listening Post: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Highway Companion

The last Tom Petty album before MudCrutch. He jettisoned the Heartbreakers and brought back Mr. ELO.



Tom Petty - Highway Companion - 2006 (Buy It)

Live blogging the last TP record.

Saving Grace. A neat little toe-tapping rocker that suggests that this record might actually be fun.
Square One. Oh, but it's not. What is this, a leftover from Wildflowers? Ah, ok. You go, reflect Mr. P. I'll be over here waiting for you to rock again.
Flirting with Time We pick back up with that mid-tempo rock that is TP's stamp. It's not like we haven't heard this song before. On every one of his albums. It's a formula. It works. It isn't great. But, who cares? This is the song everyone will sing along with, right?
Down South You know, I don't hear that big, bright, over produced sound that Jeff Lynne was known for. Everyone is subdued on this affair. And the album is better for it. This song could've been written by Dylan. Why not? Petty has always sort of wished he was the vagabond poet, when he's really just the stoner rocker. Whose getting older and thinking about it.
Jack The kind of song you want to hate and if it were done by anyone else, we would. Since it's Petty and crew, they know how to make it sound not so crappy. Almost.
Turn this Car Around Ah, the middle, fatty part of the Petty record.
Big Weekend Truckin'.........
Night Driver So. Highway Companion. The album is your companion. You are driving on the highway. And, apparently you need to put your head back and just follow the road. And let Tom Petty be your zen guide......
Damaged by Love Why wasn't this album an ep?
This Old Town I would probably drive into the median at this point. Please end.
Ankle Deep Hey, is that the big, semi-overproduced sound we expect? A little too late, I think.
Golden Rose This is how TP&tH wants to go out? Ok. It's third rate, wannabe surreal Beatles, but, fine. At least I'm done.

Grade D-
A Side: Saving Grace, Square One
BlindSide: Flirting with Time, Big Weekend
DownSide: Jack, Turn this Car Around, Night Driver

Listening Post: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - The Last DJ

With the end in site, we arrive at the concept album (rock opera) about the state of the music industry, which AllMusic gave 1 star. Is it that bad?



Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - The Last DJ - 2002 (Buy It)

In 2002 I was listening to radio late one night. The DJ, Jim Ladd, was talking about the problem with management taking over the reins of all radio. How bad it really is to have all the stations owned by one corporation. How you can't fight with the suits because you can't go to a competing station, since they own them all.
The early 00's were a dark time. The suits, management, the labels, none of them knew what to do or how to control piracy which was still in it's infancy. And Ladd was going on and on and then he played this song, "the Last DJ". It made sense to me. It wasn't until I researched the album that I learned that the song was written ABOUT Ladd.
No matter. He was right. Corporate America destroyed radio. It can't gobble up the internet, can't control the blogs, so it is forced to eat itself.
And Petty made a concept album about what it was like at the time.
Is it any good?

Look, whatever you think of Petty, you gotta hand it to him. He just hates the hands that feed him. He barely suffers them. From the battles on Hard Promises to Last Dj, this is not a guy who wants the untalented unwashed to touch his music or, even, him.
Money Becomes King is like a piece of an opera. From the nosebleed seats to the over priced tickets to the heartbreaking disdain for his hero, the singer of the song laments what it's like to be a rock fan, when money became king and lite beer was the star. It's not a great tune, by far, but the sentiment and approach is somewhat more powerful than 90% of what passes for music these days.
AllMusic called "Joe" the worst song Petty ever wrote. I don't agree. It's pretty angry but it's just a screed about the music industry. Feels like it's about that fat impresario that created NSync. Is it a good? No. Is it indulgent? Yes. But I applaud Petty for writing about something with a passion.
If the album loses direction and strays from it's central theme it isn't all bad. The lush ballad "Like a Diamond" with it's infectious chorus and Lost Children aren't as unlistenable as reviewers have made this album out to be.
Some of it is quite fun, actually. Like the goofy Man who Loves Women, a terrible song, but at least Petty is trying to have a good time.
This album isn't nearly as terrible as some would have you believe.

