Runnin' Down a POLL: The Tom Petty "Full Moon Fever" Poll

How many votes will "Free Fallin'" get?

gotta sit on this for a while; my instinct is to go for the Byrds cover but I'm not positive about that. After that it's probably "I Won't Back Down". I never really loved this album (it was the first cd I ever sold off) but I've come back to it a lot over the years. I cannot remember "The Apartment Song". "Depending On You" finds its way into my around-the-house oeuvre quite a lot, because I have a very syntactic mind and so when someone says "I am depending on you" I end up singing this song back to them (a good tactic for convincing the other that you're not really listening).

i think it's a lesser petty album, but "free fallin'" is far and away its classic-est cut.

wow lotta crap on this album

never really been a fan of that post-ELO supershiny Jeff Lynne production style either

i won't back down. the harmonies on the hey baby bit hit all the right buttons

"I Won't Back Down". Like "Into The Great Wide Open" better btw.

voted "yer so bad"

when this one's done maybe i'll poll long after dark, which i think is sorta neglected (as i've said on just about every tom petty thread, i guess). not that it would probably attract many votes...

voted "yer so bad"

― hyperstudio (skeletor), Wednesday, October 21, 2009 10:41 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark
^

voted "feel a whole lot better" but i still like "runnin' down a dream"

man the first time I heard free falling I was so so so stoked about it, I think removed from its context and just considered by itself it's a really wonderful song

still voting "running down a dream" tho because it's darker

xxxp i would vote in a long after dark poll.. i predict "you got lucky" landslide, tho

heard "running down a dream" in the supermarket today

still voting "running down a dream" tho because it's darker

i guess, tho i think "free fallin'" is pretty dark.

when this one's done maybe i'll poll long after dark, which i think is sorta neglected

Yes. That and Let Me Up I've Had Enough are the two that have been overlooked.

a Let Me Up poll might attract just three of us -- and "Jammin' Me" or "It'll All Work Out" will win.

Title Cut 4EVA!!

Also: I disagree with xhuck and the others who posit the Damn the Torpedoes-era as the best. The songs are mostly fantastic, and the Heartbreakers have it all: intensity, finesse, abandon. I'd love the era had Petty not sung as if he were choking on the damn torpedoes.

The Wilburys era had just as many good songs, but with the added attraction of Lynne cushioning his voice in ten thousand overdubbed acoustic guitars.

Voted for "Yer So Bad." Fun song.

On this record it's tempting to vote for the Byrds cover, but since it helped put Gene Clark in an early grave, I can't do it.

Free Fallin'

y'all mad; this is one of his strongest records. Into the Great Wide open was the big-selling, fairly well-received head-scratcher.

this, Wildflowers, and wait for it... the She's the One sndtrk are the best things he's done since the early 80s

No -- Full Moon Fever sold five million in America, ITGWO (which I like more than FMF) "only" went double platinum.

i was unaware of the numbers either did, but they both seemed to happen around a spike in his popularity and critical reception(?) Of the two, I certainly prefer Full Moon. I can still hum & enjoy (to varying degrees) every track except for 10 & 12

Oh, he was definitely on a commercial roll from 1988 til '95; the Wildflowers album got massive airplay.

a Let Me Up poll might attract just three of us -- and "Jammin' Me" or "It'll All Work Out" will win.

"runaway trains," yo.

and i guess petty's unvarnished, uncushioned voice is one of the things i like best about him. i think he's a really great rock'n'roll singer.

here's a good (if tinny) song: "My Life/Your World."

yeah, i like that one too.

saleswise, i was happy when full moon fever was a huge hit, because i was big petty stan (and still am). but i always thought it was pretty wispy, a few tracks aside. just feels very tossed off. and i was glad when he switched from lynne to rick rubin.

Ain't Love Strange is excellent too. Some questionable production, but the song is so well written it doesn't even matter.

this, Wildflowers, and wait for it... the She's the One sndtrk are the best things he's done since the early 80s

OMG yes. In fact, I vastly prefer even the latter two to this one. That was such a great soundtrack for such a shitty, shitty movie.

looking forward to that upcoming live box. he useda play a song (it's on the killer Paul's Mall 1978 boot, to name one place) called "Dog on the Run", a Stones-like, nine minute rocker that never made it to album (not "dogs on the run" that is on Southern Accents). i hope that's included; and a live "Casa Dega"'d be lovely, too.
never heard his last two, but let me up, the debut and DtT are me faves.

torn b/w the two opening numbers/obvious singles. this album has some great deep cuts, but those two tracks are the man at the top of his game imo.

a Let Me Up poll might attract just three of u

four and gypsy mothra is OTM: runaway trains all the way

ps fuck a challop free fallin' owns this

That was such a great soundtrack for such a shitty, shitty movie.

^made of otm

"a face in the crowd" is really underrated

i should also admit i never was particularly turned off by the Jeff Lynne's prod. i can appreciate it's shortcomings, but a lot of people did a lot worse with "rock" music in the 80s imo.

"Mind With a Heart of it's Own" verse made me lol when I was 12

Well I been to Brooker and I been to Micanopy
I been to St. Louis too, I been all around the world
I've been over to your house
And you've been over sometimes to my house
I've slept in your tree house
My middle name is Earl

never really been a fan of that post-ELO supershiny Jeff Lynne production style either

― Jesus, the Czar of Czars (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, October 21, 2009 6:24 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^^^ this. Same problem plagues Harrison's "Cloud 9" for me.

