Amazingly enough, you look through this new JM record and you can't help but wonder if he wrote it with the potential for terrorist strikes on America in mind already.

"Peaceful World," alone, the second track and obvious choice for first radio spin speaks volumes on the state of America itself and inasmuch seems never more relevant than today where peace, love and understanding are giving way to hostility, racism and
hate.

And yet Mellencamp's been the unwitting spokesman for our great country for far longer than we could even calculate-I first saw him perform during the "Scarecrow" set back in '85 and really back then things were just getting started as a one time rebel rocker was giving way to grown up sentimentality.

He's always managed to throw together a few songs on that reach out and grab ya and either make you think, make you groove or make you question your own morality.

Indeed his lyrics have a way of getting their point across even if they tend to run over
themselves from time to time... and if they leave a lifelong imprint on your forehead as a detour, all the better then.

"Cuttin' Heads" was conceived in much the same way as much of his past work, with America in mind, its people, its freedoms and also its faults-"Cuttin' Heads," the
opening track, opens honestly and expectedly enough before giving way to Public Enemy's Chuck D doing a rap against racism toward the end, and somehow it just works; "Peaceful World," carries the same tone, again JM's conscientiousness shining through in an acoustically led sing along affair.

"Crazy Island" continues the gut check for our homeland, reaching into the Classic Rock bag reminiscent of a Lou Reed, maybe Dylan, even Cash, and search hard enough, you'll find one or another; not one of the best tracks but noteworthy for its style.

"Just Like You" is classic Mellencamp, reaching toward the "Human Wheels" record,
similar in vibe to "What If I Came Knockin," and certainly not one to be knocked, one of his most inspired works.

There's a "return to the roots" quality to this record that'd make for a proud proclamation
except for the fact that he never left them in the first place. Yet the notion of "heartland" is on full display here as elsewhere and he still finds room to employ a new twist, not a reinvention but rather an addition, as with the Chuck D. part or a lofty arrangement there, brass section here, gospel choir over there, and plenty more that usually don't come out after only one listen.

"Cuttin' Heads" lacks little in ambition or volume and eases comfortably between his signature moments like a "Scarecrow" or "Lonesome Jubilee" only with a broader range of dynamics.

Released by Columbia Records

Review by Vinnie Apicella [va85@columbia.edu]
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