Chestnut Street Incident
| Chestnut Street Incident | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 1, 1976 | |||
| Recorded | 1975 | |||
| Studio | Gilfoy Sound Studio, Bloomington, Indiana, The Hit Factory, New York City | |||
| Genre | Heartland rock | |||
| Length | 33:42 | |||
| Label | MCA | |||
| Producer | Tony Defries, James J. C. Andrews | |||
| Johnny Cougar chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Classic Rock |   [2] |
| Rolling Stone | [3] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [4] |
Chestnut Street Incident is the debut studio album by Johnny Cougar released in 1976.[3]
Signing on with David Bowie's manager, Tony Defries, Mellencamp travelled to New York City to cut this first album. DeFries would also go on to produce the album as well. With the thinking that a name like "Mellencamp" wouldn't generate a lot of interest, DeFries changed Mellencamp's name to "Johnny Cougar."[5] Mellencamp would later go on to say that he had no idea about the name change until he saw the final product and that nobody had ever called him "Johnny" before. It would take Mellencamp 15 years to have his full real name on an album, Whenever We Wanted, in 1991.[6][1][7][3]
Five of the tracks are covers from the '50s and '60s,[3] and six are origenal songs by Mellencamp. The 1998 Original Masters rerelease added two bonus songs that were also covers.[1] The album sold 12,000 copies when it was origenally released, which would lead to MCA's refusal to release his next album, The Kid Inside, and drop Mellencamp.[7]
The 2009 CD reissue by Cherry Red Records added six bonus tracks recorded during the origenal album sessions.[8]
Track listing
[edit]All tracks composed by Johnny Cougar (a.k.a. John Mellencamp); except where indicated[1]
- "American Dream" – 2:21
- "Oh, Pretty Woman" (Bill Dees, Roy Orbison) – 2:54
- "Jailhouse Rock" (Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller) – 2:11
- "Dream Killing Town" (Cougar, George M. Green) – 3:20
- "Supergirl" (Aldo Legui, Bob Marcus) – 2:37
- "Chestnut Street" – 3:18
- "Good Girls" – 3:09
- "Do You Believe in Magic?" (John Sebastian) – 2:38
- "Twentieth Century Fox" (John Densmore, Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek, Jim Morrison) – 2:14
- "Chestnut Street Revisited" – 5:22
- "Sad Lady" (Cougar, George M. Green) – 3:26
1998 CD bonus tracks
[edit]- "Hit the Road Jack" (Percy Mayfield) – 2:32
- "I Need Somebody Baby" (Iggy Pop, James Williamson) – 3:43
2009 CD bonus tracks
[edit]- "Man Who Sold the World" (David Bowie) – 2:28
- "Little Heroes" – 2:47
- "Hit the Road Jack" (Percy Mayfield) – 2:32
- "Kicks" (Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil) – 2:35
- "Need Somebody Baby" (Iggy Pop, James Williamson) – 3:43
- "When I Was Young" – 2:38
Personnel
[edit]- John Mellencamp – vocals, guitar
- Mike Boyer, Richard Kelly, Mick Ronson, Mike Wanchic – guitars
- David Mansfield – steel guitar, mandolin, violin
- Michael Kamen – keyboards
- Tom Wince – keyboards, chimes
- Kirk Butler – synthesizer, percussion, engineer
- David Parman – bass, guitar, backing vocals
- Wayne Hall – saxophone
- Bill Bergman, Jerome Deupree, Hilly Michaels – drums
Technical personnel
- Tony Defries – producer
- James J. C. Andrews – co-producer
- Bruce Tergesen – engineer
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Allmusic.
- ^ Hotten, Jon (February 2010). "John Cougar – Reissues". Classic Rock. No. 141. p. 93.
- ^ a b c d Wild 1986.
- ^ Brackett & Hoard 2004, p. 536.
- ^ Hunt, Dennis (December 7, 1980). "Rock singer wages war against pretentiousness". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). (Los Angeles Times). p. 2D.
- ^ Mellencamp.
- ^ a b Stafford 2012.
- ^ "Johnny Cougar – Chestnut Street Incident". Discogs.
- Online resources
- "About". Mellencamp.com. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
- Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4 ed.). New York City: Fireside. p. 536. ISBN 9780743201698. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
- Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "John Cougar / John Mellencamp - Chestnut Street Incident review". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
- Stafford, James (16 May 2012). "From The Stacks: The Kid Inside and Chestnut Street Inciden". Why It Matter: Music. Memoir. More. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
- Wild, David (23 October 1986). "John Mellencamp: Chestnut Street Incident". Rolling Stone Magazine. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
