On the Record: When John Mellencamp Was Johnny Cougar, a Zappa/Beefheart Box, and More!

Lacking clout when he entered the music business, John Mellencamp acquiesced to his manager’s insistence that he change his name to the ostensibly more marketable Johnny Cougar. But after he began to score hits, the Indiana native started billing himself as John Cougar Mellencamp before finally reverting to John Mellencamp. A new two-CD set called American Dream takes us back to the Johnny Cougar days, when the singer was a household name, mainly just in his own household. The 45-track collection presents a talented and ambitious young man whose vocal approach is already rather well-honed, but whose lyrics still need …