While not blazing as bright as the best tracks, at least it's not produced by Jeff Lynn. While there are exceptions, for the most part it also avoids the boring mid-tempo slogs that have plagued Petty's catalog since day one. That is except for 'I'm such a rebel' exercises like the "Last Dance With Mary Jane" re-hash "The Wrong Thing To Do", and "I Won't Back Down" rewritten as snoozer "Scare Easy", but at least they're cliches he coined. Other tracks seem to be more California than Florida, as "Orphan Of The Storm", "Oh Maria", and "Queen Of The G0-Go Girls" might as well be The Eagles. Of the rockers, "Six Days On The Road" is an unnecessary cover, but an idea as simple as moving away from a place with memories is enough to make "This Is a Good Street"**** work. Opening "Shady Grove" and "June Apple" may be the best embodiment of traditional folk music that probably inspired the original band, with some fun blue-grass pickin', and "Lover Of The Bayou" is water-logged enough to give CCR a run. This song also seems to be where the album turns the corner, as "Topanga Cowgirl"**** is a brighter, more polished Wilco in their Summer Teeth phase, and while not perfect, "Bootleg Flyer" sounds a likely live barn-burner. "House Of Stone" strikes just the right amount of the old-timey with lines like "The deacons in her church Say to leave me alone They say my brain Is in the twilight zone" and make the song just non-specific enough to be timeless. While it's not outside of the Tom Petty pocket at all, maybe it's effortlessness puts a good spin on the end of an album that is both less and more than I expected.
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