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Post by Kapitan on Oct 2, 2020 17:08:58 GMT
Just hit "This One's For Me" and it's probably my favorite song so far on the album. Funny that it comes up 11th in the track-list.
Edit - I also like "About to Give Out." I'd have put it on Side One.
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Post by kds on Oct 2, 2020 17:28:00 GMT
When I was 18 going on 19, an old friend and I got together to take a trip to the beach. I was May 1999. I just finished my first year of college. He'd just finished his first year at the Air Force Academy. For the trip, he had the new Tom Petty album Echo. So, I'll admit that some songs take me back to that time - Lonesome Sundown, Room at the Top, and Counting on You in particular.
But, even then, I thought the album ran out of steam as it reached the end of its 62 minutes (again, over an hour, why?). If the album had ended after Billy the Kid, it would be a really solid album, as I think there are some good ones in there - Won't Last Long, Swingin', Free Girl Now, and the title track. The last half dozen songs will test one's patience.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 2, 2020 17:31:05 GMT
I like Echo more than Southern Accents because of the sound: I strongly prefer the organic instruments and lighter touch in the studio over Dave Stewart's so-very-80s SA style. But as noted above, there really just isn't much to grab on to here despite there being so many opportunities--15 of 'em!--to do so. I'd rate it about a 4. Two strong singles and even at this length I'd move up to a solid 5.5 or so. Two strong singles and cutting an additional couple songs and it would easily be in the 6s. But you can't have a long album full of this kind of (admittedly competent, good-sounding) filler.
Well, you can. I just won't like it.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 2, 2020 17:37:23 GMT
"Surrender," 2000 version from Anthology, is a pretty good song. I like it more than a lot of what was on the previous two albums. Not the best vocal of Tom's career, though, and the recording/production of it has the vocal sitting oddly in the mix, like an awkward, ill-fitting overdub. Something about that harmony (almost) all the way through--which I LOVE in theory, as an arrangement touch--just doesn't sound right here.
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Post by kds on Oct 2, 2020 17:39:40 GMT
I went back to listen to the first two albums again. And I think there's plenty of filler on both, but I can take a short album with some filler far more than an album like Wildflowers or Echo, because the sheer length of the album means the filler is totally unnecessary.
That being said, over 20 years into his career, there's little to nothing like makes me say "what the fuck was that?" I can't say that about The Beatles, Pink Floyd, or Queen.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 2, 2020 17:45:18 GMT
That being said, over 20 years into his career, there's little to nothing like makes me say "what the fuck was that?" I can't say that about The Beatles, Pink Floyd, or Queen. Exactly. Nothing is atrocious. The "bad" that I'm complaining about is not BAD. It's just too much, it's filler, it's bloat. But for example if it were playing in a bar the whole time I was there with friends, I would never think "ugh, turn the station, this is awful."
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Post by kds on Oct 2, 2020 17:49:35 GMT
That being said, over 20 years into his career, there's little to nothing like makes me say "what the fuck was that?" I can't say that about The Beatles, Pink Floyd, or Queen. Exactly. Nothing is atrocious. The "bad" that I'm complaining about is not BAD. It's just too much, it's filler, it's bloat. But for example if it were playing in a bar the whole time I was there with friends, I would never think "ugh, turn the station, this is awful." Right, his worst material is just not memorable, or as you said "background music." I'm actually more impressed with his catalog than I thought I would be, and will probably be adding four or five to my collection. I must say that I'm partially conflicted about Spotify, and ability to explore an artist's catalog for free, when it used to take a financial investment and sometimes patience (it took me a little while to find MIU / LA at a decent price when I got into the Beach Boys for example). But, on the other hand, it's there, so I might as well use it.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 2, 2020 17:52:46 GMT
I'm far more impressed than I thought I'd be. I never was a Petty fan growing up, and don't think I ever heard any of the stuff after a couple Wildflowers songs. I don't know how far he's risen in my estimation--not into the top tier favorites--but I definitely could see myself putting together a couple of playlists' worth. I could make an early comp, a Lynne comp, and a Rubin comp.
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Post by kds on Oct 2, 2020 18:19:09 GMT
I'm far more impressed than I thought I'd be. I never was a Petty fan growing up, and don't think I ever heard any of the stuff after a couple Wildflowers songs. I don't know how far he's risen in my estimation--not into the top tier favorites--but I definitely could see myself putting together a couple of playlists' worth. I could make an early comp, a Lynne comp, and a Rubin comp. At the least, I'm probably going to wind up with copies of Damn the Torpedoes, Hard Promises, and Full Moon Fever.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 2, 2020 18:39:59 GMT
My last Petty for the day--I can't listen exclusively to Tom Petty!--is The Last DJ. I liked it more than the past couple, actually, and so was slightly surprised to see it rated poorly overall by allmusic. They gave it 1.5 stars, the lowest of his career! Totally disagree. The sounds were more varied, they cut back on some excess both of number and length of tunes. And "tunes" is the right word, as I think while it still lacked great hits, it had some nice melodies.
Where would I rate it? Maybe like a 6.7 or so? Not great by any means, but it's good. "Joe" is awful. The other songs' focus on big bad business is a little heavy-handed (not that it's WRONG), so that isn't ideal. But there are moments when Petty's pop side really shines through, as I can hear Beatles almost on things like "Lost Children," "Can't Stop the Sun," and "Have Love, Will Travel" (which sounded like a Lynne-Harrison song/arrangement, though not production). "Blue Sunday" is pretty, and interesting in that it's almost a country arrangement but not a country song, if that makes sense. "The Man Who Loves Women" is a novelty kind of tune, but I like this one, unlike the zombie one a while back.
Yes, this is a nice place to stop today's Pettying. It feels like a high note. But again, that cracks me up that it's rated poorly considering I'm enjoying it.
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Post by kds on Oct 2, 2020 18:46:10 GMT
From what I remember from reviews I read in 2002, a lot of writers / critics were turned off a bit by Petty's complaining about the industry on The Last DJ, so that could account for the low rating.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 2, 2020 18:49:32 GMT
From what I remember from reviews I read in 2002, a lot of writers / critics were turned off a bit by Petty's complaining about the industry on The Last DJ, so that could account for the low rating. I think there were three songs (or four?) where he went on that topic, so it is a bit much. But really, other than "Joe," the music throughout was really good.
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Post by kds on Oct 2, 2020 18:56:43 GMT
From what I remember from reviews I read in 2002, a lot of writers / critics were turned off a bit by Petty's complaining about the industry on The Last DJ, so that could account for the low rating. I think there were three songs (or four?) where he went on that topic, so it is a bit much. But really, other than "Joe," the music throughout was really good. I think Petty could've taken the lyrical concept for Joe and made a much better song about it. Yeah, when I read the reviews, I remember thinking that it was a concept album as the sad state of music at the turn of the century (and realistically, one could easily make one), but it turns out that was overblown.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 2, 2020 18:58:44 GMT
It also dated it. In fact, one of my first notes as the title track was playing was that it felt very dated--not musically, not production-wise, but really just topically. Like if you'd have written a song name-checking Napster or George Bush or Britney Spears. I mean, people write topical songs all the time, of course. But it's harder to become timeless when you're anchored in time.
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Post by kds on Oct 2, 2020 19:03:15 GMT
I'd have to disagree, I think the concept of the title track still holds up pretty well almost twenty years later. The fact that Petty didn't make those specific references helps.
"As we celebrate mediocrity All the boys upstairs want to see How much you'll pay for what you used to get for free?"
I'd say that's just as true in 2020 as it was in 2002, maybe even moreso.
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