I got played for a fool, and I liked it. So I heard this rockin' song on the radio and I thought, Wow, what an awesome band- good, hard, heavy rock built from the ground up on a solid bass line, and they have a vocalist that sounds like Tom Petty. I gotta find out who that is and get the album.→[More:]

It turns out it is Tom Petty, on his latest album, Mojo. The song was I Should Have Known It. Why do I say he played me for a fool?

I bought the album, and it is full of rock cliches. Everything from Allman Brothers organ lines to Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin guitar solos to Bob Dylan vocals, worked into new songs. The album is a rip-off of everything that is great in classic rock. Any other band would attempt this and fall short, but Tom Petty's Heartbreakers know their craft; their execution is darn near flawless.

This is the kind of album that should be available on 8-track tapes so you can play it in your Chevelle with the windows down when you're cruisin' to the beach.

Now, I don't like every second of every song- some of the lyrics are kind of odd, but when they reach out to grab my rock & roll soul, they don't miss. One more thing that they do well: Remember the old days of album rock when songs jammed toward six, seven, eight minutes in length? Yeah, they do that.

If you're a rock & roll dinosaur, check it out. You'll enjoy being played for a fool too.