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

Here we go. From Florida to Heaven.

https://i.discogs.com/BTKO_wl8Hx8SV2OCJxHWNjU1SiLXfBcONAPY0SSwmN8/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:402/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9BLTI2MDU3/NS0xMTEwNTcxMjQ2/LmpwZw.jpeg

Rockin' Around (With You)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB_eHi7HcTM

It's 1976. The first track on your debut album is 2 minutes long. You are not prog. Are you punk? We are intrigued...

hey, this guy is good...

a sampler of things to come. its comfortably retro and yet...there is something new about it.

i HIGHLY recommend the oral history book of Tom and the band if you haven't read it and dig him. its one of the best rock books i've ever read. compelling!

also, it goes without saying, Petty in the wild/pictures/ephemera/anecdotes welcomed and appreciated.

"Rockin' Around (With You)": Nice little song. Really reminds me how close style-wise Petty and Dwight Twilley were at the time. Tench throwing in a little synth action near the end to remind you that it's 1976.

yeah that synth thing is funny. just shows up out of nowhere.

tom kinda got the career dwight wanted? is that unfair? petty don't mind.

I like it, but there's not really much to this song; if you played a demo of it on a piano or acoustic guitar it would likely seem underwhelming. Songs like this one are highly dependent on good production, good arrangements, and good playing; fortunately, it has all three.

stan lynch kicks ass on this song

i dig rockin around with you too tom

cool hangdog bassline too, i guess that's ron blair?

punk velocity, anyway. maybe his first nyc gig was cbgb?
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/Bc8AAOSwXVJjWtqv/s-l1600.jpg

Y'all need that Paul Zollo book where Petty discusses every song he's written.

man, those are some good bands. suicide commandos. reddy teddy. i like that album of theirs that willie alexander produced a lot. kinda proto-punk/glam. laughing dogs. they were cool. for tuff darts fans. earth opera! can't believe they were still around in 1976. but i dig their records. the good rats were rockin' back then with a major label deal. honey davis was a weirdo. his albums are not for everybody. i never dug the shirts despite loving annie golden in hair. they were pretty boring. and then you have the ramones and television coming soon. and orchestra luna. everyone should own their album. i think me and andy zax are the only big fans of that album of people i know though. i own two dirty tricks albums but i don't play them much.

needless to say, suicide commandos debut one of the great punk/rock albums made in this country in the 70s.

that might be the only thing i have in common with tom petty. i graced the stage at CBGB once. dressed as a witch. matador NMS showcase. pizzicato five/chavez/customized/barbara manning/bunnybrains.

well that and we both worship the byrds.

Also you have a short "o" in your first name and short "e" in your last name.

hey yeah!

wait, that should be Kustomized, right? i don't remember what they sounded like...

I’m not a fan other than full moon fever so I won’t be weighing in, but I’m really looking forward to ilx analysis on this !

I am not sure how much I know about anything pre-Torpedoes except "Breakdown."

Dude was cool as fuck, but I secretly believe he peaked in 1979. Musically speaking, I mean.

how much might tom's early success owe to his uncanny evocation of grown-up Bad News Bear (1976) Kelly Leak (Jackie EARLE Haley)

I just watched Jackie in a terrible action movie. He deserves better. He's a really good actor but he does look like a fucked up bad guy now. he's awesome.

Breakdown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqxns-JTTqA

His first hit! I forget how slow it is.

i'll be back wth thoughts. gotta do stuff.

Maybe they only showed the theatrical trailer in Jamaica!

hey yeah!

wait, that should be Kustomized, right? i don't remember what they sounded like...

"Breakdown": The rare instance where imo the Grace Jones version is not funkier.

go ahead and give it to 'em

this sounds like a Steely Dan song

it doesn't really remind me of anyone weirdly! it just reminds me of tom petty. maybe fleetwood mac at the start...

the keyboard riff is objectively similar to "pretzel logic." the bass moves differently tho

(and it's not even that similar, just both electric key riffs in the key of a minor. petty moves from a minor to g major, the dan have a more intricate am to bm7/a to amin7)

Basically like the Volcano Suns. They’re great and the Suicide Commandos Make A Records is one of the best records of all time. I bought the short lived Mercury CD reissue in ‘96.
― from a prominent family of bassoon players (Boring, Maryland), Wednesday, February 28, 2024 9:13 AM (thirty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Make a Record is just an amazing, wonderful record I wish more people had heard

"Breakdown": On the verses, Petty sounds like how Springsteen looked in '73-4. Phil Seymour on backing vox! Electric Piano!

