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Rating: Published in 1999 with the aim of concluding his recording contract with the Mercury label, "Rough Harvest" is an unusual collection of tapes recorded by John Mellencamp with his band at his home studios in Belmont, Indiana in 1997 while the rain kept falling and the phones weren't ringing. This informal album presents us with a bare and unadorned Mellencamp, intent on offering his listeners some more or less known pages of his repertoire in electroacoustic versions. Songs played without haste, for pure pleasure, as if they were a sound-check before a concert and which in some cases offer pleasant surprises. "Rough Harvest" is essentially a session of pure, highly inspired American music that, while not adding anything radically new to what the former Cougar has already extensively expressed and demonstrated in his recording history, is ultimately highly enjoyable and pleasing.
The initial "Love And Happiness", lightened and stripped of the harsh, martial guitars present on "Whenever We Wanted", becomes a splendid rock ballad dominated by acoustic instruments. "When Jesus Left Birmingham" loses its hot rhythm and the black roots it had on the splendid "Human Wheels" to take on more reassuring tones with an Irish flavor. Even two great songs like "Key West Intermezzo" and "Human Wheels" themselves remain always fascinating, thanks to their irresistible refrains, despite being presented in more stripped-down versions compared to the originals. While the splendid "Jackie Brown" retains its nature as a folk ballad intact, "Between A Laugh And A Tear" and "Minutes To Memories", two pieces taken from "Scarecrow", assume unexpected Springsteen-like tones that make them more introspective and reflective. "The Full Catastrophe" remains even in this new guise a quality but secondary track, while the new folk-blues rendition of the classic "Rain On the Scarecrow" hides intense rural roots unknown in the well-known studio version, which further highlight the harsh realism of its realistic lyrics.
The versions of the traditional blues-gospel "In My Time Of Dying", presented here in a masterful reinterpretation, and the Dylan-esque "Farewell Angelina" also turn out to be very beautiful. It's a shame that "Rough Harvest" plays its last cards poorly by proposing at the end two fairly superfluous covers decidedly far from the general mood of the album. The version of "Under The Boardwalk", an old hit by the Drifters, comes from a studio recording done with Don Gehman in 1986, while Morrison's "Wild Night", already on "Dance Naked", is here offered in a live version which unfortunately does not match the one on the album. It's a strange way to conclude a particular work with ancient flavors. Probably the presence of another handful of randomly chosen tracks from albums like "The Lonesome Jubilee" or "Big Daddy" and rearranged in an electroacoustic key would have given this secondary discographic chapter in John Mellencamp's career a few more points.
A minor episode that has the great merit of surprising the listener thanks to its sounds that hide a pleasant aroma with a touch of the ancient.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
10 The Full Catastrophe (03:21)
Written by: John Mellencamp
I've ridden down Sunset
I drank expensive wine
I've been married 2 dozen times
Raised ten children on a workman's pay
And I'm glad to say I've enjoyed everyday
Of the full catastrophe of life
I've sat in courtrooms
had people call me names
I've been to London town
On a supersonic plane
I was lovin' your wife
While you were lovin mine
And I'm glad to say I've enjoyed everyday
Of the full catastrophe of life
I've opened my belt to trouble everyday
Ain't looking for a fight
But you know I won't run away
From the full catastrophe of life
I've seen the goodness
I've known the baddest around
I was tattooed when it first came out
I shook the hand that showed Moses the way
And I'm glad to say I've enjoyed everyday
Of the full catastrophe of life
11 Minutes to Memories (04:25)
On a Greyhound thirty miles beyond Jamestown
He saw the sun set on the Tennessee line
He looked at the young man who was riding beside him
He said I'm old kind of worn out inside
I worked my whole life in the steel mills near Gary
And my father before me I helped build this land
Now I'm seventy-seven and with God as my witness
I earned every dollar that passed through my hands
My family and friends are the best thing I've known
Through the eye of the needle I'll carry them home
Days turn to minutes
And minutes to memories
Life sweeps away the dreams
That we have planned
You are young and you are the future
So suck it up and tough it out
And be the best you can
The rain hit the old dog in the twilight's last gleaming
He said Son it sounds like rattling old bones
This highway is long but I know some that are longer
By sunup tomorrow I guess I'll be home
Through the hills of Kentucky 'cross the Ohio river
The old man kept talking 'bout his life and his times
He fell asleep with his head against the window
He said an honest man's pillow is his peace of mind
This world offers riches and riches will grow wings
And I don't take stock in those uncertain things
Days turn to minutes
And minutes to memories
Life sweeps away the dreams
That we have planned
You are young and you are the future
So suck it up and tough it out
And be the best you can
The old man had a vision but it was hard for me to follow
I do things my way and I pay a high price
When I think back on the old man and the bus ride
Now that I'm older I can see he was right
Another hot one out on highway eleven
This is my life It's what I've chosen to do
There are no free rides No one said it'd be easy
The old man told me this my son Im telling it to you
Days turn to minutes
And minutes to memories
Life sweeps away the dreams
That we have planned
You are young and you are the future
So suck it up and tough it out
And be the best you can
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