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=

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

Forgotten Man

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=du1afxe74VE

for the record, i am doing this album and then the 2nd Mudcrutch album and then because for some reason i decided not to start with them i'm gonna end with those first two early Mudcrutch singles. seems only fair. the thread that would not die. unlike tom petty!

Sins of My Youth

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

i'm trying to think of someone of similar age with a similar career who would put out a song like "sins of my youth" at such a late date. its so fragile and vulnerable.

robert plant would.

i guess springsteen does hushed and vulnerable in his old age but i find his latter-day stuff kind of unlistenable so i can't be certain.

I liked the album! https://www.spin.com/2014/07/tom-petty-and-the-heartbreakers-hypnotic-eye/

that's a good review. nice too that you could get an official review in at time of release and thus before PettyDeath.

U Get Me High

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kiy-GLMNxA

Burnt Out Town

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

"Burnt Out Town" is my favorite song on this album. "New emperor, same clothes" is a great line.

Shadow People

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChjiE3-dAS0

Playing Dumb

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIaN3LVHP2w

Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAWvlDOn0uY

https://i.discogs.com/xQ4XsS8uAXHYM5w2pnNogjxhHJ-J98eAydu_EWamMOQ/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:544/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTg1OTY0/ODctMTQ3MjUyNDgy/MC04NTgzLmpwZWc.jpeg

Dreams of Flying

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gIk_RQ1imI

Beautiful Blue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR7M9df5-R0

Beautiful World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6iOE9GWPvg

sonic youth intro. even the bad lyrics sound like sonic youth.

I Forgive It All

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jezqNxQ8mb0

The Other Side of the Mountain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE00AH_FKZQ

Hope

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa8jPHgCNU8

i dig that song. i like this album. so enjoyable. the last thing he did before his heart stopped! so sad. in the home stretch now. i think i'll end it on friday including those first two singles from the 70s.

Welcome to Hell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwNKgs8XzV8

otm

Save Your Water

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXH6V-qVtyw

Victim of Circumstance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYE7DXgVH9I

Hungry No More

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxefJ-qJjX8

Up in Mississippi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm7yRmFGllc

Cause is Understood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN9hEJuCr68

Depot Street

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

Wild Eyes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py6mZeV-iJ4

and there you have it.

https://www.billboard.com/wp-content/uploads/media/bb23-2017-fea-tom-petty-punk-billboard-1500.jpg?w=942&h=623&crop=1

yea tom! at some point you sang me under the table, but i'll catch up i promise.

and yea skot!, it goes without saying.

I’m planning to check out the Best of Everything compilation to see if I’ve missed some notable “mature” stuff post-1993.

I did this, and the stuff I really responded to was from this tail end of his career, especially "Hungry No More" and "I Forgive It All" from this second Mudcrutch album. So I have the odd opinion that his best stuff is the first two high-energy records and then his aching, world-weary denouement, while I'm mostly indifferent to his commercial and critical 80s and 90s heyday(s).

I forgot to make a note of Eddie Vedder + The Roots doing "The Waiting" at the live SNL thing at Radio City. With a Petty video montage behind them. It was okay. I would have preferred Miley Cyrus + The Roots doing it but whatever. Or Lady Gaga + The Roots. Or Cher + The Roots. Or Horatio Sanz + The Roots. I don't know what that song was that that they did after that. It wasn't very good but The Roots guitarist gave it some juice.

seeing The Pains of Being Pure At Heart tonight and catching up on their albums. the last one is cover of all of Full Moon Fever? unexpected

Very regretful of my dropping the ball on this thread! Petty's latter-day work kinda overlapped unfortunately with the US election and I was just kinda not in the zone there. Congrats, Scott, on carrying through the journey! This is an excellent thread, and got me to pay so much closer attention to this guy, with several songs permanently added to my personal Petty canon.

I'm listening to the first Mudcrutch album this AM, and agreed with the sentiment that it's completely fine or even good in the background. Good sound - warm, unfussy, and not straining to make any dopey middle-aged sociocultural commentary (at least so far as I've noticed). If I owned a record store I would put this on in the background from time to time to enjoy how nice it sounds on good, room-filling speakers. I haven't heard a song yet that jumped out at me, and I can't believe it's an hour long, but so it goes at this point in the discography. "June Apple," the Tench-forward instrumental, is nice.

Happy birthday, Tom!

I read this thread all afternoon. Love it!