Consider the graying of Rock and Roll and of those that grew up during its youth.  We can see it in the deeply etched lines on Keith Richards’ hard-lived face, we can hear it on oldies radio, and we can read it in the lyrics of John Mellencamp.  John Mellencamp has no problems with sharing his aging perceptions with his audience.  If he has a fear, a concern, or a qualm, you can hear him sing about it.  And the aging audience can relate.  If a young individual finds something of value and interest here, all the better.

The title of the album, Life Death Love and Freedom, accurately describes the themes of the songs in this set.  Every song is a work that looks at an aging trail, one that is continually too dusty to travel but yet you can see down the path somewhat.

John Mellencamp has always had a grasp of life and its deeper meanings.  It’s one of the reason that he has done as well as he has because he has something to say.  Some of them are timeless words like “Jack and Diane.”  Some of them resonate truths like “Small Town.” And some of them can be a balm to the soul like the collection of Life Death Love and Freedom.  The subject matter isn’t always pleasant but that’s the currency of getting older.

The rising smoke from Mellencamp’s new album is a searing view of our disappearing youth, a look back at the where we’ve been, the roads we have traveled and, all too often, the regrets and the harsh realities that we endure.  The music has softened to Americana Folk and Alt-Country and it works.

John Mellencamp continually writes of things that concern or anger him.  It’s reason why his relevance is still at a peak.  He speaks for his generation and has done so since we were young with him.  Now that we have aged with him, the words and music of Life Death Love and Freedom are our words and our music.

That’s quite a legacy to have grown into.

[The album comes with an added disc containing the same songs.  The disc is a DVD that contains all of the songs in a new hi-res format called CODE.  Developed by T Bone Burnett, the process creates hi-def audio that is presented to be indistinguishable from the original master tapes, yet doesn’t require specialized equipment like an SACD or DVD-Audio disc requires.  The sound difference vs the CD is pretty good and is the preferential way to listen to the album provided you have access to a DVD player.  In addition, the DVD allows for download of these same CODE files so that you can upload superior sounding music into your iPod or MP3 player.

The menu selection of songs pops up on its own after a few brief main menu items.  To download the available music files, just explore the DVD.  The available choices are MP3 (256k), AAC (256k), and WAV (24/96)]