Grade C+
A Side: The Last DJ
BlindSide: Money Became King, Dreamville, Like a Diamond, Blue Sunday
DownSide: When the Kid Goes Bad

Listening Post: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Echo

Come hell or high water, I'm gonna finish this.......



Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Echo - 1999 (Buy It)

No. The opening track, "Room at the Top" is NOT the Adam Ant hit. Wouldn't that be cool, though? Mebbe not. As opening tracks go, it's big, it's heart wrenching and it's wondrous.
There is a little bit of soul that has found it's way into the repertoire here. TP is still writing and recording songs for rockers who have been hitting the hash pipe all day. I have visions of the recording studio; passing a bong around while the bearded one, Rubin, sits, shoeless on a big, soft, leather couch, hippy chicks on either side, curling into his arm pits, his head just nodding in time, the engineer fiddling with knobs, Petty just doing his thing.
The album plays like the opening of a concert: Three introductory tracks, one epic, one mellow, the other big and bombastic.
Then it settles into...really good background music. It's so mellow and unsurprising that you forget you have the headphones on.
Listenable but foregettable songs like "Stand Accused of Love" permeate this album. The melancholia that floats over every song isn't heart-wrenching as much as it is....there.
"I Don't Wanna Fight" is written and SUNG by Mike Campbell! After 20+ Years and he sounds like.....Tom Petty.
It picks up a little toward the end particularly after the Campbell debacle. As if to apologize, No More is followed by a retro rocker About to Give Out. A song that would have fit on any TP album in any era and a real barnburner.

Grade B+
A Side: Room at the Top, Free Girl Now, About to Give Out
BlindSide: Echo, Billy The Kid, No More, Rhino Skin, One More Night and One More Day
DownSide: Any of the forgettable filler tracks on this cd. And I Don't Wanna Fight.

Listening Post: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - She's the One

The end is in sight....



Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - She's The One - 1996 (Buy It)

I'm not a fan of Ed Burns, the director of the movie "She's the One", for which this album serves as soundtrack. i suppose it would be weirder if it was a film by Ken Burns but at least that way I would have heard it. Or of it.
Here we have an album that sort of follows in the tradition set forth in Wildflowers: Minimalism. Relaxation. Fun.
Innocuous. Tossed off.
Rick Rubin is back to bring everything back to its roots. Mike Campbell is a co-producer/collaborator and the breakers are back.
There are covers here, people. For the first time in the TP&tH catalog, I believe. Change the Locks by Lucinda Williams and Asshole, by Beck.
How are they? Well, Change the Locks sounds like a Tom Petty song. Only bigger. Angrier. It's good. Not great.
The same for Asshole except that, for the first time on this record, I can actually see the song playing over a scene of reflective melancholy or a montage of some kind.
There is nothing here to make me recant my apathy toward Tom Petty. I'm sure his fans are satisfied with the 60 minutes of music/words that he provides.
I will tell you this, Angel (No. 2) sounds too much, to me, like Springsteen's If I Should Fall Behind. Same era. Springsteen was first. And better.
But Walls (No. 3) is one of the best songs Petty has written in years. That's a keeper.

Grade C+
A Side: Walls (Circus), Climb that Hill, Walls (No.3)
BlindSide: Zero from Outer Space, Angel Dream No. 4,
DownSide: Supernatural Radio, Hung Up and Overdue.

listening Post: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Wildflowers

Only a few more rekkids to go......



Tom Petty - Wildflowers - 1994 (Buy it)

Petty sheds the Heartbreakers for another solo outing and dumps Jeff (Mr. Sheen) Lynne along the way. Hooking up with Rick (Let's get back to basics) Rubin, TP puts out a record that is more assured, less clunky and distracted than some previous offerings.
I still feel like I don't understand why Petty has been a force to be reckoned with for so long. But, that said, there is something assuring and precious in a good way about this record. Maybe its the end of the glossy, bombastic 80s. Maybe it's that he has less to prove. I don't know. But there's more to love and revisit on Wildflowers than most of TPs previous albums. One holdover from the 80s, however, is that the songs just don't know when they are over. Even a 3+ minute confection like "Time to get Going" overstays its welcome by about 45 seconds. But, it's kind of hypnotically wonderful that you almost don't care. Until I find myself thinking, "is this song STILL playing?" and then I hate it and I want to die. The record is a good 20 minutes longer than it need be. And it really grinds to a stop at the end. But, there's so much good here that I can't fault him trying to include everything.
There's a melancholy that hangs over this record that make it at once nostalgic and reminiscent. This is the best Petty has sounded in a while and certainly the best record of his to get high to. And the most latter day Beatles he has sounded as well.

Grade A
A Side: You Don't Know How it Feels, Its Good to be King, You Wreck Me
BlindSide: Time to Get Going, Hard to Find a Friend (Feat. Ringo Starr on drums!!)
DownSide: Honey Bee (It should be better, you know?)

listening Post: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Into the Great Wide Open

It's a slog. But I am determined to get through the Tom Petty catalog. Even if it kills me...



Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Into the Great Wide Open - 1991 (Buy It)

Petty brings the band back together for an official TP&tH album. Keeps Jeff Lynne around for that pop sheen and you know what? They actually sound great. The thing about this album is it's filled with Petty songs that you THINK you know but you really don't but it's so familiar and comfy that you don't mind it. And it actually rocks a little more than the man has let himself. Like Makin's Some Noise and Out in the cold. The California rock of Dark of the Sun could easily be mistaken for middling Eagles. Until nasal Petty comes out and warbles.
Lynne does such a good job of producing this record for mass appeal that he actually renders Petty almost anonymous on his own record.
This is one of the best in the Petty catalog and I never need to hear it again.

Grade B+
A Side: Learning to Fly, Into the Great Wide Open
Blind Side: Out in the Cold,
DownSide: Two Gunslingers, Built to Last

listening Post: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Full Moon Fever

It's becoming work, folks. I'm almost done but still not sure why this guy's been around and selling out for more than 30 years...



Tom Petty - Full Moon Fever - 1989 (Buy It)

Petty ditched the Heartbreakers for a while and hooked up with his Wilbury Pal, Jeff Lynne for his most interesting and accessible album in eons.
Here is the rekkid that contains those hits you remember liking TP for. "Runnin Down a Dream", "Free Fallin". Maybe it's just me but I like a little pop sheen on my rock. And Lynne provides it.
Hard to give this album any more accolades than it already has received. It's the best Petty has to offer in his first two decades as far as I am concerned. Sure, there are tracks like "Depending on You" that sound like they fell off a Traveling Wilbury CD, but, so what? The Wilburys were the anti-supergroup of the late 80s. They were catchy and fun and what's wrong with that?
I dare you to listen to The Apartment Song and not think of this year's Jenny Lewis tune, "Carpetbaggers".

Grade A
A Side: Free Fallin, Runnin' Down a Dream, I Won't Back Down
BlindSide: Love is a Long Road, Yer So Bad, The Apartment Song
DownSide: There isn't a clunker on this record.

Listening Post: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Let Me Up (I've Had Enough)

He duetted with Stevie Nicks. He's pioneered stoner animation videos. He's run the gamut of styles from pop to country rock to, well, just about everything. And he was a Wilbury. But, how well do we know the guy who wrote Mary Jane's Last Dance, Refugee, American Girl, and countless other classic rock staples? Well, I don't know him nearly at all. Hence the latest Listening Post. Let's dive in.




Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Let Me Up (I've Had Enough) - 1987 (Buy It)

