John Mellencamp - Freedom's Road

The heartland rocker's first album of all-new material in more than five years finds John Mellencamp in full anthem mode. This is his State of the Union address, with guitars that chime like the Byrds heralding sentiments that recall the socially-conscious 1960s, yet sound all the more pertinent today. Balancing the desolate landscape of "Ghost Towns Along the Highway," the hell-on-earth of "Rural Route," and the tolls demanded on the title track's "Freedom's Road" are the embrace of brotherhood on "Someday," the Everyman populism of "The Americans," and the soaring transcendence of "My Aeroplane." Within the context of the album's song cycle, the "Our Country" centerpiece sounds richer and more powerful than it has as a truck commercial--like a roots-rocking sequel to Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land." Mellencamp enlists Joan Baez for a duet on the protest ballad "Jim Crow," while saving his most blistering political commentary for the unlisted bonus track, "Rodeo Clown." --Don McLeese Amazon.com

John Mellencamp - Freedom Road

Freedom Road includes some very thought provoking songs. Makes me ask the Question: Is Freedom is Free, Is Freedom Easy?
Our Country: In the 2008 Presidential Primary race Hillary Clinton earned more Votes than any of her rivals, and more Votes than any Presidential Primary candidate in the History of this Free country... August 7, 2008

Great songs, well performed.

"Someday" and the other tracks on this album are appealing to anyone who wants "change you can believe in" for America. Buy the CD, and vote accordingly in the upcoming primaries. Need I say more? March 27, 2008

Another American lets unite CD

I like this CD but it sounds like alot like his Scarecrow CD, not in the sense of the same songs but the same theme, he seems to keep driving home the messege of american ideals and I think we have been down this road already. Im sick to death of hearing "Our Country", everytime I turn on the TV that song is playing in a Chevy commercial, i think hes beating a dead horse...enough already, we get the message. good song but we dont need to hear it every 30 seconds. I think John Mellencamp is a great songwriter but this CD is just another way of saying, Hey everbody, let get together and eat apple pie and be like the old days in the 60s, sorry but those happy days are long gone. In todays world thats not going to happen. anyways, good CD but seems to repeat a message he gave us back in the 80s...
January 22, 2008

Worth buying

I would disagree that this album is only for die-hard fans. Some of John's albums along the way have been less accessible but not this one. If you have liked John's more popular music in the past you will like this album. Simplistic? Maybe...but maybe that's what people need sometimes...back to the basics. There are a lot of good things in America and a lot that needs to be improved. John, if you read this I could use a ride on your aeroplane. November 2, 2007

One of the best albums of his carrer.

I've had this album for a while now, I just got around to reviewing it, it should have been done sooner. I just want to say this album is wonderful. It is also very well produced and recorded. From the very first song the jangling sixties dual guitar attack molded to lyrics that could be about the VietNam war.I knew this album was a winner. The lyrics fit our political and social landspapeof today, you wonder if the sixties acomplished any thing at all. This album makesme wonder if Human Nature can EVER change. Still this album inspires Hope, Peace, and Love from a man who was totaly a part of the sixties himself. And wheather or not your religious or spiritual or none of thee above, I defy you to live your whole life without any of these Ideals. What it boils down to is that John Mellencamp is trying to be part of the solution to the Perinial problems that each new generation seems to face,while myself and all you readers aren't famous, I mean most of us,can we face the challenge,that needs to be faced up to as well,before I'ts too late. September 25, 2007

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