My Amazon Reviews: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers "Mojo"

Tom Petty and The Blues Breakers

3 Out of 5 Hours

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers step into jamming me mode and get all laid back on "Mojo." It's so laid back that I was wondering if they should have renamed it "Slo-Mo," but I decided to give it a few more spins. Given the chance to grow on you, "Mojo" is a pretty good groove record. It keeps a pretty even pace, and The Heartbreakers are their usual top notch playing selves. Much like 2008's "Mudcrutch" reunion/debut, "Mojo" has that 'friends gettin' together' feel about it.

This is also the Tom Petty album that seems to owe the most to his Dylan/Dead days, also like Mudcrutch. There's more jam here than structure, which makes for some great moments, like Mike Campbell's blistering lead on "Good Enough" and the drawling "US 41." The rocking moments, like "I Should Have Known It" and "First Flash Of Freedom" are also prime Petty.

On the negative side, some studio jams should have been more developed. Both "Candy" and "Don't Pull Me Over" are almost painfully bad. The faux reggae of "Don't Pull Me Over" clones Eric Clapton's hit cover of "I Shot The Sheriff" as Petty whines that he hopes the cops don't pull him over because he's smoking a joint in the car. Which might be cool if you're a 20 year old (or Willie Nelson), but just sounds silly from a near 60 millionaire. It's too easy a song for an artist of Petty's caliber. After the more challenging "The Last DJ" exposed Petty's indignation with the industry he's basically grown up in, the hazy smoothness of "Mojo" is Okay. Having become acclimated to many, many great Tom Petty albums, I was just surprised at just average this is.