{"id":41132,"date":"2008-09-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-09-30T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/mudcrutch\/"},"modified":"2008-09-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-09-30T00:00:00","slug":"mudcrutch","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/mudcrutch\/","title":{"rendered":"Mudcrutch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tom Petty would have to be the luckiest guy in the world. He\u2019s doing what he wants to, when he wants to, a freedom that very few have in the fickle world of the entertainment industry. Whether he\u2019s fronting The Heartbreakers or flying solo, he seems to be incapable of producing anything but great rock \u2018n\u2019 roll (with one exception, but that\u2019s a story for another day).<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s story revolves around his latest project, Mudcrutch. This was Petty\u2019s original band from Gainesville<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, which capitulated soon after arriving in Los Angeles<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> to begin their recording career.\u00a0 Petty and two of his cohorts (Benmont Tench and Mike<\/st1:personname> Campbell) became Heartbreakers but the other two members of Mudcrutch, guitarist Tom Leadon and drummer Randall Marsh, left to pursue their own ambitions.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Mudcrutch never even got around to releasing an album; they did, however, manage two single releases in 1971 and \u201975, respectively. Fast forward to August of \u201907 when Petty invited Leadon and Marsh to reform and record the album that never was. In April of this year, the group finally released their long overdue eponymous debut.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

According to the liner notes, Mudcrutch <\/i>was recorded live in just ten days without the use of headphones. Incredible it may seem, but it goes to show what can happen when truly talented players get together and just play<\/i>. The record itself contains both old and new songs as well as a couple of very well-chosen covers.\u00a0 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

So superb is the band that it sounds as if they never broke up in the first place and have been playing together for an eternity. Admittedly, three of them have been, but how many bands could subtract three members, replace them with two, and still remain a great band?<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The album kicks off with \u201cShady Grove,\u201d an easygoing, jangling ditty with Leadon and Petty sharing lead vocals and harmonies. I was instantly hooked and you will be, too. The only question in my mind was if they could sustain the highly infectious vibe for a full album. Not surprisingly, they did, and I\u2019m still hooked.\u00a0 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

First single \u201cScare Easy\u201d is possibly the most Heartbreaker-sounding song, which is no doubt the reason why it became the first single. It\u2019s a slow jam with Petty snarling, \u201cYeah, I\u2019m a loser at the top of my game \/ I should have known to keep my eye on you.\u201d The band even flirts with country-rock for a couple of tunes with \u201cOrphan Of The Storm\u201d and again with Leadon singing on \u201cQueen Of The Go-Go Girls,\u201d which is almost pure country.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

About those covers — \u201cSix Days A Week\u201d is a roaring boogie-woogie-fueled cover of David Dudley\u2019s original, which is performed here flawlessly. The Byrds\u2019 \u201cLover Of The Bayou\u201d is covered superbly, with their own muddy chops added in for good measure. \u201cTopanga Cowgirl\u201d finds Tench showing off his bluesy honky-tonk riffs with style to accompany Petty\u2019s famous laidback southern drawl, which is more evident here than on almost any of his previous works.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The nine-minute epic \u201cCrystal<\/st1:placename> River<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place>\u201d is a modern day classic. A Dylan-esque arrangement and Petty\u2019s simple, love-struck lyrics make for beautiful music. Tench takes the lead vocal duties for the self-penned \u201cThis Is A Good Street.\u201d Backed by a catchy groove, it\u2019s really too bad that just as you expect it to rock into a wee bit of jamming, the song ends abruptly just shy of the two-minute mark.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Petty\u2019s own \u201cThe Wrong Thing To Do\u201d is reminiscent of his hilarious Wilbury track, \u201cLast Night.\u201d A tight rhythm track is given life by Campbell<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s signature slide guitar and Petty\u2019s dry humored lyrics (\u201cWell a hundred miles to go \/ You draggin\u2019 your ass \/ I\u2019m in a Japanese car \/ That ain\u2019t gonna last.\u201d)<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The swaggering rocker \u201cBootleg Flyer\u201d is another Heartbreaker-style moment that is seriously as good as anything Petty has ever recorded. It\u2019s here the band finally let loose and carve out some awesome rock. Leadon and Campbell\u2019s dueling twin guitar attack is backed by a tight rhythm track provided by Marsh\u2019s drumming and Petty\u2019s bass. Tench once again blazes away with some of his finest chops in years.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I am firmly convinced there is no end to Petty\u2019s genius. Serving as Mudcrutch\u2019s frontman and handling the bass duties with ease, he has turned out another stone-cold classic that stands tall alongside his best ever work, Damn The Torpedoes<\/i>, Full Moon Fever, <\/i>and Wildflowers<\/i>.<\/o:p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":29540,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8276],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-41132","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-mudcrutch","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41132"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}