Oh, the title says it all, doesn't it? Slogging my way through the TP back catalog makes me wish that I had listened to all of these albums 20 years ago so I wouldn't have to listen to them now and I could just say, "Wow, Tom Petty really made some boring music, didn't he?" and I could have left it at that and been done with it, moved on to better things, played with my child more, enjoyed a little bit of life.
Instead, I'm mired ears deep in a morass of listless music by a band that really doesn't seem to care anymore, if they ever did.
Leading off is "Jammin' Me", a song so uninterested in itself that it just sort of gives up at the end as if even it knows that there's no point continuing. Another track, The Damage is Done, continues this aimlessness and makes me wonder just what they were on when they submitted this to the label. And what the label was on when they put it out.
If I hadn't already listened to two horrible Petty records back to back (Long After Dark & Southern Accents) I might have been slightly more forgiving, but this is three turds in a row and my ears are on the verge of giving out on me.
Reading up on this record while listening I was reminded that, around this time, The Heartbreakers had been touring as Bob Dylan's backing band. Now, Petty has always flirted with a Dylan-esque sound, but that always informed the music rather than dictated it. The result here, with the recent psychedelic flirtations on Southern Accents and the Dylan and the sounds of the times results, at times, in some weird roots rock-Peter Gabriel hybrid that should be more interesting than it is but just leaves me cold.
The album picks up a little steam in the back half, kind of like the desperation in "All Mixed Up" and I'm always down for some roots rockin like "Self Made Man", but the album is so ill conceived and boring that nothing, especially not these half-assed attempts, can salvage it.

Grade: D

A Side: Jammin' Me
BlindSide: All Mixed Up, Self Made Man
DownSide: The Damage is Done, Ain't Love Strange

Listening Post: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Southern Accents

He duetted with Stevie Nicks. He's pioneered stoner animation videos. He's run the gamut of styles from pop to country rock to, well, just about everything. And he was a Wilbury. But, how well do we know the guy who wrote Mary Jane's Last Dance, Refugee, American Girl, and countless other classic rock staples? Well, I don't know him nearly at all. Hence the latest Listening Post. Let's dive in.



Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Southern Accents - 1985 (Buy It)

Ah, the 80s. What can be said? It was a time when all rock music seemed like it was slathered in lotion or vaseline. When drum machines or electronic drums made everything sound "so fresh!" and immediately dated. No one was immune. Not even, it would seem, Tom Petty and his Heartbreakers.
I don't think I've ever heard "Don't Come Around Here No More" when it wasn't accompanied by that surreal Alice in Wonderland video. How much did we enjoy watching Alice the cake get cut into? And, since smoke machines were the rage in the 80s, all the videos had that vaselined look, too. Without the images, though, it's just another hokey 80s electro-rock track.
In fact, most of the album sounds like that. The "Southern Accents" of the title are not really indicative of a sound as much as they are just a title left over from some not-completed concept album.
I was really kind of hoping that this album, with that monster hit, would have held secrets to the success and long-lastingness of Petty but, I was mistaken.
Eurythmics' Dave Stewart was employed as producer and co-songwriter and I am at a loss to understand why. All he seems to add is a flat and sounds like leftovers from his own band.
It should be noted that the only song I even "kind of" like is "Dogs on the Run" which is co-written by the real genius of TP&tH: Mike Campbell.

Grade D
A Side: Don't Come Around Here No More, Make it Better
BlindSide: Dogs on the Run.
DownSide: Spike, Mary's New Car

Listening Post: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Long After Dark

He duetted with Stevie Nicks. He's pioneered stoner animation videos. He's run the gamut of styles from pop to country rock to, well, just about everything. And he was a Wilbury. But, how well do we know the guy who wrote Mary Jane's Last Dance, Refugee, American Girl, and countless other classic rock staples? Well, I don't know him nearly at all. Hence the latest Listening Post. Let's dive in.



Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Long After Dark - 1982 (Buy It)

You know what you hear a LOT of and get real tired of if you listen to enough Tom Petty? Tambourine. It's all over his stuff. Sometimes it functions a lot like a co-lead vocalist. It's pretty tiring. Just sayin.

The New Wave-y tones on You Got Lucky almost drag it down to latter day J. Geils-land but it's easily rescued by Petty and his craft. Truth is, Peter Wolf could be singing lead on this track and no one would have been the wiser. Less people would have bought it, but.....

The songs are here. None of them really suck. "Finding Out" actually rocks harder than most of the previous record. Instead of being a full meal, Long After Dark is a forgettable lunch. Which is a shame but also, kind of due, right? I mean, four albums that build upon better and better songwriting, touring, fighting with the label, eventually you just gotta be too tired to come up with stuff better than "We Stand a Chance". Okay, maybe that kind of sucks.

You really don't need to hear this record.

