In Praise of "The Lonesome Jubilee"

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Huntigula, Jul 16, 2018.

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  1. Huntigula

    Huntigula Idiot Savant Thread Starter

    Location:
    Brighton, MI
    Hey all!

    This thread is dedicated to the album that sits in third place on my Top Albums list of all time, John Mellencamp's "The Lonesome Jubilee".

    Before I get started, I'd like to ask anyone that joins in on this thread to please NOT make this political and get it shut down. I know it's difficult with such an album, but I believe it can be done. Furthermore, I come to the SHMF to get away from all that noise and just enjoy the music!

    The album was recorded from September/October 1986-June 1987 in John's studio in Indiana, and was apparently supposed to be a double album. At that point in time, I was still pooping in my diapers and forming words. Looking at the charts in 1987, the concept of an album like this was unheard of. Appalachian fiddles, dobro and accordions were not frequently heard in mainstream music at this time. And the messages in the lyrics. Thinking back to better times, the strife of current times..."Welcome to the Jungle" and "Girls, Girls, Girls" this was not. And this was from the same guy that sang Hurt So Good a few years prior?

    My father purchased this album not long after its August 1987 release and it was taped and played back frequently. My parents took me along to his show at Pine Knob in June of 1988, making it the first show I ever saw.

    Once I was old enough, I purchased a copy for myself, and to see a six/seven/eight year old listening to an album like this, especially in the 1990's was unheard of. But thanks to John and the production of the album, it piqued my interest in instruments beyond the two guitars-bass-drums concept. What were these instruments that made THOSE sounds? Scarecrow and Big Daddy were also on dad's turntable and, eventually, in my deck as well, culminating in the entire catalog being purchased. This album has always been in my collection on some format my whole life.

    (Here's where it gets tricky)

    It also taught me an understanding about social issues. I'm in third grade listening to songs like Paper In Fire and Down And Out In Paradise, about economic hard times, greed, lust, being broke and hungry, and it turned me into more empathetic person, knowing that people were losing jobs and homes because they worked hard and still couldn't make the bills. It caused me to not care as much about pop music of the day (which I still listened to, it just didn't carry as much weight).

    This album is the flashpoint of the person I've become today. And I celebrate this album on three formats (cassette, LP and CD).

    The actual production of the album is also top notch. Kenny Aronoff's drum sound is something I still go after on my drum tracks. It's the whole package. Great music, great sound, great lyrics, what more could I want?

    I wanted to do a song by song thread, but I bet it would be shut down before the third song. So drop your comments about the album, good or bad, here on this thread. Just no politics PLEASE!!!

    Thanks!
     
  2. Huntigula

    Huntigula Idiot Savant Thread Starter

    Location:
    Brighton, MI


    Cherry Bomb...to hear this played alongside bands like Def Leppard and Motley Crue was strange.
     
    Sean likes this.
  3. Sean

    Sean Senior Member

    Location:
    Ottawa
    My favourite JM album! Paper In Fire was a great opening tune & first single I played it recently and posted it in these forums.
    [​IMG]
     
  4. robtodd

    robtodd Forum Resident

    Could not agree more. My ears pricked up when Scarecrow was released but on the next release the Lonesome Jubilee The was it I was all in. It still gets regularly played. An album that confirmed a maturing meaningful artist. Absolutely top notch release. Scarecrow however is what I return to out of the subsequent 12 albums or so.
     
  5. AlienRendel

    AlienRendel Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, il
    Great album. He was on a real roll here. I remember reading that when they finished the tour for the previous record, Mellencamp gave his band homework that everyone was supposed to go and learn a new instrument in their time off. Then, when they reconvened to make Lonesome Jubilee, they had a new set of instrumentation to draw on for the recording.
     
    seed_drill, Huntigula and Karnak like this.
  6. Huntigula

    Huntigula Idiot Savant Thread Starter

    Location:
    Brighton, MI
    Something to the tune of 60 singles from the 60's.
     
  7. An excellent album. Paper and Fire still resonates with me.
     
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  8. Huntigula

    Huntigula Idiot Savant Thread Starter

    Location:
    Brighton, MI


    We need more music!
     
    Ernest T likes this.
  9. Huntigula

    Huntigula Idiot Savant Thread Starter

    Location:
    Brighton, MI
    Everything about that song cooks.
     
  10. alan967tiger

    alan967tiger Forum Resident

    Great album and the JM album I play more often than his others.
    Excellent quality recording (I have the MFSL vinyl), and as the OP remarks, the songs use some unusual and fabulous sounding instruments.
     
    Huntigula likes this.
  11. Huntigula

    Huntigula Idiot Savant Thread Starter

    Location:
    Brighton, MI
    I've seen that MFSL album around, but don't know what that would run me these days. I'd like to find that and the Scarecrow MFSL.
     
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  12. alan967tiger

    alan967tiger Forum Resident

    Um, let's put it this way, I'm not sure I was honest about the cost of TLJ to my wife, it was a big purchase!
     
    clhboa, lesterbangs and Huntigula like this.
  13. The Panda

    The Panda Forum Mutant

    Location:
    Marple, PA, USA
    Boy, did I love this lp. Saw the tour and was impressed. What a great sound of the fiddle an the guitar together.
    Hard Times for an Honest Man is still my favorite.
     