Wiki:

"Breakdown" was a song written and recorded for the band's debut album. Initially, the song had lead guitarist Mike Campbell with a distinct guitar lick being played only near the end of the song. While playing it back one night, Tom Petty and Dwight Twilley, a friend of Phil Seymour, were in the studio, and Twilley enjoyed it. He suggested that the lick should be used throughout the song, and Petty obliged. At 2 AM, he gathered the Heartbreakers to join him in re-recording the song. Their final take was seven to eight minutes long, but it was pared down to 2 minutes and 39 seconds on the album. Guests on the song's recording include guitarist Jeff Jourard, a common collaborator with the band in their early days, and Phil Seymour, who sings backing vocals.

One of those great live album moments nobody ever talks about is the audience singing the first two verses to Petty on the extended version Pack Up The Plantation!:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNxfPAF1frM

wow i don't think i knew that phil seymour was on that. love him. i wanna hear that original 8 minute version now.

Yeah, Seymour is on this and "American Girl", plus Twilley steps in on "Strangered In The Night".

for some reason its just nice to know that those guys were friends. phil, dwight, and tom. all very talented.

there's a little bit of cod reggae going on in the vocals. i wonder if this was originally envisioned to have more of a reggae feel. man right out of the gate these guys were great arrangers and players. love their early dedication to keeping things short.

i think i remember reading richard meltzer, re. some BOC recording, saying "i know it's alright but i love when rock bands tell me anyway." i thought about that here.

i don't hear cod reggae, more an exaggerated 50s rock styling a la buddy holly (but filtered thru petty's drawl)

The backing vocals are very present on "Breakdown." It's almost like there's a whole other song there.

for true cod reggae Petty:

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

i love the pace/pacing of "breakdown". it just creates this great mood of expectation. i want to know what's going to happen next! that , to me, is key to being a good artist.

I love how these two songs would be a perfect way to start a live set: the quick rave up to get the audience going, with room to patter over it even, and then settle into "Breakdown."

In The Wild: I'm hosting my weekly pub quiz tonight. For music, I use an ever-growing Spotify playlist curated by myself and several other hosts that is currently weighing in at over 1300 songs. I use it in Shuffle mode, which just spit out "American Girl" and then "Girls" by Dwight Twilley, which of course features Mr. Petty.

my primary exhibit that I use to demonstrate his association with 1976-77 era punk is his inclusion here:

https://www.discogs.com/release/2233401-Various-Whitmans-Punk-Sampler

Their final take was seven to eight minutes long

god I hope this gets released someday

dammit i didn’t even know you had started!

Rockin Around:
To me this is the Heartbreakers doing a kind of punk-ish ode to Buddy Holly & The Crickets. the skiffley kinda beat and that plaintive-yet-cool vocal … he gets all the girls. I love it. And the retro vibe is the mission statement for them

Breakdown:
There is a fever in the 70’s and that fever is reggae
Mike Campbell’s gorgeous guitar stings with Tench’s fucking beautiful keyboards on this. Petty’s angst hurling itself into the chorus. And it is only the second track and it is alreadt insane how so many genuiuses are in a single band together and sounding THIS good on their FIRST ALBUM?
also the production on Breakdown is so exactly the sound of 70’s radio to me, it sounds like standing in my childhood kitchen.
ugh i will love it til the day i die. this song is like a drug, intoxicating rhythym & swagger right out of the gate

My wife put on the Live Anthology box while making lunch today. We listened to Discs 2 and 3 together. It ruled.

anyway here’s lads

https://media.gettyimages.com/id/73998958/photo/tom-petty-the-heartbreakers.jpg?s=2048x2048&w=gi&k=20&c=-K753J3l35JogyLkn29lZOV7c1KSNQQkmIX_uoskMMo=

Bootleg Flyer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6LFm2qM090

they use a Paul Revere & the Raiders guitar part in this. and then it turns into Captain Beyond at the end. i wonder if Tom Petty knew my favorite Floridian drummer Bobby Caldwell? they'd be about the same age.

