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Life, Death, Love and Freedom is the 20th 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]

Life, Death, Love and Freedom
Studio album by John Mellencamp
Released	July 15, 2008
Recorded	August 13, 2007–2008 Belmont Mall
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]

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 use the ΧΟΔΕ (CODE) process. T-Bone Burnett worked with engineers to develop CODE, a proprietary audio technology that creates high-definition audio files. The CODE version of "Life, Death, Love and Freedom" is on 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

Charts

Chart (2008)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[14]	21

References

External links

• Life, Death, Love and Freedom at Metacritic

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