POP/ROCK
John Mellencamp, "No Better Than This" (Rounder)
Mellencamp set out to make a historic record in historic places. At its core, this CD is a stripped-down roots offering that has Indiana's celebrated songwriter channeling Bob Dylan's voice and Willie Nelson's love of melody. His grizzled, road-weary vocals are the real thing, and these pop-rooted Americana songs are solid if sometimes basic. He recorded in important places -- including Memphis' Sun Studios and room 414 of the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio, where Robert Johnson recorded in 1936. Can you hear the tinny charm of the Gunter's cramped room in "Right Behind Me," a fiddle-fronted blues jam? Or is Mellencamp getting arty for art's sake? It's a little of both. "Right Behind Me" is a seductive song and a soulful performance that was no doubt inspired by the environs. It's a great idea, and the execution -- T Bone Burnett's production included -- is on-point. The songs aren't always up to the challenge. "No One Cares About Me," recorded at Sun, isn't worthy. Nor is "Clumsy Ol' World." But songs like "A Graceful Fall" almost make up for the inconsistency of the writing.
Mellencamp performs Nov. 22-23 at the Orpheum in Minneapolis.
RICARDO BACA, Denver Post
Best Coast, "Crazy for You" (Mexican Summer)
Bethany Cosentino's slacker-Ronettes trio Best Coast has released Internet-acclaimed singles since 2009. But it's the songs you don't know on this full-length debut that will surprise you ("The End" is classic That Dog, if that means anything to other '90s-nostalgia hoarders). As slyly catchy as Cosentino's one- and two-minute songs are, they're closer to sad, classic country than pop. Four unbearably desolate lines in "Goodbye" update Lucinda Williams' hyper-romantic blues for the new Great Depression.
DAN WEISS, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
