Tom Petty: Finding Wildflowers (Alternate Versions) (2021)

 

From Petty's website:

The tracks, which were previously released on the limited-edition Super Deluxe 9-LP and 5 CD formats of 2020’s Wildflowers & All The Rest, will now be available on limited edition gold vinyl (exclusive for TomPetty.com and indie retail) for the first time.

Finding Wildflowers (Alternate Versions) features 16 studio recordings of alternate takes, long cuts and jam versions of Wildflowers songs as Tom, band members and co-producer Rick Rubin worked to finalize the album in 1994. The release offers fans further deep access into the writing and recording of Wildflowers, as well as realizing the full vision of the project as Tom had always intended.

The collection was produced by Tom’s longtime engineer and co-producer Ryan Ulyate who listened to 245 reels of 24-track tape, revealing Tom and his collaborators’ evolutionary process and finding the group willing to do whatever it took to discover the essence and magic in the material.

Notes from Discogs and hype sticker:

Limited edition gold vinyl initially released as an exclusive to indie retail and artist web store.

Issued in non-gatefold jacket with four-page folded insert with artwork, notes and credits.

Wildflowers Alternate Versions 16 Songs on 2 LPs
Studio Outtakes from the Original Recording Sessions (1992-1994)

Recording details from insert:
A1, B2: Previously unreleased recording - December 3, 1992
A2: Previously unreleased recording - January 25, 1993
A3: Previously unreleased recording - July 27, 1993
A4, C2: Previously unreleased recording - July 28, 1993
B1: Released as the B-side on "A Higher Place" and Wildflowers EPK
B3, B4: Previously unreleased recording - July 14, 1994
C1: Previously unreleased recording - August 11, 1992
C3: Released as the B-side on "You Don't Know How It Feels"
C4: Released as the B-side on "It's Good To Be King"
D1: Previously unreleased recording - June 3, 1993
D2: Released on An American Treasure (2018) - Different version from Wildflowers original release
D3: Released on An American Treasure (2018) - Different version from Wildflowers original release
D4: Previously unreleased song and recording - August 12, 1992

If you like Wildflowers, this will be interesting collection to hear to have in your collection.

Tom Petty: Wildflowers & All the Rest (2020)

I have a CD copy of the original 1994 release. Good luck trying to find a copy of the original LP. I saw one once in a Toronto record store for $400 a couple of years ago. I wasn't even tempted. There was, evidently, a double LP version released in 2009. I had no idea. Finally, In 2002, we got a bunch of reissues, like a double CD version, a 4 CD version, a 3 LP version, and some boxes with six records (I think). I settled for the triple record version. 

From Wikipedia:

"Petty's original track listing for Wildflowers was a double album with 25 songs and Lenny Waronker of Warner Bros. Records suggested that it was too long. Petty's family and bandmates arranged a 2020 re-release of the album that includes these deleted songs, demos, and live tracks entitled Wildflowers & All the Rest. The super deluxe edition of the box set called "Finding Wildflowers" included a fifth disc of alternate versions of the Wildflowers tracks. In April 2021, "Finding Wildflowers" was released individually." [source]

Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers: The Best Of Everything (2019)

Of course, this is not really Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers, as there are solo tunes here, that horrid song with Stevie Nicks, and two tracks from Mudcrutch. Once again, Discogs needs unified headings. This is a great collection, though. It covers most of the highlights. If you only want the highlight, and that one lowlight, this is the collection to get. It sounds great, too. 

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Hypnotic Eye (2014)

Sadly, this was the final Tom Petty studio album. This is a great record, right form the fist note of the first track. It's too bad that there will never be another Petty record of new material. 

"Ultimately, Hypnotic Eye is a record about the pure joy of sound, a rush that doesn't lessen upon repetition -- a sentiment that's true of those old '60s garage rock singles and early Heartbreakers albums, and this is a surprisingly, satisfyingly vigorous record." [source]

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Mojo (2010)

"Mojo is the 12th studio album by American rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, released on June 15, 2010 on CD and June 29 on Blu-ray. It was Petty's first album with the Heartbreakers in eight years."

    - Wikipedia

This was repressed in 2017, but I have a copy of the original pressing for 2010. Oddly the prices for each are similar. The reviews are all over the place, but I think this is a good record. I mean, it starts with a killer track:

Tom Petty: Highway Companion (2006)

I am the lucky owner of an original pressing from 2006. More than that, I paid $8.00 for a sealed copy! Wow. At the time I picked his up, this record was going for at least $80 to $100 on Discogs, and some were listed at even higher prices. I believe that current prices are similar. In 2017, the record was repressed and that record sells for far less. My copy has a slightly bent corner, from shelf wear, but I am not too upset about that. I really like this record. 

Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers: Echo (1999/2017)

The original LP, released in 1999 is now a pricey record. The record was repressed in 2017, and I picked up a used copy for a good price. Resale prices for the repressing are creeping up. I think this is a pretty good record.

Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers: She's The One - Songs And Music From The Motion Picture (1996/2017)

Though originally released in 1999 the first (and only, so far) vinyl release dropped in 2017. Surprise: I have never seen this film. Walls is likely the track you have heard, if you have heard any tracks from this record. 

Tom Petty: Full Moon Fever (1989)

What! A Tom Petty record without the Heartbreakers? I think I read that some of the Heartbreakers were heartbroken when this happened. Life is full of disappointments.

Full Moon Fever might be Tom's best record. The only song I do not care for is Alright for Now. The rest are all top-shelf tracks, including--arguably--Petty's best song, Free Fallin'. I've never been a big fan of ELO or Jeff Lynne, but this collaboration works amazingly well. Just reflect on what else is on this record: I Won't Back Down, Running Down a Dream, Love is Long Road, Yer So Bad, Feel a Whole Lot Better, etc., etc. It's almost a greatest hits record.

I wasn't really a Tom Petty fan when this record came out. In fact, I had forgotten about him, after having been infatuated with Damn the Torpedoes. After that record, I completely lost track of him. One day, I heard Free Fallin' and I was stopped dead in my tracks. It is one of those songs that just grabbed my attention. As soon as it was over, I wanted to here it again. I went on a quest to reconnect with Petty because I thought Free Fallin' was such a great song. I think that is is one of those songs that everyone who hears it will like, even if you are a classic rock guy, or a country music fan, or even a fan of indie rock. I'd really like to meet someone who does not like that song.

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Let Me Up I’ve Had Enough (1987)

This record sure got mixed reviews. I will say this: the cover is an abomination. It is absolutely horrible. Why this was cover ever allowed to see the light of day is beyond me. I hate to even look at it. It probably induced nightmares in many people. From a post about this record on Discogs:

It’s quite impossible to begin talking about this release without referencing one of the most uncomfortable album covers that ever existed, and then go onto think about the photographer needing to ask each member of the band to scream in front of the camera in order to create this uninspired feature. [source]

Anyway, I don't hate this record, but it is not in the top five. 

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Pack up the Plantation - Live! (1985)

 

This is a double live Tom Petty record that is petty good, though Allmusic awards it a measly 2.5 stars. 

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Make It Better (Forget About Me) (1985)

This 12" single contains two versions of the titular track, those being the Dance Mix and the Instrumental Mix, but here is the album version:

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Southern Accents (1985)

Check this out:

Occasionally, the songs work; "Rebels" and "Spike" are fine rockers, and "Don't Come Around Here No More" and "Make It Better (Forget About Me)" expand the Heartbreakers' sound nicely. But too often, the record is weighed down by its own ambitions. [source]

What does the last sentence mean?

And, then there's this, referenced in Wikipedia: "In the Los Angeles Review of Books, Connor Goodwin said the album is "deeply embedded in nostalgia for the Lost Cause." [source] I have to say that this never occurred to me. Can that really be true? 

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Hard Promises (1981)

Two years after the brilliant Damn the Torpedoes, Petty released this fabulous record. Somehow, I have two copies of this record, one with the lyrics insert and one without. This release is an "MCA Masterphile Series" which was mastered at half-speed.

Some trivia from Wikipedia:

During the recording of the album, John Lennon was scheduled to be in the same studio at the same time. Petty was looking forward to meeting him when he came in. The meeting never occurred, as Lennon was murdered before the date of his planned visit to the studio. Petty and the band paid tribute to the slain former Beatle by etching "WE LOVE YOU J.L." in the runout deadwax on early U.S. and Canadian pressings of Hard Promises. [source]

My copies do not have that dedication in the dead wax.

Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers: You're Gonna Get It! (1978)

The follow up the the debut is pretty good. Songs people might know are Too Much Ain't Enough, Listen to Her Heart, and I Need to Know. The album is deeper than that though, despite the review on Allmusic. I think this is a great record. Sure, it sounds like the first one, but it makes sense as a logical sequel. 

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers (1976)

I sometimes write draft posts in advance, and this is one for which I had jotted some notes down over 4 years ago! And then, we got that awful news that Tom had died, and then that he was still alive, and, finally, that he had slipped away. That was truly devastating news.

Some who know me are often surprised to learn that I like Tom's music. I really do. I think he wrote some solid, honest, and unpretentious rock and roll songs. I could never say enough good things about Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. And, he seemed like a genuinely nice guy. I also admired his fight with the record label over album pricing.

Petty was another emotional death in a long line that includes Lou Reed, David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Prince, Grant Hart, Walter Becker, and John Lennon, a senseless tragedy that still bothers me. I listened to Full Moon Fever after I got the news, and, yes, it made me very sad. There are so many aging rock stars, and I suppose that so many of these heroes of mine will depart over the next few years.

I recommend that everyone watch the four-hour documentary, Running Down a Dream. I would never have believed that a documentary that long would work, but it does.