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  14. Huntigula

    Huntigula Idiot Savant Thread Starter

    Location:
    Brighton, MI
    Just looked it up on eBay. If I purchased even the cheapest one, I may as well get comfortable on the couch.

    But even the original 1987 master sounds really good. The 2005 remaster is louder but isn't terribly hot. Even the chrome cassette sounds fairly decent. My excuse was "I need to A/B them" and once I start spitting out my "audiophile" terminology to her, I can get away with it :winkgrin:
     
    alan967tiger likes this.
  15. julotto

    julotto Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kiel, Germany
    Love this album. With it came John's first CD singles. Among them this CD-Video.
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jul 17, 2018
    LoveYourLife, Huntigula and c-eling like this.
  16. blastfurniss

    blastfurniss Forum Resident

    Location:
    Marion, OH, USA
    Glad to see this get so much love. TLJ is a timeless record. Just a pure piece of Americana. Kenny Arnoff's drums never sounded better. Paper in Fire and Check it Out were great singles. Love Big Daddy as well but for me this was Mellencamp's best album.
     
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  17. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product

    fantastic album.
    Lisa germano tipped the sound over from great to fantastic. I liked mellencamp anyhow, but that extra flavour was special.
    Saw the tour in Perth West Australia and have scratched my head ever since that no dvd/bluray etc has ever come forth
     
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  18. BrutandCharisma

    BrutandCharisma Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver, Colorado
    As much of a Springsteen fan as I was back in the (early) '80's, JCM's "Scarecrow" and "Lonesome Jubilee" are tremendous albums and are superior to anything Brooce cranked out in those days.
     
  19. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    My favorite Mellencamp album pretty much from release day, and the JM album I listen to most to this day, even as 17 has turned 53.

    As what I gather from the original poster's experience, this album also helped to influence the person I became. I remember working my crappy banking job in '88-'89 and getting minor satisfaction from driving away from work with "Hard Times For an Honest Man" blasting on my car stereo. (I was not satisfied, not at all, and man was I being used.) As I got older and got more life experience, a new song would "open up" to me every couple of years. I won't derail the thread with the whole story behind my co-opting of "Hot Dogs and Hamburgers", but it became a very important song for me - about interacting with people who have such different values from you that you know no matter what that when the sun goes down you'll go your different ways.

    Now, with more days riding in back of this cart than in front of the horse, I still don't want to sit around my house and watch TV. I still want the real life.

    What a great f*&^ing album.
     
  20. Kiss73

    Kiss73 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Scotland
    I have a major issue with this album!!!

    You see, it was the first Mellencamp album I bought and to this day, none of his subsequent albums i have bought quite reach the heights of this one.
     
  21. Retro Hound

    Retro Hound Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pittsburg, KS
    I tend to prefer Scarecrow, but no doubt this is a great album. I had a friend who really hated "Paper on Fire," something about the "stinkin' up the ashtray" really put him off.
     
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  22. The Panda

    The Panda Forum Mutant

    Location:
    Marple, PA, USA
    Between this and Big Daddy, you could make up a cd of b sides. One side covers, one side originals. He was really on a roll.
     
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  23. Exit Flagger

    Exit Flagger Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    I really love this album and would not consider myself a Mellencamp fan (I only own this and Scarecrow). He was really in the flow with these songs.
     
  24. Sean Murdock

    Sean Murdock Forum Intruder

    Location:
    Bergenfield, NJ
    I really love this album, and I loved it from the first time I heard "Paper In Fire" as a pre-release single. I had been on a major Springsteen bender for a few years, and had thought of JM as a bit of a "Bruce Junior" -- although I had bought and really liked Scarecrow. That was a major step up from "Jack And Diane" for me. But the first time I heard "Paper And Fire" blasting out of the car radio, it snapped me to attention -- it's definitely one of those "I remember exactly where I was when I heard this" songs. The instrumentation was so rich, so unusual for 1987 -- lots of sounds I had never heard before, and some I probably still haven't heard since -- and all of it so perfectly mixed and produced. I never imagined that the whole album could live up to that, but boy howdy did it! I say go ahead and do a track-by-track -- we can all tiptoe around the politics and discuss the songs without getting into trouble.

    I eventually drifted away from John Mellencamp -- there was always something about him personally that irritated me a little -- but for a decade or so starting with Scarecrow he was really on fire. Big Daddy was similar to The Lonesome Jubilee for me, but with an even more low-key and rustic sound. Great, great songs on that one too. And as The Panda noted, and incredible array of b-sides and soundtrack cuts during those years too.
     
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  25. Huntigula

    Huntigula Idiot Savant Thread Starter

    Location:
    Brighton, MI
    Believe me, I thought long and hard about a song by song, but the first song is based on the Bible and the second song starts every verse with "Dear Mr. President" and mentions Russians...never mind the first half of side two. If you want to start it, I'd gladly jump in, but I see it going off the rails by Check It Out.
     
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