Watch The Tom Petty Movie
Tom Petty was one of the finest non-political songwriting soul-singers of this era. He passed away late-2017 and it is probably the only ‘famous’ person death which actually touched me. A great friend introduced me to him when I was 14, around the release of Full Moon Fever, produced by Jeff Lynne. I drank it like a shark’s forward momentum.
A couple of years later I gulped down Into The Great Wide Open and became addicted to Mr Petty.
I was never really a fan of ‘rock’; one of my brothers used to play Alice Cooper’s School’s Out and some Megadeath (must have been Killing Is My Business) a few years prior and I didn’t really connect with it. It sounded angry and confused, nothing I could relate to at 13 years old. And we didn’t really cover any of that stuff in the silver band.
Full Moon Fever and Into The Great Wide Open are full to the brim with about-a-million 12-string guitars playing at the same time, glorious harmonies reminiscent of The Hollies and The Byrds, and some of the most efficient songwriting I’d ever heard. Yes efficient is an odd word to use here, but that’s what I mean. There was never any ‘flab’ on any of these songs. No unnecessary instrument layers, no extraneous breaks or solos, just some of the finest songwriting, arrangement and production to grace my tape cassette machine.
The Heartbreakers, from what we’re told, weren’t all that happy with the way Jeff worked. Jeff’s a multi-instrumentalist songwriter/producer, and that’s what he’s done is whole life; write a song, sing and play all the parts! This didn’t give the rest of the band many opportunities to be involved in those two albums. And as great as Jeff is, The Heartbreakers were a band, and Jeff was writing an album with Tom.
Looking through the credits on the Jeff Lynne albums, Full Moon Fever and was mostly performed by Tom, written by Tom and Jeff, and mixed by them and Mike Campbell (Heartbreaker’s guitarist), and Into The Great Wide Open is all performed by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, written by Tom and Jeff and produced by the same three. So, the band did get a little look-in on Into The Great Wide Open, but not enough.
Wildflowers did give them back their band. Rick Rubin produced them, and music production isn’t just sitting in a studio writing bass lines and lyrics; it’s helping the artist find their voice. A good producer understand the artist’s role and knows how to give them (singular or plural) the best opportunity to write and perform to their best. And Rick understands, and delivers, that.
Tom had said that he believed Wildflowers to be his best work, and as much as I love the perfection and efficiency of Jeff’s productions, Tom is able to present the human soul to us in way few can. I’m sure my Great Uncle Kitt would argue that Bob Dylan could, but I respectfully disagree, with a smile.
I bought 2 copies of the album when it was released, one for me and one for my mother. I think she liked it. I performed the title track at her service some years ago and, honestly, I’ve never been more choked up; have a listen to the lyrics and you’ll understand why.
So, I recommend you do 2 things this evening after your hard day’s graft.
Listen to the Wildflowers album on Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music,
Watch the movie “Tom Petty: Somewhere You Feel Free - The Making Of Wildflowers” - it’s free
You’ll be tested on this at the end of the month.