Democrat and Chronicle.com: What Our Critics Are Listening To

DemocratandChronicle.com No Better Than This 13 new songs - Review By Jeff Spevak: "Save some time to dream, save some time for yourself," Mellencamp sings in the opening moments here, and that's what he did. While touring last summer with Dylan and Willie Nelson, Mellencamp wrote 13 new songs that sound very old and slipped off with some band mates to historic sites: Sun Studio, Savannah's First African Baptist Church, even a hotel room where Robert Johnson once recorded. It's a great idea. Sharing one microphone, everyone picks up on the dark, vintage vibe, particularly guitarist Marc Ribot. It's in stores next Tuesday.