Grade D+
A Side: You Got Lucky
BlindSide: A One Story Town, Finding Out.
Downside: We Stand a Chance, Straight into Darkness, The Same Old You (which sounds like bad Aerosmith ripping off bad Stones), A Wasted Life

Listening Post: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Hard Promises

He's duetted with Stevie Nicks. He's pioneered stoner animation videos. He's run the gamut of styles from pop to country rock to, well, just about everything. And he was a Wilbury. But, how well do we know the guy who wrote Mary Jane's Last Dance, Refugee, American Girl, and countless other classic rock staples? Well, I don't know him nearly at all. Hence the latest Listening Post. Let's dive in.



Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Hard Promises - 1981 (Buy it)

Here's what I remember about Hard Promises.
At the time the record companies were selling most records for $8.98. They wanted to charge $9.98 for Petty's new one and he wasn't having any of it. He held fast, I think even delaying the release, until the label caved. And now, 28 years later, they can't get more than $10 for a record. In the meantime, Petty and the label kept the fans waiting.
And The Waiting is the hardest part.....
(See what I did there?)

Hard Promises opens with a flourish. As if to say, yeah, the 80s are here and, guess what, we're gonna bring the rock. No compromises and no Damn the Torpedoes part 2.

But there's not much more to say about it than that. It's a great coupling with Damn, but it stands well on its own. By this time, four albums in, Petty and Campbell and crew know what they're doing. Yeah, they're sort of sliding into alt-country more and more, but heartland music is like that. And everyone eventually goes there. Country is more forgiving and easier to sound earnest about (Bon Jovi, Bruce, etc) while at the same time you can really play the hell out of it while you are drunk or, better, stoned. So it's no surprise that these guys all end up on the plains.
That laconic sound definitely padded this album. It's the first to clock in over 40 minutes and that's really just because the sound is more laid back in places than on previous albums. That's the way it is when you are young, I guess, you shoot fast. Gotta get to the point and move on. As you get older you find it's a little more difficult to say what you want to. You're a wee more conscious of your point and want to make sure you've gotten there.
Petty gets you there. Even if, by The Criminal Mind and You Can Still Change Your Mind, the album's closers, he does seem to run out of steam.

Grade A-
A Side: The Waiting, The Nightwatchman, A Thing About You
BlindSide: A Woman in Love, King's Road, Insider
Downside: The Criminal Kind, You can still Change Your Mind

Listening Post: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Damn the Torpedoes

He duetted with Stevie Nicks. He's pioneered stoner animation videos. He's run the gamut of styles from pop to country rock to, well, just about everything. And he was a Wilbury. But, how well do we know the guy who wrote Mary Jane's Last Dance, Refugee, American Girl, and countless other classic rock staples? Well, I don't know him nearly at all. Hence the latest Listening Post. Let's dive in.



Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Damn the Torpedoes - 1979 (Buy It)

In 1980 it seemed like every single time I heard "Refugee" it was followed or preceded by Pat Benatar's "Heartbreaker". It was a 1-2 punch that accented my early morning breakfast before school. (And I just got that. Heartbreaker. Followed by the Heartbreakers....funny DJs)
Somehow I never caught Petty fever, or Pat's for that matter. They seemed to get lumped in to a pile of quasi-New Wave and never really felt like that's what they were about. But the rich red on the cover of Damn the Torpedoes, with that cazh slung guitar sort of shouted New Wave from the bins.
It wasn't. And thank goodness, right?

Damn the Torpedoes punches you square in the face right off the bat with "Refugee" and then "Here Comes my Girl". This is a stronger TP&tH. They have eaten their Wheaties. They aren't tremulous at all. They aren't frightened. They are musicians with a lot to prove to a new label and the rest of the world. And when they're done, my guess would have been that you would either be a convert or at the very least have to admire the strength of the songs.

One thing that is becoming more and more clear as these records spin is just how important Mike Campbell, the co-producer and sometimes songwriting guitarist, is to the success of this band. His name pops up as a co-writer on so many of their best tunes: Hurt, Refugee, Here Comes My Girl, to name a few.

