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All these happy concessions, along with the strong emphasis on instrumental interplay, give Mudcrutch the feeling of a true band effort, and even if it's not perfect--it is indeed possible to amble and ramble just a little bit too much--it's thoroughly winning because of its imperfections, as this is music that's all about cruising down the back roads on a sunny nostalgic day.
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Mostly, Mudcrutch works for everyone: fans, the members who were left behind fame-wise, and Petty himself, who gets to look like a good guy for giving them a taste of what they missed.
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No, the sound isn’t all that different from what Petty does with the Heartbreakers, but the Mudcrutch album has the looser feel you get from old buddies jamming for kicks.
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The songs are mythic Americana: With help from his bandmates, Petty creates a vivid cast of road dogs, strippers and junkies that conjures Gram Parsons' Bible-haunted Southerners and Robert Hunter's cosmic Westerners.
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Mudcrutch might be about wrapping up unfinished business, but there's plenty of new life in this old, thankfully resuscitated band.
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It's rock the old-school way--born of real-time collaboration and realized with heaps of joy and sweat.
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Mudcrutch is a grand old slice of classic country rock that not only serves as Petty’s finest work in almost a decade but is a mighty fine incentive for any long-defunct group with a hankering to dust off the drama and head back into the studio to quit their harboring and just go for it.
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MojoThe Mudcrutch reunion is a refreshing tweak to the comfy old Petty band chemistry. [July 2008, p.108]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 16 out of 19
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Mixed: 1 out of 19
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Negative: 2 out of 19
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Oct 6, 2016
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SusanDDec 7, 2008Great Album!
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FredF.Aug 22, 2008Very country, very good. Shady Grove is one of the better songs I've heard in a long while.