A One-Paragraph Review of Every Tom Petty (and the Heartbreakers) album

This is the latest in a series of listening experiments where I listen to an artist’s catalog in chronological order within a week (or sometimes much less). I’ve already written about the catalogs of David Bowie, Queen, the Beastie Boys, Leonard Cohen, and Pearl Jam. I hope you enjoy.

I wrote in this in the summer of 2017 but didn’t publish it until today, October 2, 2017, shortly after Tom Petty’s passing.

During the end of the ’80s when most other elementary school boys were thinking about Michael Jordan, Wrestlemania and Indiana Jones, I was concerned with the Traveling Wilburys. How in the world did this young whippersnapper named Tom Petty get to join the ranks of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Roy Orbison and ELO’s Jeff Lynne. This wet-behind-the-ears kid hadn’t earned his stripes yet. I was nine going on 90.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers have become such staples of rock radio that it’s hard to hear these songs with fresh ears. As an ’80s kid and a ’90s teen, they were inescapable. For better or worse, Tom Petty became the epitome of a dying staple of modern music — the aggrieved white man with a guitar. They’re both a towering, iconic band and one that felt prematurely dated.

So let’s separate myth from reality. It’s listen to these as simple songs, not hits you’ve heard at every summer barbeque you’ve ever attended. Let’s see who this band really was.

And away we go …

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (1976) — A pretty lopsided debut that relies more on attitude than quality. Released the same year as The Ramones’ debut, but — whereas the Ramones used something old to create something entirely new — Petty and his Heartbreakers spends more time looking backward than forward.

Favorite Song: “American Girl” — Forty years of classic rock radio have made it easy to forget how great this song is.

You’re Gonna Get It! (1978) — Much like its predecessor, You’re Gonna Get It! is an ocassionally dull, ocassionally brilliant collection of rollocking, jangly, punch rock and roll tunes. Much of it is fine, but their potential really comes through on songs like “Listen to Her Heart” show the Petty has more potential as a songwriter than he’s shown thus far.

Favorite Song: “Baby’s a Rock ’N’ Roller” — For the second album in a row, they save the best for last.

Damn the Torpedoes (1979) — The breakthrough album. This is a clear progression from the first two. They aren’t doing much new; they’re just doing it better. They finally sound like a (then) modern band instead of a band a really good Byrds cover band. It’s wall to wall hits, but many of the non-hits really spark (see: “What Are You Doing To My Life?”, “Century City”).

Favorite Song: “Here Comes My Girl” — A mellower tune, but their lushest, most beautiful song to date.

Hard Promises (1981) — There are fewer hits, and the band is settling into a slightly mellower, more developed sound. It’s a little more melancholy, grown up album. The band wrote and recorded two songs with Stevie Nicks in 1981. They got the raw end of the deal. The terrific “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” is on Nick’s Bella Donna, and the forgettable “Insider” in on Hard Promises.

Favorite Song: tie — “The Criminal Kind” and “The Waiting”

Long After Dark (1982) — The band feels a bit stale. Other than the vocal harmonies of new bass player Howie Epstein, there’s nothing really new. They’re using super ’80s synthesizers now. Bleh.

Favorite Song: “Change of Heart”

Southern Accents (1985) — Initially envisioned as a concept album about the modern South, that concept is essentially limited to just a few songs. I wish they’d actually made that album, because the band does the rootsy, “heartland rock” sound really well on songs like the title track. It’s all over the place, and most of those places are not very good. The band is finally willing to take some risks.

Favorite Song: “Don’t Come Around Here No More”

Let Me Up (I‘ve Had Enough) (1987) — Dragged down by cliched ’80s production and uninspired songwriting, this simply isn’t a good album. It’s just tired. It’s a shame that the superb, dulcimer-driven “It’ll All Work Out” and the stomping “How Many More Days” are on such a weak album. Let me up. I’ve had enough.

Favorite Song: “It’ll All Work Out”

Full Moon Fever (1989) — The first Tom Petty solo album (even though all of the Heartbreaks except for Stan Lynch play on it). Produced by Jeff Lynne, it’s a slicker, more polished sound. The edges have been sanded down, but it’s a really terrifically crafted rock record. It has some of Petty’s biggest hits (“Free Fallin’, “I Won’t Back Down”, “Runnin’ Down a Dream”), but there’s also some killer stuff among the lesser known songs (“Love Is A Long Road,” “A Face In The Crowd”, “A Mind With A Heart Of Its Own”, “Zombie Zoo”). If taking a break from the Heartbreakers was what he needed to get his mojo back, it was worth it.

During this time, Heartbreaker drummer Stan Lynch was either fired or quit (depending on whose story you believe) the band and was replaced by current drummer Steve Ferrone.

Favorite Song: “Runnin’ Down a Dream”

Into the Great Wide Open (1991) — Reunited with the Heartbreakers, Petty bring some of Full Moon Fever’s lush production but with a bit of Heartbreaker aggression. It peaks at the beginning with “Learning to Fly” and gradually devolves from there. “Two Gunslingers” is one of the great unheralded Tom Petty songs. The album as a whole is fine. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Favorite Song: “Learning to Fly”

During the cleverly named “Touring the Great Wide Open” tour, Scott Thurston joined the band as a touring guitarist. He eventually became a full-fledged Heartbreaker and remains one today.

