John Mellencamp 1978 – 2012 is a uniquely comprehensive boxed set collection covering the legendary singer/songwriter’s principal studio albums. The collection consists of a total of 19 CDs originally released over a recording career that spans 35 years.
John Mellencamp 1978– 2012, for the first time, combines in one package, albums Mellencamp recorded as John Cougar, John Cougar Mellencamp and John Mellencamp for Polygram, Universal, Sony and Concord-affiliated labels. The set contains a total of 223 tracks and includes such mythic album titles as American Fool, Lonesome Jubilee, Scarecrow, Cuttin’ Heads and the more recent Life, Death Love and Freedom and No Better Than This. Thirteen of the albums in the collection were RIAA®-certified as Gold, Platinum or Multiplatinum winners while ten of the albums achieved Top Ten status on Billboard’s Top 100 Album Chart. Of special note is the fact that the collection includes the long out-of-print original soundtrack album to Falling From Grace, the Mellencamp-directed film that was a collaboration with noted author Larry McMurty. That disc includes tracks by Mellencamp, Dwight Yoakam, Nanci Griffith, Joe Ely, James McMurtry and John Prine.
John Mellencamp 1978– 2012 includes every one of Mellencamp’s thirty Billboard Top 100 singles, from “I Need A Lover” and “Jack & Diane” to “Pink Houses” and “Rain On The Scarecrow,” as well as such classics as “Paper in Fire,” “Hurts So Good,” “Crumblin’ Down,” “Jackie Brown,” “Small Town,” “Wild Night,” “R.O.C.K In The U.S.A.,” “Our Country” and, quite literally, all the rest. There are bonus tracks concluding twelve of the albums, sourced from the 2005 re-mastered versions of Mellencamp’s Mercury releases.