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Mudcrutch
Mudcrutch
Mudcrutch
Genres: Pop, Rock, Metal
 
  •  Track Listings (14) - Disc #1

"I just finished a record with Mudcrutch, my old band before the Heartbreakers. I am over the moon about it. I couldn't have hoped for it to be as good as it came out." In summer 2007, Tom Petty reunited Mudcrutch, consist...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Mudcrutch
Title: Mudcrutch
Members Wishing: 14
Total Copies: 0
Label: Warner Bros.
Original Release Date: 1/1/2008
Re-Release Date: 4/29/2008
Genres: Pop, Rock, Metal
Style:
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPCs: 093624987338, 093624987345, 111119860277

Synopsis

Amazon.com
"I just finished a record with Mudcrutch, my old band before the Heartbreakers. I am over the moon about it. I couldn't have hoped for it to be as good as it came out." In summer 2007, Tom Petty reunited Mudcrutch, consisting of himself, Heartbreakers Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench, original bandmember Tom Leadon, and Randall Marsh, who joined when Mudcrutch first went to Los Angeles in search of a record deal in the early 70s. Now, more than 30 years later, Mudcrutch finally has its debut album. With new Petty songs and a handful of covers, the self-titled disc is both classic rock and a rock classic.

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CD Reviews

Petty and Mudcrutch, with a Wilbury Twist
Brandon J. Smith | Philadelphia, PA | 04/30/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)

"I'm amused at the way people say things like "worth the 30 year wait," as though people have been holding their breath for a Mudcrutch reunion. The truth is, this doesn't sound much like the original Mudcrutch, as can be heard on the box set Playback. The original Mudcrutch sounded a lot like the early Heartbreakers, and for good reason: the core of the band, Petty, Campbell, and Tench, were working together. The reunion of Mudcrutch is actually a much more democratic band. Petty was and remains the leader, but he lets Leadon and Marsh take more of the spotlight here. The songs are more countrified and traditionalist, and the album is mixed in a way that allows every instrument its own space, so all five personalities show through very clearly.



What this reminds me of is not so much the original Mudcrutch or Heartbreakers - but the Traveling Wilburys. The Wilburys existed because the musicians involved wanted to enjoy making music in a loose environment, to play without the pressures of their exisiting careers, and to enjoy playing as friends, and that's exactly what we've got here. The best part of this album is the sound of five friends making music for all the right reasons.



It's not a perfect cd. Some of the songs kind of blur together, "Crystal River" is a bit overlong at nine and a half minutes, "Queen of the Go-Go Girls" is kind of weak, and the melody of "Oh Maria" is too much like "Lost Children" from The Last DJ. Still, the criticisms pale in comparison to the virtues: Mike Campbell remains the absolute best guitar player out there, always playing the perfect part for the song. Tench still has that perfect touch on the keyboards. And Leadon and Marsh are no slouches themselves, more than acquitting themselves among their legendary former bandmates.



There are some really good songs here. "Scare Easy" is strong latter-day Petty, and "The Wrong Thing to Do" has lyrics that are absolutely vintage Petty. The main highlights of the album, for me, though, come towards the end. The cover of "The Lover of the Bayou" is probably the closest to what the original Mudcrutch was all about. The Petty-penned "Topanga Cowgirl" is the best on the album, and the Petty/Campbell "Bootleg Flyer" is also a good swinging rocker.



It's clear, especially after having seen the documentary Runnin' Down a Dream, just how much the act of making music means to Petty and the other members of the band. Ultimately, it's this love of making music that made this album happen, and it's that spirit that elevates it from being just some side project. As with the Wilbury CDs, it's the intangible sense of joy that comes through the most, making this another strong entry in the brilliant Petty catalog."
Classic Country Rock, and the Bass Player Looks Familiar
J. Chasin | NYC, NY | 05/05/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)

"In the early `70s a young band from Gainesville loaded up the van, drove to southern California, got signed, and cut a single that went nowhere. The record company liked the singer though, a skinny bass player, so the band reformulated around him and was rechristened Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The rest, as they say...



