Wrapping up my three-week Tom Petty series is his most recent album with The Heartbreakers, 2010’s Mojo. But first, an aside.
In 2006, Petty released a self-titled album with Mudcrutch — a band made up of Petty, Heartbreakers Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench, and former collaborators Randall Marsh and Tom Leadon. The five men formed Mudcrutch in Gainesville, Florida, in 1970 but disbanded before recording a studio album.
They reunited 38 years later to record an album similar in spirit and sound to Petty’s work with The Heartbreakers (not surprising, as Petty wrote almost every song). It’s a fun side project that feels of a piece with the rest of Petty’s discography.
I left it out of this series of posts, along with two Traveling Wilburys’ records, mostly because I didn’t want to mess with the neat symmetry of three weeks of five albums each. But Petty fans should definitely check out Mudcrutch.
Now back to Mojo.
On his first record with The Heartbreakers in eight years, Petty really wanted to deliver a band experience. The songs on this album were recorded live in single takes with very few overdubs.
You can tell. Mojo sounds like it was recorded by the best bar band in the world. These guys have been playing together for 35 years and they turn every chord change into a hairpin turn in a muscle car.
Much of the album is made up of variations on traditional blues structures. It’s actually new territory for a band that has made its name on garage pop, but they take to it quite naturally. Elsewhere, as on today’s SOTD, Petty and the band deliver moments of true tenderness.
It’s rare that you can say an artist’s most recent album is among the very best things he’s produced, especially an artists who’s been around as long as Tom Petty, but that’s absolutely the case. Hard Promises and especially Mojo make the case that this rock legend has yet to peak.
Watching the coast
Suddenly I know
What I want the most
And I want to tell you
Still I hold back
I need some time
Get my life on track
I know that look on your face
But there’s somethin’ lucky about this place
And there’s somethin’ good comin’
For you and me
Somethin’ good comin’
There has to be
And I’m thinking ’bout mama
And about the kids
And the way we lived
And the things we did
How she never had a chance
Never caught a break
And how we pay for our big mistakes
I know so well the look on your face
And there’s somethin’ lucky about this place
There’s somethin’ good comin’
Just over the hill
Somethin’ good comin’
I know it will
And I’m in for the long run
Wherever it goes
Ridin’ the river
Wherever it goes
And I’m an honest man
Work’s all I know
You take that away
Don’t know where to go
And I know that look that’s on your face
There’s somethin’ lucky about this place
There’s somethin’ good comin’
For you and me
Somethin’ good comin’
There has to be
Meet Me In Montauk 
I was hoping to hear Mojo again on my iPad the plane ride to Chicago, as I had recently signed up for iCloud, which allowed me to upload anything from my iTunes library to the iPad (or any other device). However, I somehow forgot to dowload (or tap the cloud) before take off, and so I couldn’t access the album on the plane. When we got to the hotel and back to wi fi, I hit that cloud, and so I hope to now hear this album on the way home. I had played this album through at least once when it came out and remember thinking it was quite good, which is why, in light of your theme week and knowing it would culminate in this record, I wanted to play it again.
Anyway, so much for my plan….but today’s song is quite nice and I look forward to becoming more familiar with the rest of the album.