John Mellencamp - John Mellencamp

For the multinomenclatured John(ny) (Cougar) Mellencamp, falling into loping historical pace as the "poor man's Springsteen" has been a blessing in disguise. If you're perpetually second best, to whose expectations do you ultimately answer? Certainly not your audience's--they're prepared for so-so songwriting. It's a win-win situation in which even your most lackluster material appears "Thunder Road" brilliant. Follow this train of thinking and you might hear Mellencamp's eponymous album (and first for Columbia) as something of a minor masterpiece. The self-dubbed Li'l Bastard is pushing himself stylistically, adding exotic flavors (sitar, tabla, organ) and high-tech ones (tape loops, synths) to his bass-guitar-violin foundation. This provides for some intriguing moments, such as the rhythm-tracked shuffle "I'm On My Way" and the hip-hop-scratchy exercise "Break Me Off Some." The uninitiated, however, will observe a far less sensational situation: the Hoosier's nonchalant reliance on his trademark Cougar-isms--Biblical metaphors, "Jack and Diane"-ish one-dimensional characters, and the simple, chirrupy jangle of a trusty six-string acoustic. Somewhere between the two extremes lies the artistic truth. Mellencamp is kicking desperately at his gate, and that's a good thing. But his corral remains relatively small and limited. There aren't any Ghost of Tom Joads in his immediate future. --Tom Lanham