"Lover of the Bayou" is so good. i forgot. i wish i had seen Mudcrutch live.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ClvRgxaVEAETw00?format=jpg&name=4096x4096

that live "crystal river" is so pretty.

House of Stone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15ZEqjOZ81A

Jefferson Jericho Blues

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LAA6lF6uFI

https://i.discogs.com/134_95uk0IgEBPe5p2h1HucuLCJ6EF0f7nVKBPFctgc/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:551/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTIzNzg4/OTktMTI4NjAzMzMy/Ny5qcGVn.jpeg

ftr I'm enjoying these Mudcrutch tracks as a basking experience, not as songs.

Did every other listener check out?

they got pettyd out.

again, if you put on the mudcrutch cd and let it play the whole thing is an enjoyable vibe. the petty totality.

i am leaving these songs here for future listeners. people in the future will say: "Why did the people on here love the 70s stuff so much. Everyone knows Lord God Petty achieved transcendence in the 21st century with the prophetic release of The Last DJ."

wait, what happened when you guys did elton john? people must have suffered elton fatigue. he made soooooo many records after his heyday. i think you guys did elton, right?

We did! Nights and weekends. More soul-killing than working at Walmart.

that is so much forgettable elton. hours and hours.

Mojo is the album where I became more than a Greatest Hits listener. Saw him on this tour; Buddy Guy opened.

Actually, that's not true; what converted me was the Live Anthology box, which came out in 2009. Mojo was the next studio album.

That box is incredible, if nothing else because they were so consistent. It could all be from one marathon show.

First Flash of Freedom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfEwYYSq1sI

Running Man's Bible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFzvaf90OKM

I like First Flash's vibe and jamminess but after listening twice feel i'll probably forget about it soon. Sry if that is rude

I was totally Petty'd out but looking forward to HE, which I haven't heard in a few years

The Trip to Pirate's Cove

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gf4IDejQH88

i miss Stanley. wonder if he would've elevated these tunes, but this one is laidback lovely nonetheless

Candy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze_xJn3Liz4

No Reason to Cry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6YmauAXxPs

I really miss Stan and his unpredictabily in the breaks when he was otherwise forced to be a "proper" studio drummer. No slight on Kenney Jones.

I Should Have Known It

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_iBKacXIA4

U.S. 41

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q9cHaA9UM0

Takin' My Time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kylsHKL-Pgg

When I saw them on this tour, they played five songs in a row from this album — "Jefferson Jericho Blues," "Good Enough," "Running Man's Bible," "First Flash of Freedom," and "I Should Have Known It". Full setlist here.

Let Yourself Go

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnUCtzGH0AI

Don't Pull Me Over

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1C0RVfQGS4

tom's cod reggae could have been worse...there is worse...

most of his contemporaries got it out of their system in the 70s though....

Lover's Touch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3kyUdDHLkk

High in the Morning

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

Something Good Coming

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSvlJe1mwlw

Good Enough

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE9mM_ut62Y

it's pretty funny that the song DIRECTLY AFTER the song called SOMETHING GOOD COMING is called GOOD ENOUGH!

come on, that's pretty funny.

i mean, they weren't tempted at all to call the last song SOMETHING GOOD?

Little Girl Blues

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP1ZuS9ALh0

Help Me

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

Mystery of Love

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NihZ9yra600

last three are bonus tracks.

American Dream Plan B

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

https://i.discogs.com/ECXIcjDNIrNHqrgr9kRE9IBxUGS8L4QULonDYUWXRPM/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:541/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTU5MzY4/MTUtMTQxMDU5OTg2/OC0zMjAxLmpwZWc.jpeg

this song sounds like it was inspired by Collective Soul.

excellent album

Fault Lines

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-4-sT2KFdo

His best single in 20 years.

Red River

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv3oaDX9ikY

Full Grown Boy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7TYYqPSWgc

All You Can Carry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv_wadG8s7Y

Power Drunk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ5hilQnXDU