, and I love the lyrics ("You can't see the pictures I'm painting/Of me and you together/From life to death to heaven"). In the end, though, there's just something "Blah" about the track.
Next we have my favorite cut off the album, the spirited "Each Day Of Sorrow." If I didn't know better I'd swear this was a lost gem from someone like Dorsey Burnette. With it's fuzzy guitar, pulsating bass, snappy stick work and attitude-drenched lead vocal, this is a hit through and through!
I also really like "Easter Eve", but the track is once again derailed by the feeling that Mellencamp is trying too hard to tell a story here. The fact that the song goes on for almost six and a half minutes doesn't help. Let's call this one a draw.
Things wrap up with the sweet "Clumsy Ol' World." A smooth lead vocal, sharp finger-picking and thoughtful lyrics ("She don't eat meat/But she smokes cigarettes/She remembers things/I'm trying to forget") all add up to the perfect album closer....understated, but unforgettable.
And that could describe most of NO BETTER THAN THIS. However, with three acoustic-driven, folk-based albums in a row now under his belt, I'm ready for John Mellencamp to shake things up again. That's when he does, indeed, get better than this. (As with all my reviews, I'm giving the disc an extra half a star for including the lyrics, a real rarity this year!).
Description of No Better Than This
In an age of auto-tuned, computerized recordings, John Mellencamp's approach on his Rounder debut, No Better Than This, is refreshing. The entire album was recorded with Mellencamp and his band all playing live in one room using a 55 year-old Ampex tape recorder and just one vintage microphone. Legendary producer T Bone Burnett captured the stunning thirteen new Mellencamp originals at three historically important locations: Sun Studio in Memphis, TN (where Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis all first recorded); the First African Baptist Church in Savannah, GA (the oldest Black church in North America, dating to 1775); and in Room 414 of the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio, TX (where Robert Johnson made his first recordings in 1936). The songs on No Better Than This reflect classic American musical traditions including blues, folk, gospel, rockabilly, and country, while addressing such themes as the need for hope, the nature of relationships, and narratives that recount extraordinary occurrences in everyday life. Mellencamp says of the album, "It was absolutely the most fun I've ever had making a record in my life. It was about making music - organic music made by real musicians - that's heartfelt and written from the best place it can come from."Rock CDs
Music Genres
Bestsellers in Rock CDs
![Rock & Roll Circus [VHS] Image](/images/Rock-Roll-Circus-VHS-6304235682-X.jpg){kind=small}
Rock & Roll Circus [VHS]Abkco; Release date: 1996-10-15; Published: 1995; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $8.99
Price in other shops:
![Bjork - Vessel [VHS] Image](/images/Bjork-Vessel-VHS-6303276776-X.jpg){kind=small}
Bjork - Vessel [VHS]Elektra / Wea; Release date: 1994-11-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $3.90
Price in other shops:
![Live Blues [VHS] Image](/images/Live-Blues-VHS-6302779375-X.jpg){kind=small}
Live Blues [VHS]Atlantic / Wea; Release date: 1993-07-06; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $127.86
![Roger Waters - What God Wants (Part 1) [VHS] Image](/images/Roger-Waters-What-God-Wants-Part-1-VHS-6302518555-X.jpg)
Roger Waters - What God Wants (Part 1) [VHS]Sony; Release date: 1992-09-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $76.60
![Lone Justice Live [VHS] Image](/images/noimg.gif)
Lone Justice - Lone Justice Live [VHS]Umgd; Release date: 1999-01-12; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $93.90
Vasco Rossi - EarbrooksRelease date: 2007-01-18; Published: 2006-12-07; Music CD
Best price: $19.46
Price in other shops:
Queer Noises 61-78: From the Closet to the ChartsRelease date: 2006-12-26; Music CD
Best price: $18.69
Price in other shops:
Icp - Pendulum 3Release date: 2000-05-30; Music CD
Best price: $4.93
Price in other shops:
Elvis '56 - In the Beginningby Unknown
UNI DIST CORP (MUSIC); Release date: 2000-09-26; DVD
Best price: $7.01
Price in other shops:
Tales Of The Gun - Guns Of The U.S. Mounted Cavalry [VHS]A & E Home Video; Release date: 2001-08-20; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
Similar CDs
John Mellencamp - Dance NakedRelease date: 2005-07-19; Music CD
Best price: $4.98
Price in other shops:
John Mellencamp - Nothin Matters & What If It DidRelease date: 2005-03-29; Music CD
Best price: $2.61
Price in other shops:
John Mellencamp - Big Daddy (Rpkg)Release date: 2005-05-24; Music CD
Best price: $2.80
Price in other shops:
John Mellencamp - Mr Happy Go LuckyMR; Release date: 2005-07-19; Music CD
Best price: $5.34
Price in other shops:
John Mellencamp - Rough Harvest (Rpkg)Release date: 2005-07-19; Music CD
Best price: $2.59
Price in other shops:
John Mellencamp - Trouble No MoreRelease date: 2008-04-01; Music CD
Best price: $2.57
Price in other shops:
John Mellencamp - Freedom's RoadRelease date: 2007-01-23; Music CD
Best price: $6.21
Price in other shops:
John Mellencamp - Life Death Live & FreedomRelease date: 2009-06-23; Music CD
Best price: $4.19
Price in other shops:
John Mellencamp - Life Death Love & Freedom (Advd) (Dig)Baker Drivetrain; Release date: 2008-07-15; Published: 2008-09-12; Music CD
Best price: $5.97
Price in other shops:
John Mellencamp - Words & Music: John Mellencamp's Greatest HitsRelease date: 2004-10-19; Music CD
Best price: $12.45
Price in other shops: