Tom Petty: Highway Companion

Herald rating: * * * *

On 2002's The Last DJ, Tom Petty turned grumpy old man in one of the more uninspired efforts of his long captaincy of the Heartbreakers.

On this, the 55-year-old's third solo album after Full Moon Fever (1989) and Wildflowers (1994), he says he's retiring from touring. But if this is a farewell speech, it's a riveting one - a set which reminds that Petty the classic American rocker remains a true songsmith. Here he ties the theme suggested by the title to songs evoking a sense of cross-country travel through the American heartland of Petty's past. It's there on the acerbic Down South, the chugging Dylanesque blues of Turn this Car Around and the backbeat country of Big Weekend.

The opening track, Saving Grace, borrows its boogie from Canned Heat's On the Road again, Jack sounds like The Who, and Flirting with Time like a long-lost REM track. That might sound like Petty's been driven to distraction. But it's a fine album, enhanced if you add your own road and engine noise.

Verdict: After Bob Dylan, the next great album of the year by a former Travelling Wilbury

Label: American