What I originally wrote here in a draft post, months and months ago, was: I didn't know anything about Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers until I heard Damn the Torpedoes, a record my sister bought when it came out. I had to go backwards to find out what I had missed. I'd call it honest rock and roll, though some call it music of the heartland. I guess many would place Petty in the same crowd as Springsteen, Seeger, and maybe even John Mellencamp, although I think he is far better than Seger and Mellencamp. 

I find it interesting that the band was initially far bigger in the UK than in the US. I guess the same thing happened with Cheap Trick, who were huge in Japan before getting any recognition in the US. This record contains a bunch of great songs, like American Girl, Breakdown, Hometown Blues, Strangered in the Night, etc. It's great. I have a Canadian pressing (and a copy on CD).

Overrated, part 8 of 10

(see: parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7)

I thought about including Meatloaf on this list, but I changed my mind. You know, Marvin is a pretty good actor, so I couldn't do it, even though I hate all of his music passionately. I can see through that and understand the attraction. He's like a one man quasi-opera for poor folk, peons, plebeians, and the proletariat. As an youngish boy, I thought that there was something to Paradise by the Dashboard Lights and I related to that. So, the adolescent boy in me kept him off the list. Besides, no one could describe his music as boring, which segues nicely into number 3.

3) The Eagles - Yawn. They remind me of certain words, like:

dull (dŭl)
adj., dull·er, dull·est.

1. Intellectually weak or obtuse; stupid.
2. Lacking responsiveness or alertness; insensitive.
3. Dispirited; depressed.
4. Not brisk or rapid; sluggish: Business is dull.
5. Not having a sharp edge or point; blunt: a dull knife.
6. Not intensely or keenly felt: a dull ache.
7. Arousing no interest or curiosity; boring: a dull play.
8. Not bright or vivid. Used of a color: a dull brown.
9. Cloudy or overcast: a dull sky.
10. Not clear or resonant: a dull thud.

SYNONYMS colorless, drab, humdrum, lackluster, pedestrian, stodgy, uninspired.

bor·ing (bôr'ĭng, bōr'-)
adj.

Uninteresting and tiresome; dull.

SYNONYMS monotonous, tedious, irksome, tiresome, humdrum.

Listening to the Eagles is about as interesting as watching paint dry. Writing about the Eagles is like writing about paint drying. I'd rather listen to white noise; I'd rather write about dandruff. But, I will do my duty and finish this post. Can any musician or group of musicians be more boring than the Eagles? I think not. Nothing comes close. Well, there is Barry Manilow.

When the Eagles broke up in 1980, I just said thank the lord! Thank the lord that we don't have to have any more dreck like The Long Run thrown at us. Just how in hell does a ridiculous song like Heartache Tonight make it to number 1 on the charts? It's only marginally better than I Love a Rainy Night. For some reason, these songs remind me of each other. It's probably the pedestrian melodies and the stupid lyrics, like:

We can beat around the bushes;
we can get down to the bone
We can leave it in the parkin' lot,
but either way, there's gonna be a
heartache tonight, a heartache tonight I know.

Imagine rhyming 'bone' with 'gonna'. It sounds clunky to me.

Apparently, Don Henley once dated Stevie Nicks. Why would anyone date Stevie Nicks? That's reason enough not to like the Eagles. Henley and Nicks even recorded a song together. I decided to listen to Leather and Lace so that I could give you an informed opinion of it. That song is going to give me nightmares. You can listen here, but be careful for it could really inflict some serious damage on your ears. The Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks duet is only marginally better. I have some respect for Tom, and I was really upset when that dud of a song came out.

Hey, I have rewritten the first verse of Desperado:

Dear Eagles, why don't you come to your senses
you're a washed up old band with nothing to say
Oh you're a lost bunch
I know that you've got your reasons
Money and fame that are pleasin' you
You want your pay day

Not bad, huh? I did the last verse too:

Dear Eagles, you need to come to your senses?
Come down from your stages, burn your music
Why don't you go away?, your last album really sucked
It may be rainin', but there's no rainbow above you
It's the best to do thing before you really lose it

I planned to do the whole song, but the tune of Desperado got stuck in my head and it was driving me mad. Is it just me, or was the last part of the preceding sentence also to the tune of Desperado? Maybe I am imagining it. That song is infectious, but not in a good way. It's more like a virulent white plague. Hang on while I put on some good music to flush out the Eagles.... Ah, that's better.

My sister is a big Eagles fan, along with classic bands like Heart, Styx, Trooper, Journey, etc. I once said I didn't like the Eagles and I think she must have thought I meant the Philadelphia Eagles, which was a reasonable enough assumption, I suppose. She wondered aloud, "who doesn't like Hotel California?" Me, that's who. That song is idiotic. I am aware of the band's interpretation of the song, and I guess I can see where they are coming from, but it seems like the quintessential example of a drug-induced song that completely fails to hold my interest, which is strange because I am all for drug-induced music.

This is better:



Hell would have to freeze over before I will ever be an Eagles fan.
I am off now to have my other retinal tear lasered. Later.

See: part 9