John Mellencamp - Human Wheels (1993)
Tracklist front / back album covers
"When Jesus Left Birmingham" – 5:16
"Junior" – 4:08
"Human Wheels" (Mellencamp, George Green) – 5:33
"Beige to Beige" – 3:52
"Case 795 (The Family)" – 5:15
"Suzanne and the Jewels" – 3:55
"Sweet Evening Breeze" – 4:51
"What If I Came Knocking" – 5:05
"French Shoes" – 3:41
"To the River" (Janis Ian, John Vezner, Mellencamp) – 3:33
"When Jesus Left Birmingham" (featuring Sounds of Blackness) (2005 re-issue bonus track) – 3:58
John Mellencamp Band Members / Musicians
John Mellencamp – vocals, guitar
Kenny Aronoff – drums, percussion
David Grissom – guitars, mandolin, bass
Lisa Germano – violin, mandolin, penny whistle, zither, background vocals
Toby Myers – bass, background vocals
Pat Peterson – background vocals, accordion, maracas, co-lead vocals on "Case 795 (The Family)", "French Shoes"
Mike Wanchic – guitars, dobro, dulcimer, background vocals
Malcolm Burn – organ, guitar, harmonica, synthesizer
John Cascella – accordion, organ, background vocals, penny whistle, melodica
Janas Hoyt – harmony vocals
Human Wheels is the 12th studio album by American singer-songwriter John Mellencamp. Released on Mercury Records on September 7, 1993, it peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard 200. The single "What If I Came Knocking" was Mellencamp's last No. 1 single on the Album Rock Tracks chart, staying atop for two weeks in the summer of 1993. The album has been certified Platinum by the RIAA for sales of 1,000,000 copies.
Entertainment Weekly gave the record an "A" rating, stating: "John Mellencamp's last album was more or less straight-ahead rock, but there's something dark and unshaven about his new one, 'Human Wheels.' Oddball instruments — pennywhistles, mandolins — pop up like disordered wraiths over gritty drum tracks that sound like they were recorded in a cluttered cellar. Mellencamp himself mutters and snarls in a voice of tangled complexity, worrying his way through songs about trouble."
Spin Magazine named Human Wheels the 5th best album of 1993.
