My Middle Name Is Earl - The Official ILM Track-By-Track TOM PETTY Listening Thread

i did think of Stevie. definitely. but someone else too. from that time period. maybe a pop country person? i dunno.

no, not pop country. hell, maybe its just j. geils again. actually!! i think it might be supertramp. with that jaunty piano. imagine the vocals being supertramp.

this album has the most generic song-titles. tom had a lot of them over the years. again, when i listen to tom i listen to an entire album and i never know the titles. other than the obvious ones. i won't remember any of these titles after we are done with this album. other than "you got lucky" and "change of heart".

and "Straight Into Darkness," I hope,.

TOM PETTY IN THE WILD: S1 E10 of CBS drama Tracker starts with "You Wreck Me".

Peter Stormare is in this episode...playing a total freak.

Straight Into Darkness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyPeUV9-po8

Years ago the ambiguity of the biblical trope bothered me; now I'm struck how what begins as a condemnatory song becomes a self-indictment. Tench's piano and those chiming guitars help -- going straight into darkness sure sounds attractive!

This is one of his most frustrating songs for me - the chord changes off the top set up an atmosphere, and he's trying to convey a haunted mood but the fist-pumping chorus deflates it all. I can't see his singing appealing to everyone either.

i won't remember any of these titles after we are done with this album.

I listened to this at least a half-dozen times and don't remember a thing about any of the non-singles.

wow those vocals are mcguinn-like. these well-packaged song segments don't really cohere into a song.

Springsteen's favorite Petty song.

I remember flyin' out of London
I remember the feeling at the time
Out the window of the 747
Man there was nothin', only black sky

One of my favorite Petty verses. Love this song, it's probably top 10 Tom for me, definitely top 20. The foreboding in the music matches the sadness in the words. The chorus does reach for anthemic but it resolves to a minor chord, leaving it musically and narratively in the shadows.

i don't think the chord changes at the beginning are haunting or intended to be so, just the start of a journey

the piano kind of reminds me of "king of pain"

and "The End of the Innocence" a few years later

just the start of a journey

... into darkness! I think they're pretty haunting.

We Stand a Chance: agreed that this feels like a big departure for these guys! Maybe it's the current Foreigner thread but I immediately thought of "Double Vision," sharpened and 80s-ed up a bit, inching towards Kihn/Survivor territory. The rather icy instrumental track highlights the creepier aspects of Petty's come-on, and I really like the almost countrified bridge. I dunno it I quite adds up as a track for me, but I like a lot of the details, like the handclaps and the searing guitar figure that comes in at the end.

The Stevie Nicks idea is very appealing. It would have been fun if management had tried to recapture the success of "Draggin'" by forcing another male/female duet every album. I want to suggest Juice Newton --- wrong label though. Ummm... Tina Turner??

Straight Into Darkness: This is cool! Another one where the updates Byrds sound takes them very close to R.E.M.... sounds great. Good title/hook for evoking this sudden collapse of love into misery sketched out in the first verse. The rest of the lyrics, apart from that great black sky line, feel a little nonspecific.

It also kinda feels like an (unintentional?) portrait of someone whose actual problem is a very deep-seated depression which they haven't recognized or articulated, so that his experience or perception of these individual situations keeps heading "straight into darkness." I'm gonna sit with that reading for a few listens.

There is this duet on The Wild Heart:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amOdiSljZa0

The Same Old You

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGPxPxO111c

faux-stones petty is fun! that guitar sounds awesome.

Yeah, imo one of the better songs about aging Boomers — no "Boys of Summer," but a good-natured barroom jam.

you'll never hear me complain about a good mott the hoople rip. well, i guess except for his sense that her rebellious david bowie self would really rather ride shotgun while he tours middle america.

did you know there's a cover band of women on the west coast who call themselves "nott the hoople"?

I have always loved the sneering five-syllable pronunciation of "politician"

this is very fun, especially the "let that sucker blast" verse. what is he actually trying to say though? in what way did this person have him fooled/confused? is he delighted, or bitterly disappointed, to realize they're still their same old self?

Oh, delighted I think. He remembers her back in '72! Whooee.

This album really does sound great, doesn't it? Punchy and bright but kind of grimy. Peak Iovine-era Petty, sonically.

Between Two Worlds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y3YGUy_KFQ

Bob Seger's favorite Tom Petty song. kidding. but you totally would have believed me...especially when you heard the words "danger zone".

he's got a fire down below.

Came in hearing the title line as "on the train to work," and can't shake it. This is another reasonable bloozey groove with a strong central idea and kind of an undercooked lyric. At this point I should just accept that Petty is fine with conveying a feeling without conveying a plot.. but I guess I like plot. The strange little burst of scatting, heading into the fadeout, is great.

can't wait to hear what y'all think about next week's album -- a real uh change of heart

I've never loved "Between Two Worlds," feels like a B-side to me. A Foreigner B-side! It's OK, just kinda there. There isn't really a hook, just a groove.

And yeah, next week gets interesting

https://rockandrollglobe.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image3A49945_Glitch4.jpg

A Wasted Life

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxLBUJHVdWk

Heartbreakers Beach Party

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVpnxyATsEA

"A Wasted Life" = poignant closer.

Love the "uh-uh-owww, uh-uh-oww"

It's a nice song, good album closer.

i dig the otis redding bassline. mike campbell really lays back on this one.

We should note "Keeping Me Alive," kept off the album at Iovine's insistence and Petty's eternal regret.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xribnUH-Q-w

In the Zollo book Petty says that "Jimmy" was on the phone more often than he was in the studio.

pleasant, low-key amble. feels like a return to "No Second Thoughts" territory. also reminds me a little of Leon Russell's lovely "Back to the Island." this album could maybe use just a pinch more of this kind of breathing room sprinkled around. or even have a track that starts like this and builds to those crunchy guitars, idk. spread out, explore the options. just don't swallow your tongue so badly on those "don't"s.

Rebels

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Xu9QOlJgEg

https://i.discogs.com/Uj0zIzldaKRejEZIESCJqKeARM7xBU47mxkt8pdJhgs/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:596/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTQwNzcx/Ny0xNTg1MTcyNzA0/LTkyNjYuanBlZw.jpeg

This is the song during the recording of which he infamously shattered every bone in his right hand after punching a wall.

Tom Petty and his crew enter the '80s. According to him, the 1983-1984 period was the first time they didn't tour. They hung out in El Lay, met Dave Stewart, did a lot of coke.

and took three years to make a record.

those mean ol' blue bellied devils.

they deserved a cocaine break though. they had been touring and recording non-stop for years by that point.

so this song is about a loser but his fans still waved the confederate flag when they played it live, right? kinda like the born in the u.s.a. conundrum. i love thinking that the guy in the song was arrested for having too many tickets which is such a sad way to go to jail. and then having to be bailed out only to be kicked out of the car. into a thicket!
of course i don't know that he was arrested. just that she picked him up and paid his tickets. its a good line.

I love the rhythm guitar lick, the HEY HEY HEYs by Stan and Howie, the horns -- it's Petty's gargled singing that sucks.

the synth horns are not my favorite tbh, but as alfred said, they have entered the 80s

I'm pretty sure they're real horns?