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Post by kds on Oct 1, 2020 20:10:26 GMT
I think the two new tracks from Greatest Hits (1993) are worth mentioning at this point.
Usually, new studio tracks tacked on to compilations or live albums are decent at best, utterly forgettable at worst. Petty, however, delivers a rare time when a new track is actually worthy of being on a greatest hits comp with Mary Jane's Last Dance. The track became a worthy Petty classic, and was a smash hit in late 1993. This shows that, unlike some of his peers, Petty never really had an issue competing with the alternative / grunge scene that was starting to dominate the rock landscape.
The cover of Something In the Air feels more like usual compilation filler, but it's still a very good cover.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 1, 2020 20:21:14 GMT
I think the two new tracks from Greatest Hits (1993) are worth mentioning at this point. Oooh, good point! I wasn't going to do live or GH stuff, but since there are some new tracks, those warrant a listen. Doing that now and will comment before I post on Wildflowers. Obviously I know "Last Dance..." because I wasn't living under a rock in the early 90s. Never loved it, but I enjoy it more now than I did then.
And your point about Petty never really falling into the grunge trip is valid ... though didn't most legacy artists of his age also stay out of it? It feels to me that was more the next generation's bands--the people who really just started coming up in the 80s--who thought they had to hop on. I mean, think of his approximate contemporaries: Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel ... those people weren't exactly growing goatees and putting on flannels either. (OK actually Bruce probably wore flannel. But he'd always worn denim and flannel.)
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 1, 2020 20:27:26 GMT
OK, for a couple of add-ons to a GH package, those are pretty good. (I mean, compare them to KISS's "Let's Put the X in Sex" and "You Make Me Rock Hard"... Or don't. Don't even think about those. Those were trash. "Last Dance" probably would have been on a GH comp as a "greatest hit" if it hadn't been saved specifically for one. That's pretty damn rare.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 1, 2020 21:03:56 GMT
OK, I now can say that I liked Wildflowers ... but it's bloated and would be better if it were shorter. Unless those other songs on the new box are better than 1/3 of the ones on this album, it makes sense that they were held unreleased.
Rating it is hard because the good is very good. I enjoy the general sound. I like several of these songs. Cool feel throughout a lot of it. But if Into the Great... was samey for me, this is even more so, and as B.E. said, the songs are getting longer, too. An edited version would be just about on par with the two best albums; instead this is in the territory of--maybe slightly below--its predecessor.
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Post by B.E. on Oct 1, 2020 21:49:57 GMT
Here's the chart positions for the songs on Greatest Hits. "Anything That's Rock 'n' Roll" was included on the UK version, as it was a minor hit there (#36). The 2008 reissue replaced "Something In The Air" with the Stevie Nicks collaboration "Stop Dragging My Heart Around" (#3). Overall, it's a terrific compilation. It's also in chronological order, so the flow is fine. In addition to the rarity of including a new, hit song in "Mary Jane's Last Dance", how strange is it that his signature song, "American Girl", didn't chart until it was reissued along with this compilation? And even then only hit #109! The only non-single was "Even The Losers" but it's hard to argue that inclusion. I think including "Something In The Air" was a mistake. This was his first compilation, and they weren't holding anything back, so no added incentive was needed. It's also the only cover song. It just doesn't fit. It's a good song, and the backing track is great, but the lead vocal isn't his best. Of the hits left off, I think I would have included "Change Of Heart" and "Jammin' Me". "A Woman In Love (It's Not Me)" and "Rebels" are tempting too, but I understand wanting to be more concise and only including his absolute best. I'd cut "Something In The Air".
American Girl - #109 (reissue) Breakdown - #40 (reissue) Listen To Her Heart - #59 I Need To Know - #41 Refugee - #15 Don't Do Me Like That - #10 Even The Losers - n/a Here Comes My Girl - #59 The Waiting - #19 You Got Lucky - #20 Don't Come Around Here No More - #13 I Won't Back Down - #12 Runnin' Down A Dream - #23 Free Fallin' - #7 Learning To Fly - #28 Into The Great Wide Open - #92 Mary Jane's Last Dance - #14 Something in the Air - n/a
Not included: A Woman In Love (It's Not Me) - #79 Change Of Heart - #21 Make It Better (Forget About Me) - #54 Rebels - #74 Needles and Pins (live) - #37 Jammin' Me - #18 A Face In The Crowd - #46 Yer So Bad - #80
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Post by B.E. on Oct 1, 2020 22:01:26 GMT
But if Into the Great... was samey for me, this is even more so, and as B.E. said, the songs are getting longer, too. An edited version would be just about on par with the two best albums; instead this is in the territory of--maybe slightly below--its predecessor.
I'm curious what you'll think of Echo. There's a consistency in sound there, too, and it's bloated, but I think the material is a little more varied. I'm wondering how that might affect the "samey" factor. Still a ways to go, though.
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Post by B.E. on Oct 2, 2020 1:50:03 GMT
I hadn't heard the Dylan/Heartbreakers song "Band of the Hand" before. Kinda cool. (There's always another song out there!)
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Post by kds on Oct 2, 2020 12:20:47 GMT
I think the two new tracks from Greatest Hits (1993) are worth mentioning at this point. Oooh, good point! I wasn't going to do live or GH stuff, but since there are some new tracks, those warrant a listen. Doing that now and will comment before I post on Wildflowers. Obviously I know "Last Dance..." because I wasn't living under a rock in the early 90s. Never loved it, but I enjoy it more now than I did then.
And your point about Petty never really falling into the grunge trip is valid ... though didn't most legacy artists of his age also stay out of it? It feels to me that was more the next generation's bands--the people who really just started coming up in the 80s--who thought they had to hop on. I mean, think of his approximate contemporaries: Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel ... those people weren't exactly growing goatees and putting on flannels either. (OK actually Bruce probably wore flannel. But he'd always worn denim and flannel.)
