Scarecrow (John Mellencamp album) explained

Scarecrow
Type:studio
Artist:John Cougar Mellencamp
Cover:mellencamp-scarecrow.jpg
Studio:Belmont Mall Studio, Belmont, Indiana, U.S.
Genre:Heartland rock
Length:41:07
Label:Riva
Producer:
Prev Title:Uh-Huh
Prev Year:1983
Next Title:The Lonesome Jubilee
Next Year:1987

Scarecrow is the eighth studio album by John Cougar Mellencamp. Released on July 31, 1985, it peaked at number two on the US Billboard 200. The album contained three top-ten hits: "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.", which peaked at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100; "Lonely Ol' Night", which peaked at number six; and "Small Town", which also peaked at number six. "Lonely Ol' Night" also peaked at number one on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, his second chart-topping single on this chart.

In The Village Voices annual Pazz & Jop critics poll for the year's best albums, Scarecrow finished at No. 3.[1] In 1989, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Scarecrow number 95 on its list of the 100 greatest albums of the 1980s, saying: "Scarecrow consolidated the band's rugged, roots-rock thrash and the ongoing maturation of Mellencamp's lyrics."[2]

A remastered version was released May 24, 2005, on Mercury/Island/UMe and includes one bonus track.[3] On November 4, 2022, a "deluxe" two-CD remastered and remixed version of the album was released.[4] [5]

Background

Rolling Stone also reported that the band spent a month in rehearsals, playing a hundred rock and roll songs from the 1960s before going into the studio. According to the record's producer, Don Gehman, the idea was to "learn all these devices from the past and use them in a new way with John's arrangements." The album was recorded at Mellencamp's own Belmont Mall Studio in Belmont, Indiana.

The overall theme of the album is the fading of the American dream in the face of corporate greed. Rolling Stone wrote that songs such as "Face of the Nation", "Minutes to Memories" and "Small Town" have a "bittersweet, reflective tone".

In his 2016 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame exhibit, Mellencamp said: "With Scarecrow, I was finally starting to find my feet as a songwriter. Finally, for the first time, I realized what I thought I wanted to say in song. ...I wanted it to be more akin to Tennessee Williams, John Steinbeck, Faulkner, as opposed to The Rolling Stones or Bob Dylan."

Songs

"I wrote a song called 'Stand for Something'," Mellencamp explained to Creem magazine in late 1985, "but I never did say what you should stand for – except your own truth. That song was supposed to be funny, too, and I hope people got that. But I think that's the key to the whole LP – suggesting that each person come to grips with their own individual truth – and try to like themselves a little bit more. Find out what you as a person are – and don't let the world drag you down. People should have respect for and believe in themselves."[6]

Mellencamp told Creem that he was "kinda disappointed" in "R.O.C.K. (In The U.S.A.)" and "Justice and Independence '85", saying: "I don't think people are getting the idea of what the song's about, so I must've not done a very good job."[6]

Cash Box said of the single "Rain on the Scarecrow" that it's "solid, riveting rock and roll from an American treasure" and represents an "impassioned plea on behalf of America’s small farmers."[7] Billboard said it consists of "raw rage and bleak visions of a disintegrating way of life."[8]

Cash Box said of the single "Rumbleseat" that "the distinctive, rocking style of Mellencamp is put to great effect."[9] Billboard said that it's "stripped down rockabilly with a moral to it."[10]

The 2005 remaster of the album adds an additional track: an acoustic version of "Small Town" that one reviewer calls the album's "best moment".[5] The 2022 remastered and remixed version of the album on CD includes all of the 13 tracks of the 2005 remaster as its first disc.[4] A second disc of b-sides, demos and alternative versions, some previously unreleased, is also included.[4] A simultaneous release of these songs was also made in 24bit-96kHz high-resolution audio. The album was also released on one LP with the 11 tracks of the original LP plus "The Kind Of Fella I Am". New liner notes by music critic Anthony DeCurtis accompany the physical releases.[4]

Track listing

All songs written by John Mellencamp, except where noted.

Re-releases

Personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1985–1986)!scope="col"
Peak
position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[11] 2

Notes and References

  1. News: The 1985 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll . The Village Voice . 18 February 1986 . 16 April 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220816140424/https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pjres85.php . 16 August 2022 . live.
  2. The 100 Best Albums of the 1980s . Rolling Stone . November 16, 1989. 565 .
  3. Web site: John Mellencamp - Official Website :: Discography. www.mellencamp.com. 18 July 2017.
  4. https://www.mellencamp.com/news/john-mellencamp-to-reissue-scarecrow-scarecrow-deluxe- "John Mellencamp To Reissue "Scarecrow" - "Scarecrow Deluxe" Out November 4th"
  5. Andrew Gulden. "Review: John Mellencamp 'Scarecrow' Reissue". Americana Highways. 2 November 2022. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
  6. John Cougar Mellencamp: Working Class Hero In The Rumbleseat. Creem Magazine.
  7. Single Releases. Cash Box. April 19, 1986. 2022-08-04. 9.
  8. Billboard. April 26, 1986. 2022-08-03. 71. Reviews.
  9. Single Releases. Cash Box. June 28, 1986. 2022-08-04. 9.
  10. Billboard. June 28, 1986. 2022-08-04. 79. Reviews.
  11. Book: Kent, David. David Kent (historian). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. illustrated. Australian Chart Book. St Ives, N.S.W.. 1993. 0-646-11917-6. 197.