Country Music People Magazine - No Better Than This

Country Music People Magazine - 144

No Better Than This - Review

4 stars

This is an unusual idea for a project. Thirteen new songs by John Mellencamp all recorded at historic locations with a single microphone and a mono 1955 reel to reel. The places are: The First African Baptist Church in Savannah, GA, which dates to pre-revolutionary times and where the original congregation and ministers were slaves; Sun Studios in Memphis where classic recordings by luminaries such as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Charlie Rich were made; and room 414 of the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio where Robert Johnson for Brunswick Records in 1936.

A lot of effort was made to reproduce the original ambiance. Sun Studios is still an operational recording facility so the vintage recording equipment was set-up in a makeshift recording booth and the room at the Gunter Hotel had a hardwood floor fitted over the carpet to attempt to reproduce the original acoustic. This all sounds a shade precious and indulgent, but T Bone Burnett weaves his magic as producer and the locations become significant contributors to the recordings.

Sun Studios is the major location used, with nine of the thirteen tracks recorded there with a full band. The previous occupants of Sun Studios inevitably have an influence. Coming Down The Road has a slapped double bass and twangy lead guitar that recalls Johnny Cash and Each Day of Sorrow pays tribute to some of the fabulous Rock 'n' Roll that was recorded at Sun.

The elementary recording method struggles to deal with the violin at the Gunter Hotel, but the subject matter of the influence of the devil on Right Behind Me on the single track from this location seems apt for the room that Robert Johnson recorded. The songs from the Baptist church are all set to acoustic guitar and the best song is the closing track Clumsy Ol' World. The lyric is reminiscent of John Prine's in its affectionate, yet sardonic look at love.

Mellencamp recorded these songs on rest days during his 2009 tour with Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan and the spirit of his touring companions has influenced Mellencamp. Easter Eve is a Dylan-esque song with a lengthy narrative and A Graceful Fall is a Willie Nelson flavoured hard luck song. Mellencamp has put together a good bunch of songs and only a few misfire. No One Cares About Me is memorable, but the self-pitying lyric is annoying and Love At First Sight starts off as an amusing idea, but soon grows tiresome.

No Better Than This is an interesting and mostly successful experiment in shaping new material with American music heritage and the band have risen superbly to the challenge of the single microphone recording method. This leaves Mellencamp's husky voice a little exposed, but the warmth of his delivery fully compensates. If all you know about John Mellencamp are his "Cougar" days of pop stardom and his 1982 hit Jack and Diane, then this album will be a revelation.

- Michael Hingston