NEW LP
New sealed copy. 2022 remixed and remastered reissue on 180 gram black vinyl. Half-speed mastered.
Scarecrow is the eighth studio album by John Mellencamp. Released in August 1985, it peaked at #2 on the U.S. chart. This album contained three Top 10 hits, a record for a Mellencamp album: "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.," which peaked at #2 in the U.S.; "Lonely Ol' Night," which peaked at #6; and "Small Town," which also peaked at #6. "Lonely Ol' Night" also peaked at #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, his second chart-topping single on this chart.
In 1989, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Scarecrow #95 on its list of the 100 greatest albums of the 1980s, saying: "Scarecrow consolidated the band's rugged, roots-rock thrash and the ongoing maturation of Mellencamp's lyrics."
Rolling Stone also reported that the band spent a month in rehearsals, playing a hundred rock and roll songs from the 1960s before going into the studio. According to the record's producer, Don Gehman, the idea was to "learn all these devices from the past and use them in a new way with John's arrangements." The album was recorded at Mellencamp's own "Belmont Mall" studio in Belmont, Indiana.
The overall theme of the album is the fading of the American dream in the face of corporate greed. Rolling Stone wrote that songs such as "Face of the Nation," "Minutes to Memories" and "Small Town" have a "bittersweet, reflective tone."
In his 2016 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame exhibit, Mellencamp said: "With Scarecrow, I was finally starting to find my feet as a songwriter. Finally, for the first time, I realized what I thought I wanted to say in song. ...I wanted it to be more akin to Tennessee Williams, John Steinbeck, Faulkner, as opposed to The Rolling Stones or Bob Dylan."
TRACKLIST:
A1 Rain On The Scarecrow
A2 Grandma's Theme
A3 Small Town
A4 Minutes To Memories
A5 Lonely Ol' Night
A6 The Face Of The Nation
B1 Justice And Independence '85
B2 Between A Laugh And A Tear
B3 Rumbleseat
B4 You've Got To Stand For Somethin'
B5 R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A. (A Salute To 60's Rock)
B6 The Kind Of Fella I Am
