AMG Review of Chronicles

James Christopher Monger
All Music Guide

Island's three-disc John Cougar Mellencamp "box set" consists of the 2005 reissues of Scarecrow, The Lonesome Jubilee, and Big Daddy. Though Chronicles is a significantly cheaper way to pick up each album, and it does indeed come in a "box," it features none of the bells and whistles that the term often implies (liner notes, photos, etc.) That said, these are three of Mellencamp's strongest records -- though replacing Big Daddy with the superior Uh-Huh would have made the collection more appealing -- and there are enough bonus studio and live tracks on the reissues to warrant a repurchase by longtime fans.