The soul of this record is found on the first two cuts, "Rain on the Scarecrow" and "Small Town," both of which pridefully revolve around Mellencamp's midwestern heritage. However, the popular success of such singles as 1982's "Hurts So Good" and "Jack and Diane" earned Cougar national attention and enough confidence to affix his real name, Mellencamp, to his smash 1984 album, "Uh Huh." And Mellencamp, a small-town boy from south Indiana who has grown from a phony rebel into a mature and serious rock artist without abandoning his heartland roots, is what "Scarecrow" is all about. Cougar then was a hype-ridden joke whose knack for commercial song writing had elevated him to the status of a shallow but radio-worthy hack like today's Bryan Adams. When you listen to the conviction of Mellencamp's singing and his striking imagery on "Scarecrow," it's hard to believe that this is the same artist who, a decade ago, was dubbed Johnny Cougar by Tony De Fries, the same rock svengali who helped fabricate David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust persona. What Mellencamp really seems to have learned from Springsteen is artistic persistence and the willingness to grow past whatever images and schemes one's record company fabricates on behalf of its artist. Like "Born in the U.S.A.," "Scarecrow" brandishes a classic hard-nosed rock sound forged from the staples of '60s radio. Like Springsteen, Mellencamp shares a populist vision, a distrust of the fat cats and a genuine affection for working-class life and values. ![]() If anything could dull the impact of "Scarecrow" (Riva 824 865-1), it's just that Mellencamp now seems sucked into the jet stream of success created by Bruce Springsteen and his multiplatinum "Born in the U.S.A." John Cougar Mellencamp has come up with a knockout of an American rock album.
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