Rating: 7/10

Not many rock ’n’ roll icons take time off from their regular schedules to revisit their days of pre-fame.

Not many take time off to play with rag-tag musicians in an average band with a following no bigger than a thousand or so people in the community where they grew up.

But that’s exactly what career Heartbreakers Tom Petty, Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench did when they got the original members of Mudcrutch — the precursor to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers — back together to create an entirely new and original album.

To be clear, if you’re looking for the famous Tom Petty sound full of the down-home, southern rock ’n’ roll energy of the ’70s, this CD isn’t for you. But for Petty junkies who have followed his career — either in real time or years later as a young college student looking back in time — it’s yet another installment of what keeps him on top of the rock ’n’ roll scene well into his 60s.

In a way, the whole CD can be summed up with its instrumental track “June Apple.” Short and sweet at about 2 1/2 minutes, it displays how good these guys are at using their instruments to guide their music after all these years. Even where words fail, the sound of this CD is that of a band whose members know one another inside and out.

This is what makes the project so impressive, seeing as how the drummer and second guitarist/vocalist haven’t seriously played with Petty, Campbell nor Tench in more than 25 years. Also worth noting is that the CD was recorded in a mere 10 days.

The lyrics are solid, the instrumentals are stellar and the overall sound is as comforting as your grandma’s world-famous macaroni and cheese (maybe not world-famous, but damn good, nonetheless). This CD shows you why Petty and his pals have embodied the best of rock ’n’ roll since their self-titled debut in 1976.

This CD wasn’t put together to make money, appease fans or to receive critical acclaim. For Petty, as has been true from the beginning, it’s all about making music with your friends.

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