Johnny Cougar - American Dream: The Mainman Recordings 1976-1977

In 1976, three years before he first hit the singles charts with "I Need A Lover," John Mellencamp released his debut album Chestnut Street Incident under the name Johnny Cougar.  He had been trying to get his music career going for several years and went to New York looking for a deal, where he ended up working with Tony Defries, whose company MainMan had been David Bowie’s manager and represented other artists including Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and Mott The Hoople. He went back and forth between New York and his home in Indiana, recording the album with musicians that included the likes of Mick Ronson (guitarist for Bowie’s Spiders From Mars), composer and arranger Michael Kamen, David Mansfield on steel guitar, violin and mandolin (played with Dylan and composed numerous films), Hilly Michaels (drummer with Sparks) and guitarist Mike Wanchic, who still plays with Mellencamp today.  Unfortunately, the album didn’t sell very well, and due to that and changes in personnel at the label, the songs he had recorded for a follow-up were shelved and he was dropped.  Around this same time, Indiana record label Gulcher released an EP of songs that were recorded before his debut called US Male (included here on CD for the first time). Following this he moved to London and signed to Riva, releasing the album A Biography, which contained the aforementioned first hit single. Ironically the song hit number five in Australia, but the album wasn’t released in the US, but then became a US hit when it was released the following year on his John Cougar album, hitting number twenty-eight.  His next album was American Fool, and this is when his career really took off reaching number one in the US and containing the hit songs “Hurts So Good,” “Jack and Diane” and “Hand To Hold Onto.”  Due to that success, nine months after that album was released, Defries decided to release that shelved second album The Kid Inside.  All of this brings us to the new double CD American Dream – The Mainman Recordings 1976-1977, which collects those first two albums, the US Male EP, ten tracks from Skin It Up (demos and lost tracks from The Kid Inside sessions) and ten previously unreleased demos, early mixes and alternate versions.  

His debut album, Chestnut Street Incident, starts things off and while far from a great album, I have always felt that Mellencamp himself, along with many of the critics, never gave it a fair shake.  There are signs of the direction he would head later in his career, but it’s definitely a work in progress. The album opens strongly with “American Dream,” a gritty, heartland rocker that is quite catchy and reminiscent of Bob Seger.  One of two songs on the album co-written with George M Green, a childhood friend who would go on to write many more songs with him and others, “Dream Killing Town” has lyrics about living in a small town that Mellencamp would become known for and is a rootsy rocker with piano and sax giving it a Springsteen vibe.  The album’s strongest cut is “Chestnut Street,” a beautiful, atmospheric ballad featuring some outstanding piano from Kamen along with Mansfield’s fiddle and mandolin (the actual title track shows up later in the album and is more electric rock version of the song).  “Good Girls” is a big, classic rock tune with twin guitars, and closer “Sad Lady” is the other Green co-write and another sweeping ballad with more of Kamen’s piano.  The remainder of the album consists of covers, a couple of which work way better than the others.  While “Oh Pretty Woman” and “Jailhouse Rock” have already been covered way too many times and these versions don’t anything to the original, his take on The Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Do You Believe In Magic?” gives it a bit of swagger and really works, as does The Doors’ “Twentieth Century Fox,” which is reinvented with more of a garage rock sound.  The final cover “Supergirl” isn’t usually mentioned as a cover, and is credited to Aldo Legui and Bob Marcus, but is actually a version of “Superlungs My Supergirl” which was written by Donovan, who recorded a psychedelic rock version (Terry Reid also did a bluesier version).  The Mellencamp version is poppier and while not bad, loses some of the edge of their versions.  Although it was released after his debut, the US Male EP was recorded before it, and is now available here for the first time on CD.  It starts with “2000 AD,” a simple tune of just Mellencamp singing and playing acoustic guitar, but lyrically it foreshadows his future work in things like Farm Aid detailing the abuse of the environment.  “Lou-ser” is a really strange and interesting track that has a bit of a Springsteen feel, but with elements of new wave, jazz and even a bit of Scott Joplin’s “The Entertainer.”  While “Hot Man” has a glimmer of his rootsier side, it’s more of a straight-ahead hard rock tune and probably EP’s weakest cut. The closing cut is a really good cover, this time Paul Revere and The Raiders’ “Kicks,” which Mellencamp gives a good kick in the pants.  This EP is a great addition to this set giving a listen to the earliest days of his career.  