I don't so much mean that he tried, or didn't try, to compete with grunge, but Petty managed to still get regular airplay on MTV/Vh1 and active rock radio throughout the 1990s, and I don't think that was completely true of many of his peers.
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Post by kds on Oct 2, 2020 12:27:38 GMT
I mentioned in another thread that I think Wildflowers is very overrated, and I made the mistake of using that to gauge Petty's non hits. After listening to Petty's first eight albums, my opinion of Wildflowers is actually lower. Like I said before, it's got 5-6 good songs. But, I'd put it alongside Southern Accents.
I remember in the fall of 1994 when I heard a new Petty song was coming, and being disappointed with You Don't Know How It Feels. For me, it's the 90s equivalent to Don't Come Around Here No More. Granted, it sounds more Petty esque, but it's popularity still eludes me. Now, the second single, You Wreck Me...that's more like it.
Right now, I'm listening to the She's the One album for the first time since I was in high school.
But, stepping backwards a bit, in 1992, Petty released a Christmas song - It's Christmas All Over (Again) - which was released on both A Very Special Christmas 2 and the soundtrack to Home Alone 2. It's a very Jeff Lynne meets Phil Spector song. I think it's a fun song, and a worthy addition to any "modern" Christmas playlist.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 2, 2020 12:37:48 GMT
Oooh, good point! I wasn't going to do live or GH stuff, but since there are some new tracks, those warrant a listen. Doing that now and will comment before I post on Wildflowers. Obviously I know "Last Dance..." because I wasn't living under a rock in the early 90s. Never loved it, but I enjoy it more now than I did then.
And your point about Petty never really falling into the grunge trip is valid ... though didn't most legacy artists of his age also stay out of it? It feels to me that was more the next generation's bands--the people who really just started coming up in the 80s--who thought they had to hop on. I mean, think of his approximate contemporaries: Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel ... those people weren't exactly growing goatees and putting on flannels either. (OK actually Bruce probably wore flannel. But he'd always worn denim and flannel.)
I don't so much mean that he tried, or didn't try, to compete with grunge, but Petty managed to still get regular airplay on MTV/Vh1 and active rock radio throughout the 1990s, and I don't think that was completely true of many of his peers. Ah, I see. That makes sense. You're right, he did continue to get airplay through that period. I wonder why. Maybe the (relatively) stripped-down nature of the music he was making? As grunge-then-alternative aesthetics took over, a lot of what they were supposed to be against was the excess of the previous era. Petty generally was already stripped of that excess.
Just a thought.
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Post by kds on Oct 2, 2020 12:49:32 GMT
I don't so much mean that he tried, or didn't try, to compete with grunge, but Petty managed to still get regular airplay on MTV/Vh1 and active rock radio throughout the 1990s, and I don't think that was completely true of many of his peers. Ah, I see. That makes sense. You're right, he did continue to get airplay through that period. I wonder why. Maybe the (relatively) stripped-down nature of the music he was making? As grunge-then-alternative aesthetics took over, a lot of what they were supposed to be against was the excess of the previous era. Petty generally was already stripped of that excess.
Just a thought.
I think you hit the nail on the head. Petty never really got into the excess of the 80s for the most part, and his band was known more for great songs than guitar wizardry, so his music wasn't as much of a square peg.
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Post by kds on Oct 2, 2020 14:18:07 GMT
Just finished She's the One, which I think like Wildflowers has some good songs on it, but overall there's probably too much material (15 songs), so some of them start to blend together. I'd completely forgotten about Zero from Outer Space. Good rocker there. Walls (Circus) is a song I've always liked, as were Grew Up Fast and Hope You Never. California and Angel Dream 4 are pretty good. All in all, not a bad effort for a soundtrack album.
Also worth noting that today is the 3rd anniversary of Petty's death.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 2, 2020 15:37:44 GMT
I'm on the CW guest song, so nearly finished. (Interrupted by a work meeting. Work really has a lot of nerve with this "meetings" stuff...)
I agree with KDS, basically. It reminds me very much of Wildflowers, which makes sense knowing they were largely written and assembled initially as one bigger project (or at least around the same time). This one really is solid again, but lacking the highs of the best songs on its predecessor. It is the Into the Great Wide Open to Wildflowers, the subsequent, similar, not-quite-as-good little brother.
I enjoyed "Zero From Outer Space" a lot, among the best on the album. I like both "Walls" songs. Both "Angel" songs. "California," which should have obviously had Carl Wilson on it! Conversely, I dislike "Hung Up and Overdue," the melody to which sounds sickly to me and it underutilizes Wilson.
Between these two albums, a single, long, 15-song kind of album would make sense. But to do two albums of that length is bloat.
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Post by kds on Oct 2, 2020 15:40:36 GMT
Between these two albums, a single, long, 15-song kind of album would make sense. But to do two albums of that length is bloat.
That's the 90s for you. It's amazing how Petty's albums went from very tight runtimes to bloated affairs very quickly. Wildflowers and She's the One would've both been very good albums at 40 mins.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 2, 2020 17:02:29 GMT
About halfway through Echo and frustrated that I'm not 80% through it: it's long, and not a single song has stood out to me as a really strong single, much less a classic. I haven't recognized any of it, meaning either I've never heard any of it or it was as forgettable as I'm thinking it would be.
It sounds good. It's fine. But to me, it's just a (long) album's worth of album tracks. It's like if you took two good (but not great) albums, removed the singles from both, and put it out. Just because a CD can fit 15 songs and more than an hour of music doesn't mean it has to.
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