John Cougar had been around for a while already when he dropped this one in '82, but for most of us
American Fool was his coming out party. Heck, John even made an appearance on the legendary SCTV (I saw it and was suitably impressed) and played "Jack & Diane" which to me was a big deal.
It's funny though, as much as I liked the big songs here, "Hurts So Good," "Jack & Diane" and to a lesser extent "Hand to Hold On To" I didn't buy the album. I would pick it up a few years later, and by that time he was hitting his halcyon days and frankly it was okay, but didn't resonate with me. There was an irritating element to his cock of the walk self aggrandizing posturing wrapped in rockin' Americana that just bugged me.
I have softened on this quite a bit over the years, and can really appreciate a lot of what he was doing, and that he was part of what was going on, without being part of what was going on musically. He was straight ahead rock and roll that has really held up over the years.
Getting back to American Fool, the band here was absolutely on fire. From Larry Crane on guitar, to the ever reliable Ken Arnoff on drums. Anchoring the bottom end was George "Chocolate" Perry. I should mention Mike Wanchic who was the other guitar player on the album. I don't know much about him, but he was played with John for a lot of years after Larry Crane moved on. So no doubt there's a nod or two to be made to his playing. Here's to you Mr. Wanchic.
It wasn't until recently I read about Mick Ronson's involvement with the album, and his contributions particularly on "Jack & Diane" where he helped with the arrangement and the acoustic parts. There's nothing in the album credits that makes any mention of Mick, or even a tip of the hat. That's show business for you.
I've played the album a few times now while I've puttered about, and sat and listened intently a time or two. While I'm not a died in the wool Mellenhead I really do like this one, and it doe hold up remarkably well. The songs are crisp, and there's still a wonderful sparkle to the songs. While not everything is killer, there's really not much in the way of filler either. Although I do have to say the closing track is aptly titled, "Weakest Moments" and John commits the cardinal sin of mistaking mumbling for emoting, and the song had real potential and John starts out enunciating his words, but I wonder if there was a game of stuff marshmallows in John's mouth after every line as it didn't take long before he sounded like Vito Corleone. I could almost imagine him sitting in a chair stroking a cat as he sang.
Still, this is the album that opened with the killer combination of "Hurts So Good" and "Jack and Diane" and that frankly is enough to make this one worthwhile.
Who's the fool now?
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