Although it was initially shelved after it was recorded, and not released until American Fool became a success, The Kid Inside is another solid collection that really hasn’t gotten its fair due and continued to show Mellencamp getting his footing.  This is shown perfectly right from the start with the title track, a solid, gritty rocker that also has a touch of a Stones vibe.  While “Take What You Want” is extremely catchy, it moves a little too far into pop territory as does the rootsy “R Gang” a few tracks later.  Rocker “Cheap Shot,” which has some Stones-ish guitars, ballad “Sidewalks And Streetlight,” and the seven minute plus epic “Too Young To Live,” all show that Springsteen influence.  “American Son” is a ballsy, hard rocker driven with twin guitars.  A couple of the album’s high points are up next with “Gearhead,” a sweeping, largely acoustic track that has a great arrangement, and “Young Genocides,” a piano driven ballad with a very emotional vocal along with some really nice piano from Tom Wince.  The album ends impressively with “Survive,” a bit of a mini suite about the perils of growing up that includes some really interesting piano and even a little flute along with the sax.  

As for the bonus tracks, the first set of ten was actually released in 2000 as Skin It Back and were supposedly recorded during the sessions for Chestnut Street Incident.  There are two versions of the song “Skin It Back” here, which are interesting for a couple of reasons.  One is labeled “acoustic version,” which is actually not acoustic and according to what I found after scouring the internet isn’t Mellencamp singing, but is actually Dave Parman, who among other things played bass and guitar on those early albums.  This version is a work in progress where you can hear them working out the chords on the fly and has unfinished lyrics.  As for the song, it’s a very dramatic tune with some great piano and one that I would love to have heard finished (the other version is a full band, electric instrumental take).  “Last Of The Big Time Spenders” is another demo with someone else on vocals (this time it’s sax player Wayne Hall) and is a decent Mellencamp flavored blue collar rocker.  Other originals include “Little Heroes,” a bouncy pop tune that comes across a bit cheesy and “The Whore,” an acoustic guitar and vocal track that show some promise but isn’t quite there.  On the other hand, “When I Was Young” has a haunting, late sixties west coast psychedelic rock sound that really shows a different side to him in these early days.  There are a few more covers here as well, and ironically most of them are much stronger than the ones that were included on the album.  His take on Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold The World” has an arrangement that is similar to the one Lulu released a few years earlier, but with some more rock-oriented psychedelic flourishes.  The Stooges’ “I Need Somebody” was an interesting choice compared to the others, and he does a good job with it by sticking close to the dark and slinky sound of the original but giving it more of his rock edge.  While “Hit The Road Jack” is another one of those songs that have been overdone, he delivers it with that Mellencamp swagger that really makes it fun.  Unfortunately, the version of “Kicks” here is a more straightforward take that loses all the punch of the one on the Gulcher single.  The remaining ten bonus tracks are all previously unreleased.  The only new song among them is “I Just Wanna Be Black,” a bizarre funk tune with very Seventies synths that is absolutely unlike anything else from him (there is also a stripped down demo version). The remainder of the tracks are demos, alternate versions and early versions.  Some of the notable ones include a couple takes of “Chestnut Street” and one of “Sad Lady” where you can hear them experiment with the arrangements and instrumentation.  There is also an alternate electric version of “Gearhead” that turns it into a gritty rocker that is just as good as the album version.  American Dream makes for a fun listen back to those early, early days of Johnny Cougar and is a great addition to the collection of anyone that considers themselves a John Mellencamp fan.  

(Lemon Recordings)