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Tom Petty wants to rock, and it was already evident with the fabulous Mudcrutch project (2008), a band forgotten in the drawer in the seventies and polished up at the end of this decade. A raw and gritty rock-blues that Petty tries to bring into the new album with his companions, the Heartbreakers, who were also set aside for eight long years, since the days of the little-acclaimed The Last DJ (2002).
In between, there was the enjoyable solo album Highway Companion (2006) and the massive live box set from a few months ago, a true prelude to the new "Mojo". Few, really, are the ingredients that make Mojo a long album (about 65 minutes), vintage and direct as not heard in a long time. Recorded practically live, it sounds raw and sparse in all its fifteen episodes, as in the hard-blues of the almost Zeppelin-esque "I Should Have Known It", a song where the never-too-praised Mike Campbell takes the stage, with his guitar being the real protagonist of all this work, much guitar-oriented. Riffs and solos for a song that will definitely become a new classic for Petty.
The album opens with "Jefferson Jericho Blues", a fast blues full of guitar and harmonica where Petty parades the hidden love of former president Tom Jefferson for his slave. The almost seven minutes of "First Flash Of Freedom" are an example of what this album represents for Petty and his band, the desire to have fun and play free from any preconceived fences. A song that crashes into psychedelia and the Californian west coast of times gone by. A song certainly out of the box but perfectly successful. While in "Running Man's Bible", the highs and lows created by Benmont Tench's organ and the explosions of Campbell and Scott Thurston's guitars take center stage.
The album decidedly shifts to blues with episodes like "Takin' My Time", canonical but sharp, "Let Yourself Go", and the final "Good Enough" with Campbell still as a protagonist, while tracks like "Candy" or the reggae of "Don't Pull Me Over", in truth, not very fun in the lyrics, Petty's personal State Trooper reminiscent of Springsteen. Noteworthy are still some ballads and the acoustic blues of "U.S. 41" which takes us directly to an abandoned train rail near the Mississippi.
An album that surely grows with listens, while still making immediacy its strength. "Mojo" lets all the characteristics shine that make the Heartbreakers one of the best American bands ever, especially live. The only note or downside is the excessive duration and number of songs, of which at least a couple could have easily stayed out. In essence, this work confirms Petty in great shape and eager to have fun playing with his trusty band and giving them ample space, so much so that their names on the cover could very well be incorporated into a single name: "Heartbreakers".
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