Rough Harvest
Rough Harvest | ||||
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Studio album by John Mellencamp | ||||
Released | August 17, 1999 | |||
Recorded | 1986, 1994, 1997 | |||
Genre | Americana | |||
Length | 50:01 | |||
Label | Mercury | |||
Producer | John Mellencamp, Mike Wanchic, Don Gehman (Track 12) | |||
John Mellencamp chronology | ||||
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Rough Harvest is the 16th album by American singer John Mellencamp, a collection of alternate, acoustic arrangements of his favorite tracks, as well as several covers, released on August 17, 1999. Recorded mostly in 1997 (with the exception of "Under the Boardwalk", which was recorded in 1986, and "Wild Night" in 1994), the album fulfilled Mellencamp's contractual obligation with Mercury Records.
"It was very easy for me," Mellencamp told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Kevin C. Johnson of the acoustic arrangements on Rough Harvest in a September 30, 1999, article. "Actually, every song I ever wrote I wrote on acoustic guitar first. That's pretty much how the songs sound before I put electricity to them. When I start arranging, it's a big step when you have to add a band to the song."
On his cover of "Under the Boardwalk," which was originally the B-side of his 1986 hit "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A." and was performed live on the Scarecrow Tour and The Lonesome Jubilee Tour, Mellencamp told the Post-Dispatch: "God bless the Drifters, but I thought the song was a little slow. I think that suited the times very well. I was a kid at the time, and that groove was a very urban groove, a very black groove, and what I did was take that groove and record it with a rock groove."
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Entertainment Weekly | B−[2] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Track listing
- "Love and Happiness" (John Mellencamp) – 3:37
- "In My Time of Dying" (Traditional) – 3:03
- "Between a Laugh and a Tear" (Mellencamp) – 2:53
- "Human Wheels" (Mellencamp, Green) – 5:15
- "Rain on the Scarecrow" (Mellencamp, Green) – 3:18
- "Farewell Angelina" (Bob Dylan) – 4:36
- "Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First)" (Mellencamp, Green) – 4:34
- "Jackie Brown" (Mellencamp) – 3:50
- "When Jesus Left Birmingham" (Mellencamp) – 3:35
- "The Full Catastrophe" (Mellencamp) – 3:17
- "Minutes to Memories" (Mellencamp, Green) – 4:29
- "Under the Boardwalk" (Resnick, Kenny Young) – 3:57
- "Wild Night" (Live) (Van Morrison) – 3:37
- "Seventh Son" (2005 reissue bonus track) – 2:43
Personnel
- John Mellencamp – vocals, guitar
- Mike Wanchic - guitar, vocals
- Andy York – guitar
- Dane Clark – drums
- Toby Myers – bass guitar
- Miriam Sturm – violin
- Moe Z M.D. – keyboards
- Janas Hoyt – backing vocals
- Me'shell Ndegeocello – bass guitar and vocals on "Wild Night"
References
- ^ AllMusic Review
- ^ "Rough Harvest Review | Music Reviews and News". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 2011-06-23. Retrieved 2012-11-06.
- ^ "John Mellencamp". Rolling Stone.
- v
- t
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- Chestnut Street Incident (1976)
- A Biography (1978)
- John Cougar (1979)
- Nothin' Matters and What If It Did (1980)
- American Fool (1982)
- The Kid Inside (1983)
- Uh-huh (1983)
- Scarecrow (1985)
- The Lonesome Jubilee (1987)
- Big Daddy (1989)
- Whenever We Wanted (1991)
- Human Wheels (1993)
- Dance Naked (1994)
- Mr. Happy Go Lucky (1996)
- John Mellencamp (1998)
- Rough Harvest (1999)
- Cuttin' Heads (2001)
- Trouble No More (2003)
- Freedom's Road (2007)
- Life, Death, Love and Freedom (2008)
- No Better Than This (2010)
- Plain Spoken (2014)
- Sad Clowns & Hillbillies (2017)
- Strictly a One-Eyed Jack (2022)
- Orpheus Descending (2023)
- Life, Death, Live and Freedom (2009)
- Performs Trouble No More Live at Town Hall (2014)
- Plain Spoken: From the Chicago Theatre (2018)
- The Best That I Could Do 1978–1988 (1997)
- Words & Music: John Mellencamp's Greatest Hits (2004)
- On the Rural Route 7609 (2010)
- Other People's Stuff (2018)
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- "Paper in Fire"
- "Cherry Bomb"
- "Check It Out"
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- "Wild Night"
- "Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First)"
- "Just Another Day"
- "Peaceful World"
- "Walk Tall"
- "Our Country"
- "My Sweet Love"
- "What Say You" (with Travis Tritt)
- Discography
- George Green
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- Ghost Brothers of Darkland County (2012)
- Elaine Irwin
- Meg Ryan