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]
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.
This is an RSD 2016 release that was limited to 7500 copies. From the sticker: Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers Live 2013; Deep Tracks, Hits and Handpicked Covers.
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]
"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:
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.
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.
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.
I think every musical artist has considered the problems of following up a great record. How do you top or match a really fine LP? In this case, if you are the critic at Allmusic, you just pretend that Petty failed. But, that is selling this record short. Jeff Lynne came back to lend a hand and the results are really good, but perhaps not as good as FMF. Into the Great Wide Open is one of my favourite Petty tunes. I love Learning to Fly. Two Gunslingers is great too, as is The Dark of the Sun, All or Nothin', etc.
Among the long list of people Petty thanks, is--first and foremost--God. Really? Why include a thanks to a fictitious supernatural agent? People are so gullible.
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.
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.
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?
In that epic four-hour documentary about Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers (Runnin' Down a Dream, directed by Peter Bogdanovich), Tom referred to this record as a "tread-water album." In the same segment, Jimmy Iovine said: "After three records, your should shoot your producer." I think both statements are fair. This record is largely a step backwards, apart from You Got Lucky, and a couple of other tracks.
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.
If I had to make a list of top ten pure rock records (discounting new wave, goth, blues, etc.), this record would have to be on it. I think it's easy to underestimate the record today, but when it come out it was new, vibrant, dynamic, and different. The sound alone is amazing. I find it amusing that there were wome people who thought that Tom was a new wave guy.
My sister bought a copy of this record soon after it came out, and I remember sitting in her room listening to it on her crappy stereo system. Even then, I admit that it sounded good. This record had quite the impact, I have to think, even if you are sick of the tunes from so much overplay. Oddly, I disconnected with Tom after this record for ages.
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.
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).
