THE DIRTY KNOBS: Wreckless Abandon (ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Forty years of complicity, and then death at the end of the road. A path marked out by albums, tours, strong moments, successes, doubts, a path that runs through the life story of two inseparable musicians, one in the light and the other in the shadows. When Tom Petty passed away, Mike Campbell lost his alter ego, the one for whom he composed so much music and with whom he performed so many times on stage, without ever putting himself forward. Tom is no more, but Mike continues on his way. After all, besides the Heartbreakers, he has accompanied so many famous artists (Bob Dylan, Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks, Don Henley) that it was high time for him, at 70, to finally have his own band. With The Dirty Knobs, Campbell takes some of the light that he left to others for so long.

"Wreckless Abandon" is the testimony of an artist who gave his life to classic American rock. And rock, it's talked about on a lot of tracks. Pure American rock, the kind his brother-in-arms played for four decades and which we find on this album with a mixture of nostalgia and gratitude. Perhaps the most disturbing is the voice of Mike Campbell. His resemblance to Tom Petty's is so strong that many tracks sound as much like a tribute as a natural extension of the late rocker's work ('Wreckless Abandonment', 'Southern Boy', 'Loaded Gun').

"Wreckless Abandon' is not, however, a posthumous album by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. It's all about sincerity and a return to the rock of the origins, the one that Muddy Waters called 'The Blues Had A Baby And They Named It Rock and Roll'. Because Mike Campbell's greatest influence is the blues, and the blues permeates the majority of the tracks on the album ('Don't Wait', 'Aw Honey'). The Dirty Knobs also likes to vary the tempos, from slow blues a la Gary Moore ('I Still Love You') to heavy blues a la ZZ Top ('Don't Know The Boogie'), through country blues ('Pistol Packin' Mama') and blues rock ('Don't Know The Boogie' and his tribute to John Lee Hooker).

Even if the music of The Dirty Knobs is unsurprising, except perhaps for the title 'Fuck That Guy' and its reference to Dire Straits, it has the merit of plunging us back into the heart of American rock music, that of the roads without bends and the Florida sun. Just for that alone, "Wreckless Abandon" is worth the detour. - Official website

THE DIRTY KNOBS

WRECKLESS ABANDON

BMG

ROCK