Life, Death, Love and Freedom

Life, Death, Love and Freedom
Studio album by John Mellencamp
Released	July 15, 2008
Genre	Americana folk rock roots rock alternative country country rock blues rock heartland rock
Length	49:40
Label	Hear Music
Producer	T Bone Burnett
John Mellencamp chronology
Freedom's Road (2007) Life, Death, Love and Freedom (2008) Life, Death, Live and Freedom (2009)

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	(75/100) [1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
The A.V. Club	C+ [3]
Entertainment Weekly	B [4]
The Observer	[5]
Paste	(8/10) [1][6]
The Phoenix	[7]
PopMatters	[8]
Rolling Stone	[9]
Slant Magazine	[10]
Uncut	[1]

Life, Death, Love and Freedom is a folk rock album by singer-songwriter John Mellencamp and produced by T-Bone Burnett. It was released on July 15, 2008. At the end of 2008, Rolling Stone magazine named Life, Death, Love and Freedom No. 5 on its list of the 50 best albums of the year. The song "Troubled Land" was number 48 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Singles of 2008.^[11] Antimusic.com named it number 18 on their top albums of the decade list.^[12] The album was named No. 38 in Q's 50 Best Albums of the Year 2008.^[13]

Mellencamp has characterized the album as a collection of "modern electric folk songs." The album's first single was "My Sweet Love," and it was serviced to radio on June 10, 2008.

In the liner notes to his 2010 box set On the Rural Route 7609, Mellencamp said of Life, Death, Love and Freedom: "I would put that album, that collection of songs, up against any record ever made. In my mind that record is as good as just about any record ever made. That's a good feeling, to be able to finally say, 'hey, after nearly two dozen albums, I finally made a record that I think is as good as anything out there.'"

Release

Life, Death, Love and Freedom was the first album release to utilize the ΧΟΔΕ (CODE) process. T-Bone Burnett worked with engineers to developed CODE, a proprietary audio technology that creates high-definition audio files. The CODE version of "Life, Death, Love and Freedom" is a DVD that was packaged along with the standard CD version of the album.

Track listing

All songs written by John Mellencamp.

1. "Longest Days" – 3:11
2. "My Sweet Love" – 3:27
3. "If I Die Sudden" – 3:45
4. "Troubled Land" – 3:23
5. "Young Without Lovers" – 2:49
6. "John Cockers" – 3:51
7. "Don't Need This Body" – 3:26
8. "A Ride Back Home" – 3:12
   • duet with Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town
9. "Without a Shot" – 3:40
10. "Jena" – 3:41
11. "Mean" – 2:34
12. "County Fair" – 3:41
13. "For the Children" – 4:36
14. "A Brand New Song" – 3:58

References

1. "Life Death Love and Freedom by John Mellencamp".
2. Allmusic review
3. "John Mellencamp: Life Death Love And Freedom". 21 July 2008.
4. "Life Death Love and Freedom - EW.com".
5. Thomson, Graeme (11 October 2008). "Pop review: John Mellencamp, Life Death Love and Freedom" – via The Guardian.
6. "John Mellencamp: Life Death Love and Freedom".
7. "John Mellencamp - Life Death Love and Freedom".
8. "John Mellencamp: Life Death Love and Freedom".
9. "Life Death Love and Freedom".
10. "John Mellencamp Life Death Love and Freedom - Album Review - Slant Magazine".
11. "The 100 Best Singles of 2008". Rolling Stone (December 25, 2008). Retrieved 2008-12-25
12. "antimusic.com: Tony K's Best Albums of the Decade 25-1 Review".
13. The 50 Best Albums of 2008, Q, January 2009, p. 82

External links

• Life, Death, Love and Freedom at Metacritic