The random music selector in my car has been on a Tom Petty kick lately. Lots of tracks from Wildflowers, Damn the Torpedoes, Hypnotic Eye, even Traveling Wilburys.
No matter what Petty song it serves up, I’m never tempted to hit the skip button. There’s just something about his music — or at least the music of his that I own — that makes it perfect for any situation.
One of the pleasures of the Traveling Wilburys was hearing the different combinations of lead and supporting singers on each of the tracks.
On ‘Last Night,’ it’s Tom Petty taking the lead vocals and Roy Orbison dropping in elegantly on selected verses. A great match. I also love the lyrics, which describe a one night stand that turns into a mugging at knifepoint.
‘The Best of Everything’ is the final track on Tom Petty’s excellent 1985 album, Southern Accents.
Having always been a huge fan of this album, I was surprised to see that it received generally tepid critical reviews. Individual tracks receive high marks (‘Rebels,’ ‘Don’t Come Around Here No More’ and the title track, specifically) but the album as a whole was dismissed as an uneven hodgepodge.
If rock-and-roll is essentially dead, replaced by the dominance of pop, hip-hop and alternative, nobody told Tom Petty.
On Hypnotic Eye, his best album since Wildflowers (and that’s paying full respect to such great records as Highway Companion and Mojo), he unleashes monster guitar riffs and sticky melodies just like in the good old days.
When it comes to old school guitar-driven rock-n-roll, you can’t get much better than Tom Petty. Through 38 years and 16 albums, he has delivered the goods consistently and expertly.
His latest record, Hypnotic Eye, is performed (as all but three of his albums have been) with The Heartbreakers, and the band’s familiarity with each other and the material shines through on every track. This is as beautifully seasoned as a rock band gets.
