Life Death Love and Freedom : John Mellencamp

......I have been a fan of his since the '' Cougar '' days. This is one of his finest pieces of work. I am about John's age and I hear his wrestling with getting older in these songs and also dealing with his / your own mortality. Yes, the songs are dark - but get right to the point and all songs on this album / CD are very well written. An artist that still makes sense and still can write music with purposeful meaning.

Read the thread, had to get the lp. Awaiting delivery. It's great to learn of excellent sounding lp's on this site. I'm not a big fan of JM, but if it sounds good, I'll surely listen. Thanks all.

I've got in on CD, hi-rez and LP. The LP sounds stellar. Good music too, though not my favorite of his.

It is definitely a dark record. It makes me wonder if Mellencamp got a bad report from the doctor?? It;s one of those rare albums where the songs become stuck in my head right from the first few listens.

"Hey Jesus can you give me a ride back home. I've been out here in this world too long on my own." Great stuff!

this lp should have been produced by joe henry

Reminds me of a hypothetical blend of Springsteen's Tom Joad and Nebraska.

Sonically and musically I love the record. The message is unfortunately a bit depressing which limits my listening.

The vinyl version is excellent, material takes "dark" to a new level however. T. Bone Burnett is an excellent producer, great sounds and textures on his guitar.

This guy is a washed up has been. Haven't we seen enough of his rehashed pablum??!! Go retire and count your pink houses $$$

The version I own is a two disc set. One disc is a standard 16 bit 44.1 redbook CD, the other is a 24//96 DVD, the first to use producer T. Bone Burnett's proprietary "Code" system of high resolution encoding. This system will also be employed by Burnett on the upcoming second release by Robert Plant and Allison Krauss. I agree that Life,Death,Love, and Freedom is an excellent album. Mellencamps best in sometime, and the 24/96 veresion sounds quite good.

It's also available as a 24/96 download from HDtracks. I've been thinking about getting it.