Side Note: I think Petty should have sued Bruce for ripping off Century City for his b-side, "Pink Cadillac". It's like a progenitor of the "I was made for loving you" stink.

Damn the Torpedoes is a fine record. One of the best of the era. It deserves all the accolades that have been heaped on it. I'm glad I got to finally hear it. And Louisiana Rain might be my favorite unearthed classic. Well, one of them.

Grade: A
A Side: Refugee, Here Comes My Girl, Don't Do Me Like That
Blindside: Even the Losers, Shadow of a Doubt (Complex Kid), Louisiana Rain.
DownSide: Nothing. This is a quality collection from top to bottom.

Listening Post: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - You're Gonna Get It

He duetted with Stevie Nicks. He's pioneered stoner animation videos. He's run the gamut of styles from pop to country rock to, well, just about everything. And he was a Wilbury. But, how well do we know the guy who wrote Mary Jane's Last Dance, Refugee, American Girl, and countless other classic rock staples? Well, I don't know him nearly at all. Hence the latest Listening Post. Let's dive in.



Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - You're Gonna Get It - 1978 (Buy It)

"You're Gonna Get It" starts off with a sure foot and moves right into the familiar Petty sound on the title track. It's got that "You've Got Lucky Babe" feel to it.
The entire exercise could be called Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers 2 as was the pattern with many acts in the 70s. After all, 30 minutes is not a lot of time, by today's 70+ minute CD standard. So, it could be easy to see some of a band's A stuff spilling over from a strong debut to a tight sophomore entry.
That said, this record takes a long time to get going. I didn't key in until the fourth track, Magnolia, where they album begins to really show some heart. I think, without TP&tH, the Gin Blossoms might have had to find another line of work.
Everything on this record seems to be setting up the TP we will come to know over the last part of the decade.
Ultimately I have to agree with reviewers who say that, in the end, after the record is over, you might forget you even listened to it.
The missteps are few, and innocuous, indeed. A piece of piffle like "No Second Thoughts" wouldn't have made it onto a b-side of a George Harrison single. Before you can realize that you don't want to hear it anymore, it's over, so that's nice and no one really needs to hear "Restless" ever again.

Grade C+
A Side: I Need to Know, Listen to her Heart
BlindSide: When the TIme Comes, Magnolia
DownSide: No Second Thoughts, Restless

Listening Post: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

He duetted with Stevie Nicks. He's pioneered stoner animation videos. He's run the gamut of styles from pop to country rock to, well, just about everything. And he was a Wilbury. But, how well do we know the guy who wrote Mary Jane's Last Dance, Refugee, American Girl, and countless other classic rock staples? Well, I don't know him nearly at all. Hence the latest Listening Post. Let's dive in.



Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers -1976 (Buy It)

From the opening skiffly, McCartney-esque "Rockin' Around with You" all the way to the closer, American Girl, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers is the kind of debut that wears its influences on it's sleeve. There's easy Doobie Brothers groove (Breakdown), the aforemetioned Beatles Pop (Rockin'), there's a touch of Springsteen (Hometown Blues, The Wild One;Forever) and more. Is Tom Petty the American Elvis Costello? From this album one might think so.
The album starts off strong and, to be honest, could be the soundtrack for any weekend, parents' basement, lights out makeout session. It's got that Freaks and Geeks timelessness without ever sounding dated.
And American Girl? I gotta be honest. I forgot that song was over 30 years old. I really could have pegged that song as a latter day entry. Shows what I know. Even though it has been in numerous soundtracks, like Fast Times, it still sounds fresh and timeless.
Anything That's Rock and Roll was a minor hit in England. And why not? It's like an Americanized Bay City Rollers or The Sweet.
And I've gotta say, that little backup on American Girl "Make it last all night" has Cheap Trick written all over it.

The record gets a little too Power Poppy for my taste around the middle, and really grinds down to a crawl around Mystery Men & Luna, but at 30 minutes, it really doesn't over stay it's welcome.

Grade A-
A Side: Breakdown, American Girl
BlindSide: Rockin' Around with You,
DownSide: Fooled Again (I Don't Like It) ed.note: I'll say.