Published on Apr 5, 1997
If there is any artist who could benefit from a greatest-hits
collection, it is John Mellencamp.
Throughout the course of his career, he’s managed to produce
some great songs. The problem is he’s padded out his albums with
lame material – probably the one exception being
Human Wheels.
This pattern continues with his latest effort,
Mr. Happy Go Lucky, his first release since suffering a
heart attack a few years ago.
Prior to the album’s release, there was a lot of hope on my part
that it would be better than his last effort, the abysmal
Dance Naked. Upon hearing the first single, “Key West
Intermezzo (I Saw You First),” my hopes seemed to be confirmed.
Here was a song with an entirely different feel than other
Mellencamp works – it almost sounded hip-hop in the beat. The
material was fresh and inviting, and the song hooks you in
quickly.
Ah, but singles can be deceiving – “Key West Intermezzo” was,
sadly, the best song on
Mr. Happy Go Lucky. That fresh, hip-hop beat? It gets stale
real quickly. There is a lack of leadership among the
musicians backing up Mellencamp – there is no biting lead guitar,
no real good use of rhythm instruments, etc. – except on the
single, and two instrumental tracks, one leading the album off, one
near its completion… and those are mere throw-aways.
But with all his time off, surely Mellencamp has refined his art
of songwriting, you may ask. Unfortunately, the answer is no. The
material is bland and boring. In fact, unless you were paying close
attention, you would hardly notice the tracks blending together to
make one indifferent mess.
Even when he tries to get a point across, Mellencamp falls flat
– “Emotional Love” and “Life Is Hard” being two prime examples.
Mellencamp knows how to write and play good songs, and with the
exception of the one hit single, there is little evidence of that
on
Mr. Happy Go Lucky. Once I had thought that Mellencamp
couldn’t sink lower than the terrible
Whenever We Wanted or
Dance Naked. I hate it when artists prove me wrong.