Tom Petty

[TLF18]

the only TP thread i found was really old, and mostly about him playing the Super Bowl.

 

yesterday was Tom Petty's birthday.... here's a piece i did, looking at his unique career:

 

http://bumslogic.wordpress.com/2011/07/13/the-curious-case-of-thomas-earl-petty/

 

btw, his HIGHWAY COMPANION album is stellar, a severely underrated late-career gem. (Mojo is good too)

[Rusty Shackleford]

I've liked Tom Petty ever since he became a recurring character ("Lucky") on King of the Hill.

 

I'd never really been into him other than hearing his stuff on the radio, but I picked up his live anthology a few months back because it had a ton of songs for not much money.

 

I highly recommend it--the songs sound terrific live and most of the hits are on there, along with a bunch of other stuff that didn't make it to radio.

[howdjadoo]

Saw TP opening for the Kinks in the mid seventies,was hooked for the first say 5 albums,Lost interest maybye because his nasal voice but then with his"Live Anthology" 5 cd box I'm back on track again."Mojo Tour 2010" is also still in heavy rotation.

[suites]

Love Petty and definite HOFer but I have to say his live show has been pretty boring the last few times I saw him. No variety and short sets. If he played some of his deep cuts and played an actual encore (not just American Girl and Running Down a Dream) that would be cool. Just seems like he hits cruise control and that is it.

[-seven]

Tom Petty was my first musical love

[auctioneer69]

"The Running Down A Dream" documentary might be the best music bio I have ever seen. Really interesting and devoid of all the usual cliches. When I got the netflix envelope with two DVD's totaling 4 hrs I thought I'd never get through it. It flew by.

 

"You're Gonna Get It" is my favourite Petty album. Not an ounce of flab on any of the songs.

[nalafej]

Love Petty. Love him. Mojo is just terrible though. He has been good in the last ten years though - highway companion is awesome as is the mudcrutch album.

[Shug]

I've been seeing Petty & Heartbreakers live since the mid 80s and I will always hold the music from their prime in high regard. While the band seems to be playing better and better with more of a "live" sound in the studio, I think the songwriting has gotten noticeable weaker in the past ten years. Especially on Mojo (and the Mudcrutch record), most of the new songs were built around studio jams and finished very quickly, not crafted and fine tuned as Petty used to do. Petty is an incredibly great songwriter and I hate to see the inspiration to write great songs seem to fade away. But then I remember the excellent and simply beautiful ballad No Reason To Cry from the Mojo record. What a standout track and its a damn shame that it'll be forgotten so quickly. Its screaming to be covered by one of those female country superstars. I think it'd put Petty back on the radar of a huge swath of mainstream music listeners yet again (not sure that's a good thing for us hard core fans, but he sure deserves the accolades it'd bring).

 

Here's a review I wrote of the show I saw on the Mojo tour.

http://sugartown-shu...ke-me-as-i.html

 

My favorite Petty studio albums:

 

Hard Promises

Damn the Torpedos

Wildflowers

Long After Dark

Echo

 

My least favorite Petty studio albums:

 

Highway Companion

The Last DJ

Mojo

[AZTOMR]

I love Tom Pettys music. I was lucky enough to see Bob Dylan with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers when they toured together in the 80s. It was incredible. I agree that his more recent stuff isn't up to par with his earlier stuff, but its better than most of the ohter crap out there.

[HungryHippo]

Tom Petty is one of my top 5 favorite musicians of all time. Full Moon Fever, Wildflowers, Highway Companion and Into the Great Wide Open are my fav albums. The guy's got a pretty big catalog that I need to spend some time with.

[stooka]

A legend! I prefer his first two records over anything that came later on, but still one of the best around.

 

.... and how about Mike Campbell? That guy really deserves a lot of credit for Tom's success.

[Autumnteeth]

When Damn the Torpedoes came out I thought he was the future of music. He never let me down. You think about all of the crap that came out from other artists in the interim and it is amazing that he is still doing his own thing on his time.

[howdjadoo]

While browsing a TP fansite I saw this:

 

 

 

 

[Oil Can Boyd]

I was lucky enough to see Bob Dylan with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers when they toured together in the 80s.

I saw that tour too. I was a huge Dylan fan (still am) and it was my first time seeing him. I was really disappointed in Dylan but thought Petty and his band were great.

[Analogman]

Tom Petty Talks New Album, Tour, Sandwiches, in Twitter Q&A

 

There were a few modest news flashes from Tom Petty during a Q&A session on his official Twitter page (@tompetty) on Thursday.

 

Petty told Billboard.com that a new album is planned "but too soon to know details. it`s early days." He did, however, tell a fan asking about his remaining ambitions that he "should make another great album."