Anyway, "Face In The Crowd" is my dark-horse (lol no pun) favorite on this record. Low-key, understated, gets a lot of mileage from a very simple riff. It gets great response in concert, too.

xxxp i would vote in a long after dark poll.. i predict "you got lucky" landslide, tho

Followed closely by "Change Of Heart," which may actually be a better song.

Straight Into Darkness is best of all.

That's a pretty song, but it doesn't go anywhere: there was a little girl he used to know, and she went straight into darkness, period. He's not good enough of a singer to fill an underwritten song with resonance.

"out the window of the 747, man there was nothin', only black sky"

gonna disagree again on his singing. i think it carries a lot of emotional undertow. but i'll save further discussion of that song in particular for a long after dark thread, cuz it's my favorite on that record too.

http://cheezburger.com/View.aspx?aid=2750174464

Let me try that again.

http://cheezburger.com/View.aspx?aid=2750174464

Oh come on!

Since it won't post, I'll just describe it. It was a funny lolcat, which for all you old timers out there, is how the youth of today expresses themselves.

Picture an adorable, furry super duper cute cat. And on the bottom of this picture, imagine some text, suggesting that the cat itself is speaking!

Now imagine that this particular cat is familiar with Tom Petty's Long After Dark album. And as a fan, he wants to weigh in. So he says "Straight Into Darkness Is A Wonderful Song!"

i think you mean, STRATE IN2 DAKRNESS ROOLZ!!

ah, and there's the new username i've been looking for.

Lookit what I missed.

this is a great album and i don't know what to pick yet. but it needs to be said that all the guitar solos are fantastic. mike campbell otm.

yeah, this is the first album i really LOVED as a kid. like some people on this thread, I fell out of love with Lynne production at some point in the 90s, but have recently fallen back in love with it. Those acoustic guitars are just golden. Dunno what I'll vote for.
Hadn't heard of the Petty live box set until this thread! Very cool -- and only $19.99 for four discs at amazon right now. Petty -- always looking out for the common man. Take that, Springsteen!

Imagine a picture of an adorably cute tan kitten. But this kitten has a sour expression on her face, as if she is being exposed to something extremely displeasurable or distasteful. Her eyes are squinted half-shut, and her nose is wrinkled up in a most adorable fashion.

Now, below this charming picture is some stark white text, creating the illusion that the cat is speaking directly to you, saying:

I find the hallmarks of Jeff Lynne's production style, ie heavily compressed acoustic guitars and reverbless vocals, to be overly antiseptic, and quite frankly, more than a little distasteful.

Hmm.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

"Free Ballin'" it is for me.

So what happened to the Long After Dark poll promised by tipsy?

We decided it's definitely "Change of Heart" or "Straight Into Darkness"

i would talk on the internet about all this underrated petty record tho

which one? He has so many, apparently.

Another vote for "Face In the Crowd." Had this album since childhood but that song really only struck me a couple years ago.

Isn't this album one of your personal faves, croup?

definitely my favorite Petty full-length, but not in my top 200 albums or anything

Voted "Running Down A Dream" -- could've voted for any of the single though, I think.

"Free Fallin."

But as Alfred knows, I'm really a first 3 Petty LPs (plus Greatest Hits and "Jammin' Me") kinda guy, and too old to change my ways.

oh i was waiting til this one was over to do that one. but i guess we're close enough, a few hours overlap is ok. coming up...

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

haha for the "Zombie Zoo" vote.

Double-duty "dadrock" album: Both my dad and grandfather (an octogenarian!) owned a cassette copy which they kept in their cars.

Free Fallin' has become such a fixture in popular culture that it's easy to forget what a masterful song it is. It's eating me alive this morning.

runnin down a dream imo

"Depending On You" finds its way into my around-the-house oeuvre quite a lot, because I have a very syntactic mind and so when someone says "I am depending on you" I end up singing this song back to them

lol

I can't remember if I voted in this or not, but the first five and Yer So Bad are all so fantastic I'd have a rough time picking a favorite. (Today it would be Free Fallin', but who knows what it would be tomorrow.)

"Free Fallin'" is by far one of Petty's weakest singles.

It's the second worst song on this record

lol RONG

I just don't like the shape of the melody--it's facile, nursery rhyme-ish. The song lacks tension and gravitas.

what a great album

It's supposed to lack tension. It's not a tense song. It's meant to float. In fact, every criticism you just levied at it is intentionally part of its make up. xp

I can see that, I suppose I just don't think Petty does that style very well. My favorite songs of his are his more urgent ones. I think the timbre of his voice and his delivery make his attempts to do the style you detail cloying--it wants to float, but it ends up just being sticky.

It depends on the song. I think Free Fallin' works very well, but I think You Don't Know How It Feels is as flat as a pancake.

I didn't even realize it was you who revived this thread... Sorry for pooping in yer cereal.

It's all good. I'm FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

FREEEEEE FAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLIN'

I associate "Free Fallin" so much with my early childhood that it's hard for me to approach it from a critical songwriting perspective. It's just always been there.

"A Face in the Crowd" is almost ominous.

My most-listened-to Petty album, though not my favourite (that would be Southern Accents). Because it was in my CD collection during high school, it was one that friends would always want to put on when they were over.

petty was too old, and i was too young, for me to buy this when it was released, so it's wonderful now to know the hits yet get to hear the whole thing with fresh ears

"A Face in the Crowd" is almost ominous.

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, August 15, 2014 8:01 PM

it's totally ominous, disassociative

this album is like 29 minutes long! that rules

zombie zoo is a great closer

I wanna buy a 12 string guitar just so I can sing “Yer so bad” at the top of my lungs. Best pre-chorus ever