RIP Tom Petty

starting to think She's the One might lowkey be my favorite TP record. nice one-two punch there with Wildflowers (which, while bloated, is my other fave, along with FMF & DTT).

i quit paying much attention after Echo but shit man i can't think of many artists who had a 20 year run of solid albums and relatively big top 40 radio hits.

xpost Well, that whole thing was pretty lucky, right? Lynne produces "Cloud Nine," he, George and Roy convene at Bob's house to record a b-side. Tom shows up to pick up a guitar, and they all end up writing "Handle With Care," which they clearly realize is too good for a b-side. Roy obviously clicked with Tom, though I wonder why he's not in Black and White Night. I always forget there's a song on Mystery Girl written and produced by Bono and the Edge, too. Might explain that unexpected (albeit schlocky) Eno-produced song that maybe came from the sessions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPN0EHyy09Y

xpost Iovine absolutely hated Stan, because as a producer Iovine knew he could just call in a session dude to crank out the tracks in a couple of days; I mean, Jim Keltner popping in just to add shaker to "Refugee" is like salt in the wound. But also Stan didn't take criticism well, and with one of a producer's key jobs being to say "again," Stan apparently got quickly frustrated. I'm glad Tom kept him on board as long as he did, because Lynch is key. Did backing vox, too.

Stan was the key backup singer before Howie Epstein appeared.

I adore that Eno-produced Orbison song.

to scott's point about the Zollo book: I never get bored with what is by now the lore of Petty meeting Harrison after the freak '87 hurricane that hit England. This series of coincidences coalescing first with Cloud Nine and the Orbison project leading up to FMF.

Roy obviously clicked with Tom, though I wonder why he's not in Black and White Night

Way too early. George finally connected with Petty that Thanksgiving in L.A. at a French restaurant to which Petty spontaneously took his daughter for an expensive lunch; George was there with the Warner Bros people planning promo strategies for Cloud Nine.

The best thing about Black and White Night is when Tom Waits takes an organ solo that makes half the band whip their heads around in horror.

Yeah, that and Springsteen sensibly ceding the flashy guitar stuff to James Burton.

Amazing how much Roy managed in those last several months. Black and White Night, Wilburys, Mystery Girl, and then he was gone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la2H9OCOlrQ

Springsteen, knowing when it's best to keep it even simpler than usual.

But I digress. Tom Petty.

Someone on the ILM Orbison thread mentioned the degree to which the industry colluded to give him a final hit.

Plausible, though I wonder if he needed the help, given his success with the Wilburys and how much that Jeff Lynne production sound was en vogue. Just a couple of months before Full Moon Fever, right?

Yup -- at the same time as Volume 1 peaked.

The doc on the Wilburys' box is a treat--Tom talks about Harrison & Lynne showing up unannounced at his house with ukuleles and a case of beer and jamming all night in his living room.

Amanda Petrusich - https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/free-falling-with-tom-petty

other than petty's mcguinn-y vocal, "american girl" really doesn't sound like the byrds

― tylerw, Tuesday, October 3, 2017 3:34 PM (six hours ago)

Chorus of "Here Comes My Girl" does imo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kOID3Pv6-Q

xxpost that Petrusich piece is beautiful & so true, all those little between moments captured so perfectly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grfI85j_KWM

And a terrific piece at Salon by Annie Zaleski: https://www.salon.com/2017/10/03/rebels-with-a-romantic-streak-lose-tom-petty-dead-at-66/

Wow yeah that Petrusich piece is the best thing I've read in awhile

was watching his 30th anniversary show on youtube last night and i kept thinking if you added some cowboy hats and a steel guitar and some fiddle you could have a great country show. so many of his songs would be easily countrified.

also reminded how good this is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnS8577gBNc

you can even watch the concert the night before that one at winterland on youtube. 12/30/78. youtube is surely a blessing.

glad alfred rightly called out Petty's rhythm guitar playing — I think it definitely plays a big role. was also interesting to occasionally see him stretch out on lead (mostly on live versions of "Mary Jane's Last Dance"). Obviously with Campbell in the band he didn't need to do it much, but he could get a cool, raw Neil Young-y thing going.

Isn't the solo on the studio "Mary Jane" the rare Petty guitar solo? Playing Mike's famed ancient Tele.

In the oral history book Petty tells the interviewer how often he sees people getting his guitar parts wrong, but I don't quite get that. Not a lot of secrets to Tom Petty songs, afaict, beyond good taste and tasty licks. I did notice when I tried to figure out "Straight Into Darkness" once that the entire song is varispeeded into a different key, including even the piano.

Isn't the solo on the studio "Mary Jane" the rare Petty guitar solo? Playing Mike's famed ancient Tele.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, October 4, 2017 11:22 AM

Yep! He usually solos on a couple tracks per album.

i always liked when bruce soloed too.

People forget that until Darkness Bruce was the only guitarist in his band!

It took a while to figure out that Lofgren and Van Zandt handled rhythm.

Nils isn't even on a record until Tunnel of Love, and all he contributes is the (awesome) title track solo.

maura on tom: http://time.com/4968182/tom-petty-tribute/

maura & annie crushing the writeups <3

they sure are

In the oral history book Petty tells the interviewer how often he sees people getting his guitar parts wrong, but I don't quite get that. Not a lot of secrets to Tom Petty songs, afaict, beyond good taste and tasty licks.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, October 4, 2017

iirc he's talking about chord voicings. nothing a decent ear can't discern, but your average bar band with 200 songs on the list might not bother

As for guitar sounds no one gets better rock sounds/tones than Tom Petty and Mike Campbell. Those dudes knew their guitars, amps, etc.

Like, songs or preferences aside, I've always been struck by just how much better the Heartbreakers sound than the E Street Band.

xxp can totally see Petty using weird little chord tricks on what would otherwise be an open G or whatever

Campbell is a tone god, just listen to his sound on Breakdown, that tone....

Petty even wrote a song about his gear...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD8mBMn5F5k

also <3 maura for giving props to “Christmas All Over Again”, it’s always been a favorite of mine

those tone comments are super otm

In the Zollo book, Petty said that what George Harrison most admired about Mike Campbell was the tone he got out of his guitar.

http://variety.com/2017/music/news/tom-petty-death-song-sales-spike-1202580878/

I was worried from the url that everyone was downloading "Spike."

better than everyone downloading "Free Fallin'," I guess.

free fallin rules

It does but I don't wanna hear it for a while. It's his "Yesterday."

Free Fallin is the song that takes me back to the back seat of my parents' van

otm