 

An expanded edition of his 1994 solo album "Wildflowers," with other songs recorded during the sessions has "been recently discussed. i'd say a good chance" of release.

 

There will be a seventh season of his "Tom Petty`s Buried Treasure Radio Show" on SiriusXM. And there will "definitely" be more activity for his band Mudcrutch -- "maybe even next year" -- and "absolutely" some Blu-ray releases of his albums.

 

"I believe it's the future," he tweeted.

 

And his favorite sandwich is peanut butter and jelly.

 

In all Petty spent 90 minutes answering tweets from fans and reporters, though he wrote at one point that he found the short-answer format "very frustrating" and noted that there was "not enough space to answer" an inquiry about how he compiles a set list. Petty also described social media as the "end of the world. everybody has their head up their own ass. thinking their every breath is important." But he did indicate that he'd be tweeting more in the future.

 

One of the participants tweeted on their own page during the session that, "god, so many of tom petty's answers are so half-assed. i love it."

 

Petty and the Heartbreakers have announced a batch of tour dates for 2012, with nine U.S. shows beginning April 19 in Denver and including an April 28 stop at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. The group will play St. John's, Newfoundland on June 3, followed by Halifax, Nova Scotia, then begin its first European trek in 20 years on June 7 in Dublin, Ireland, with a June 22 headlining date at the Isle of Wight Festival in the U.K., where he promised one fan he'd play the song "Learning To Fly." He also promised to bring a diverse setlist to the tour.

 

Petty was asked about playing in other territories, such as Australia and Mexico, and tweeted that "we only work three months every two years. we've decided this year 2 focus on europe, maybe down the road aus." As for more U.K. dates he responded "maybe, I hope so," but he didn't answer inquiries about more North American shows.

 

A few other notes from the session: the most talented musician alive today is "either jj cale or regina spektor;" "melissa etheridge doing refugee was the best (cover) i've ever heard); and that he truly has never seen Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell in a pair of shorts ("...and i hope i never do").

 

Petty signed off by tweeting "thanks everyone. dropped my phone. gotta go."

[KramkonG]

Really looking forward to that extended Wallflowers release. One of my all-time favorite albums that can be played front-to-back without skipping a beat. I remember being unable to attend that tour because my parents didn't think I was ready for concerts as a 7th grader...but the next year I was at Aerosmith drinking beer with my older brothers...pssh...

[Analogman]

I agree - as that is one of his best albums.

[Shug]

She's The One soundtrack, which was the first project after Wildflowers, also has some great Wildflowers leftovers on it. Hung Up and Overdue is a killer song, gloriously weary but determined to not give up, in the vein of Wake Up Time and Crawling Back To You. Supernatural Radio is kinda like Its Good To Be King. Overall its not the strongest album, but it probably deserves more attention than it gets. Its got Walls and Angel Dream on it, both of which could easily have been radio-played hit singles. Its also got more bitter break up songs (Asshole, a Beck cover, and Hope You Never). Its got rockers like Climb That Hill and Change The Locks, too. Fans of Wildflowers should probably give it another listen if they haven't in awhile.

[Analogman]

I rather like that album also. I bought it when it came out.

[KramkonG]

I agree, She's The One has some great tracks, too. Even "Echo" echoes Wildflowers a bit...

[choo-choo-charlie]

Wildflowers was the 2nd CD I ever owned. Still love it, probably more than any other Tom Petty album. I think I remember reading somewhere that Rick Rubin uses the album as his "test disc" whenever he installs a new soundsystem in his home.

[Analogman]

It's also good to hear there may be another Mudcrutch album. I liked that album a lot more than the his last solo album, or the last Heartbreakers album.

[howdjadoo]

[Vacant Horizon]

he's definitely one of the few artists that has not had any big mis-steps over decades with drastically different production values. not to mention the dude can write a tight rock single every time out. mojo was a bit too long, but still had some great songs on it. highway companion is also just a tight easy album to listen to.

 

i didn't notice anything about mudcrutch on that twitter report.

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

he's definitely one of the few artists that has not had any big mis-steps over decades with drastically different production values. not to mention the dude can write a tight rock single every time out. mojo was a bit too long, but still had some great songs on it. highway companion is also just a tight easy album to listen to.

 

i didn't notice anything about mudcrutch on that twitter report.

 

I have some people say SOUTHERN ACCENTS was a miss, but I personally agree with you.

Tom Petty is so consistently good that he often gets overlooked. That, and his everyman nature keeps him a bit under the radar.

I think his battle to keep HARD PROMISES from being overpriced, the battle over the masters for DAMN THE TORPEDOES, and his combative relationship with the Brit Press in the beginning years may have led to the record industry not fully getting behind him as much as he deserved at important times.