Tag Archives: Tom Petty

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Song of the Day #1,211: ‘To Find a Friend’ – Tom Petty

Three years after Into the Great Wide Open, Tom Petty shifted gears away from the Jeff Lynne-influenced work of his last two successful albums. 1994’s Wildflowers, produced by Rick Rubin, was Petty’s second solo album (though once again all of The Heartbreakers played on it).

It’s also arguably the best thing Petty has ever recorded. Sprawling and alternately beautiful and grungy, Wildflowers is the most mature and rich Petty album. Damn the Torpedoes, Full Moon Fever and this record form my Tom Petty Holy Trinity.

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Song of the Day #1,209: ‘Zombie Zoo’ – Tom Petty

Two years after releasing his most obscure album, Tom Petty would return with his most popular. But first he took an interesting detour.

In 1998, Petty stumbled onto a recording session with Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne, George Harrison and Bob Dylan. Harrison had left a guitar at Petty’s house and Petty accompanied him back to Dylan’s home studio after handing it over. The four men were laying down a track for the B-side of Harrison’s next single. They invited Petty to join.

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Song of the Day #966: ‘Yer So Bad’ – Tom Petty

Tom Petty’s 1989 Full Moon Fever was his first solo album and remains his one truly flawless effort. He has put out wonderful albums both on his own and with The Heartbreakers (Wildflowers and Southern Accents are particular favorites) but nothing quite as consistent and immediate as this one.

Full Moon Fever is like the Thriller of southern rock. It’s packed with hits (five of its singles reached Billboard’s top five, including three straight number ones), one hook-laden track flowing into the next for 43 minutes of pure bliss. Not only doesn’t it have a weak song, it doesn’t have a weak moment.

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Song of the Day #638: ‘Flirting with Time’ – Tom Petty

I should do a Tom Petty theme week one of these days. He’s written some incredible music during a career that’s spanned four decades, making him more than worthy of the spotlight. But today I’m focusing on a Petty song from his most recent album in order to tell a tale of an encounter in a far off land.

OK, it wasn’t that far off a land… it was Chicago. Alex and I were there for a wedding, enjoying a weekend away from the kids. Whenever I’m in a new city, I always make a point of tracking down the best record stores I can find, whether they’re local and eclectic (like Amoeba Records in San Francisco) or big chains. On this trip, I found myself in a Virgin Megastore downtown (or maybe it was Tower Records… either way, it’s probably closed down by now).

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Song of the Day #445: ‘The Apartment Song’ – Tom Petty

fullmoonfeverHave you ever heard somebody describe a dream or aspiration and liked it so much that you adopted it as your own?

I don’t mean something broad and obvious like “I want to travel the world” but something specific and tangible like “I want to see the Taj Mahal at sunset.” The image clicks with you and suddenly, yeah, you want to see the Taj Mahal at sunset, too.

So what does this have to do with Tom Petty?

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