Recently Petty got the old band together--- moving back to bass, bringing along Heartbreakers Benmont Tench and Mike Campbell, and enlisting original drummer Randall Marsh and singer-guitarist Tom Leadon, and the result is this record. It is a joy, the best one Petty has made in years. Mudcrutch is almost a time capsule, harkening back to that place and time when the Gram Parsons Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, and Eagles were inventing Country Rock in the late `60s and early `70s (they cover both the Byrds and the Burritos, and Leadon's brother was an Eagle.)



When the first Petty record came out in '76, the jangle of "American Girl" did indeed have critics making Byrds comparisons (and McGuinn covering the song soon after didn't hurt.) Mudcrutch is far more solidly encamped in country rock than the Heartbreakers were, kind of like an alternate universe without the New Wave flavor. In concert at the Fillmore they were loose and easy, the whole band clearly having a blast, playing the whole record plus 2 Dylan covers and encoring with three classic 50s rockers. And Tom Leadon was the happiest guy west of the Mississippi.



Petty does most, but not all of the singing; Campbell is his usual spot-on perfect self, and he and Leadon manage to rekindle the twin-guitar sound that they surely honed playing dives and topless bars in the early `70s (hence "Queen of the Go-Go Girls.) Tench lays down his honky tonk boogie woogie throughout the record.



There is precedent for this sound in the Heartbreakers early work; songs like "Magnolia" or "What Are You Doing in My Life" could fit easily into the Mudcrutch oeuvre and both point toward this alternate universe, and the Heartbreakers have covered "The Image of Me," also covered by the Burritos, on the Playback box.



In concert, Mudcrutch played "Crystal River" as the second-to-last song of the set. ("This is a song about a river that runs through Florida," said Petty, "and occasionally my mind.") It is a long simmering percolation, a sort of power ballad that feels like it is about to turn into "White Bird" at almost every turn. Petty's bass anchors the groove, while Campbell embarks on some divine exploratory guitar work with Leadon. I've seen others compare this song to the Allman Brothers, but to me the touchstone is Neil Young's "Down by the River." At nine minutes it is the set piece of the record.



The triumph here is simple--- a record that sounds like fun, that you want to put on at your next summer barbeque, that manages to sound straight out of 1974 without sounding retro. It is one of the best records of the year, and I wouldn't object too strenuously at all to Mudcrutch II.



Put in the CD Changer on shuffle with: Desparado, Sweethearts of the Rodeo, The Gilded Palace of Sin, You're Gonna Get It

"
Well worth the 30 year wait
Tim Brough | Springfield, PA United States | 04/30/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)

"Tom Petty, once and for all, proves he is one of the nicest guys in rock. After all, who do you know would call up old friends you'd lost touch with over 30 years and say "let's make a record." Which is, basically, what the three-decades-in-the-making "Mudcrutch" is. Drummer Randall Marsh and Guitarist Tom Leadon (brother of Eagle Bernie Leadon) join Heartbreakers Benmont Tench and Mike Campbell for a reunion that is Petty's loosest record since he sat in with The Traveling Wilburys.



Recorded over 10 days and arranged on the fly, "Mudcrutch" owes a lot to Gram Parsons and the Grateful Dead (think American Beauty or Workingman's Dead), with an easy groove that sounds warm and friendly. Petty switches over to his old instrumant, bass, allowing Campbell and Leadon to trade leads. Both Leadon and Tench get a lead vocal shot (used to great effect on the opener, "Shady Grove") and the whole album has the flow of a band that has been together for a long time. Which is peculiuar, considering that they last played together in the mid-seventies.



The album also is reminiscent of the best Grateful Dead in that four of the songs are choice covers. Country/Boogie band staple "Six Days On The Road" (tying back to the Flying Burrito Brothers, who also covered it) gets a workout, as does Roger McGuinn's "Lover of The Bayou." Then once these guys finally find a groove they can really lock into, they chow down and make the delicious swirling jam of "Crystal River." It's the centerpice of "Mudcrutch" and alone justifies getting the CD.



Add that there are plenty of other great songs here (Tench's "This is a Good Street" being a personal favorite), "Mudcrutch" joins The Racountours' harder rocking Consolers Of The Lonely as the kind of loose free-flowing rock records recorded on the quick and sounding all the better because of it."