Thanks for reading. Barely a half hour long ( JUST OVER 29 MINS ), this CD is way too short!
Has some great songs though. I really like the title track and " When margaret comes to town"
Not as gritty as some of his work, but most fans will appreciate the style and content as familiar, solid music from this great singer/ songwriter.
My CD also came with a bonus CD, that had another 5 tracks ( live mixs, acoustic versions etc ) on it, making this a worthwhile purchase for me. (I admit I rarely listen to that though.)
Overall for fans only I think

DANCE NAKED is a great rock/folk album. Take "Brothers," a story about two brothers who just don't get along...in fact hate each other. Or the title track, which remains romantic even though he's basically asking his girl to strip for him. Or "L.U.V.", a politcally-aimed song of what's wrong in the world. Or "Another Sunny Day", about the future and a man's hope how it will all turn out. Or...

Dear God, every song on this album is good. All nine of them shine with expert songwriting (even the remake of Van Morrison's "Wild Night") and superb instrumentalism. DANCE NAKED may not be Mellencamp's best (he's had a lot of time to record albums), but it's certainly right up there. A must for fans of the genre, or Mellencamp's legions of fans.

Like others have pointed out, this is a very short album at 30 minutes long. In that way it's similar to Big Daddy, but unlike his albums just before this, Dance Naked is much lighter in tone and more upbeat. JM stripped down his sound to match his earlier work, leaving out the folk instruments he had picked up, like the mandolin, violin, dobro and dulcimer.
The title track is a great start to the album. "When Margaret Comes to Town" is also catchy guitar rock, coming right before the album's huge hit, "Wild Night." Mellencamp covers Van Morrison and does a good job. The fact that it is sung as a duet with Me'Shell Ndegeocello makes it even more appealing. There are serious lyrics on this album (especially "Another Sunny Day 12/25"), but the music is generally upbeat.
Dance Naked lacks JM's famous story-songs, but it's still a gem in his body of work. The songs are nearly all three-minute ditties with catchy hooks and repetitive choruses. It's a nice CD to put in at a party.

"Dance Naked," which just barely exceeds EP length at nine tracks and less than forty minutes, is nevertheless an adventuresome album for this artist. The album starts with three songs, including the title track, "Brothers" and "When Margaret Comes to Town," that are a deviation from Mellencamp's usual straightforward storytelling style. Instead, he uses catchy rhythms and repetetive choruses to a fine sonic effect. Unfortunately, the disc loses momentum with the fairly uninteresting (but nevertheless massively popular) cover version of "Wild Night." Van Morrison's original version is far superior. Then comes the rather dopey "l.u.v.," typical of the kinds of lyrical bludenrs Mellencamp occasionally pulls. Fortunately, he gets back to the good stuff with "Big Jack" and album ends as strongly as it began.

Mellencamp needed to do something different in order to reenergize his career. With "Dance Naked," he did so, and was mostly successful.

Being a big fan of Mellencamp for years, I was taken aside by this album. The reason I don't like it is not because it did not produce any hits, but I just felt it was very depressing and boring. I love John when he tackles gritty subjects, but on this album he seems to focus on matching the depressing message with bland untextured, boring melodies. Try another album, any other album!