Wildflowers (1994) — This has been my favorite album of his. Produced by Rick Rubin, it’s rawer and more organic than previous records. While it’s mostly a quieter and more introspective album, its loud and raucous moments (“Honey Bee”, “You Wreck Me”) will make your hair stand up on end.

Favorite Song: “Wildflowers”

Songs and Music from the Motion Picture “She’s The One” (1994) — A forgotten album of songs from a forgotten film. This album is more relaxed and easy effort. Although frequently dismissed by Petty as a disjointed collection of Wildflowers-session rejects, it’s a really enjoyable album. “Walls (Circus)” was a reasonably successful but now obscure single. A loose, singable Beatlesque tune that features Lindsey Buckingham wailing along in the background, it alone is worth the price of admission.

Favorite Song: “Walls — Circus”

Echo (1999) — Nearly a quarter century after the release of their debut, they’re clearly moving into their “legacy rocker” era. Nevertheless, it’s a deeply personal, angry, regret-filled and ultimately devastating album that deals with the collapse of Petty’s 22-year-career. I wasn’t familiar with Echo, but I really like it.

Favorite Song: “Free Girl Now”

“Echo” is also the last album to include Howie Epstein, the Heartbreaker’s bass player since 1982, who quietly left the group in 2002 as a result of his worsening health and drug addiction. He was replaced by … wait for it … Ron Blair, the Heartbreaker’s first bass player. Epstein died in 2003.

The Last DJ (2002) — Tom Petty spent much of his career fighting the corporate forces behind the music business, and all of that comes to a head on this preachy concept album. It’s terrible and embarrassing. Simply put, the songs aren’t good, and listening to a middle-age multi-millionaire complain about greed and being taken financial abused elicits little sympathy.

Favorite Song: “Have Love, Will Travel”

Highway Companion (2006) — The third and final (so far) solo album from Tom Petty and his first collaboration with Jeff Lynne since Into the Great Wide Open. I’m pretty sure that I just listened to this album. I think it was pretty decent. Clearly, it was a distinct and memorable experience.

Favorite Song: “Saving Grace” — I hate to name the hit, but it’s true.

Mojo (2010) — A group of 60-year-old white dudes make a blues album. Pass.

Favorite Song: “The Trip to Pirate’s Cove”

Hypnotic Eye (2014) — For a group of senior citizens, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers are still a tight, rock-solid band. Your dad probably thinks that Hypnotic Eye rocks really hard.

Favorite Song: “U Get Me High”

Final Analysis

• Most Essential: Wildflowers (The popular answer is Damn the Torpedoes. The correct answer is Wildflowers.)
• Least Essential: The Last DJ
• Overlooked Gem (Album): Echo
• Overlooked Gems (Songs): “Walls — Circus”, “Baby’s A Rock ’N’ Roller”, “It’ll All Work Out”, “A Face in the Crowd”, “Zombie Zoo”, “Honey Bee”, “Room at the Top”
• Best Moment: Opening Into the Great Wide Open with the full, gripping intro of “Learning to Fly” is a hell of a way to get your attention. (A close second is 2:04 into Wildflower’s “Honey Bee”, when Petty instructs his band to “buzz awhile” while they return to the nastiest groove in Heartbreaker history.)

Catalog Observations

• The music of Tom Petty & Heartbreakers is surprisingly uplifting. These are songs about reliance, overcoming adversity and optimism. Look at songs like “I Won’t Back Down”, “King’s Highway”, “Two Gunslingers”, “Even the Losers” and “Wildflowers” all fit into this.
• Let’s be honest: This is a pretty monotonous catalog. This band does what they do really well, and they don’t really deviate from that very much. Also, what they do isn’t particularly unique. I could have saved everyone a lot time by just writing: Every album: This sounds exactly like what you expect a Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers album to sound like. You know, a tight bar band with a nasally singer who listens to too much of the Byrds, the Stones, and Gram Parsons.
• A very important part of the Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers catalog is missing here: “Mary Jane’s Last Dance”. Along with a cover of Thunderclap Newman’s “Something In the Air”, it was included a one of two newly recorded songs on Petty’s first greatest hits album in 1993. As a teenager in the Hoosier State, I heard this omnipresent, monster hit about “them Indiana girls on them Indiana nights” was a million times. Despite being overplayed for 24 years, it’s still a great song. It’s sinister and cool with an underlying sadness.
• Tom Petty seems like a pretty insufferable guy. As I mentioned with The Last DJ, he was always fighting somebody. Sometimes it was because it was an artist with steadfast principles. Sometimes it was because he was a stubborn and self-aggrandizing asshole. Then again, most of his bandmates have stood by him for more than 40 years.
• Rock and roll heroes love Tom Petty. Not only was a member of the Traveling Wilbury’s, but the following people have all appeared on his albums: George Harrison (The Beatles), Ringo Starr (The Beatles), Lindsey Buckingham (Fleetwood Mac), Stevie Nicks (Fleetwood Mac), Carl Wilson (The Beach Boys), Roger McGuinn (The Byrds), Jeff Lynne (ELO), Garth Hudson (The Band), Richard Manuel (The Band), Robbie Robertson (The Band), Dave Grohl (Nirvana/Foo Fighters) Dave Stewart (The Eurythmics), and Del Shannon. They also toured as Bob Dylan’s backing band.
• Tom Petty and my dad are the same age. That’s all.