John Mellencamp [Human Wheels]
This is a truly great album, i bought this in 1993 when it first came out, on the strength of a Q Magazine article called 'The best 50 albums of the year', it's Mellencamp's best album by miles, i've always found it hard to get into his other discs.
This album has a Hard Rock feel to it, the drums [Kenny Aronoff] are superb, really strengthens the album, and all the tracks are strong apart from 'French Shoes', this album is especially good if you listen to it loud!, Mellencamp wrote all the songs [and some he co-wrote].
I love the title track, track 3 'Human Wheels', it has a wonderful onward rush to it, it benefits from having three verses, the first lines of the first two verses are sung in a slightly ghostly voice, making it more effective when Mellencamp comes in for real, the beginning of the third verse is sung softly [3:47-3:58], and then a superb roll of the drums introduces Mellencamp louder, a memorable and powerful effect, the words are good too, obscure enough for you to wonder what Mellencamp is trying to say, vague enough for it to be poetry without the music, this album is in my all time top thirty discs.
Here's John Playing 'Human Wheels' on YouTube.
