I have to say, I am in absolute pure LOVE with the vinyl set. The booklet is great, with loads of photos not in the 4CD set, and the vinyl sounds phenomally balanced. I don’t need to add anything about the music, other than I don’t think I’ve ever got this much enjoyment out of a box set - ever! With that said, I noticed the in built creases for the LP pages to turn are too far in to the spine, meaning I can’t flick through the main packaged very easily. Am I the only one with this issue?
It seems like the 4CD set is already getting tough to find from online retailers and is starting to command high prices already . . .
It was briefly going for upwards of $100 on Amazon. But they seem to have it back in stock now, and the price is back down to $39.24.
This is second only to Dylan's Bootleg Series, vol. 1-3, as my favorite boxed set of all time. I have hardly listened to anything else since this came out.
I really love the version of Listen to Her Heart (Live at The Record Plant, Sausalito, CA, 4/23/77) on the 4 disc and hi-res set. Has the full Record Plant recordings been released? Looks like there are plenty of bootlegs of it.
A move prevented me from digging into this set until today. I pre ordered and bought it from the UK... took weeks past the release date for it to arrive.. This set has re awakened by fire for this band! I am again reminded that i was exceptionally lucky to have seen Tom as many times as I did. The song selection and sound quality really stand out. Glad I bought my vinyl copy! I think this box teased that we will get the complete Wallflowers sometime in the near future.
I wasn't under the impression that the CD set was a limited edition, is it possible that online retailers have simply sold out of the first run and they're awaiting a restock? For the first high-profile release after Petty's passing, it seems odd that the record label wouldn't simply choose to print more to meet the obvious demand for this set.
I'm pretty sure the Super Deluxe was/is a limited edition, not sure about the vinyl. The standard 4CD, however, yes it would seem odd if there isn't a reprint.
Yeah, I’m just talking about the standard 4 CD set, hoping that I didn’t miss the boat on getting it for a semi-reasonable price.
So the Deluxe version has 2 tracks from 92 and 93 with Stan, but ended up on Wildflowers. Are there more tracks from Wildflowers with Stan? I prefer the earlier versions to those on Wildflowers.
Not yet. Hopefully on the Wildflowers reissue. Everyone already has Wildflowers, a cooler idea would be to release an alternate version of the entire running order, and then add the extra songs afterwards.
There are a few more tracks from those same sessions on "Playback". I'll get back to this on Monday if someone hasn't already filled in the gaps before then...
Just for posterity and because I feel like sharing... I have been at loose ends lately when it comes to my music listening. I've been in a rut basically, but desperate for something to really come along and move me. Well, I found it and it turned out not to be something new but something old. I grew up with Tom Petty's music around me, being an American and a child of two people who came of age in the late '70s/early '80s (I'm 30). All his hits are engraved on my soul and I was very familiar with some of his later albums (Wildflowers especially) because my parents had them in the CD collection when I was growing up. For reasons I do not understand, I never took the time to explore his catalog deeply. The silliest thing jarred me into rectifying that. I have been watching the complete King of the Hill series on DVD for the past several months. Tom Petty had a great recurring role later in the series as a sweet and simple redneck named Lucky. I said to my husband, I've always liked his music a lot. Why haven't I gone deep into his catalog? He just always felt like a part of life in America that had always and would always be around. I'd have time to see him live and hear more of his albums...I was shocked by his death just like everyone else. I downloaded An American Treasure on Spotify earlier this month and it completely opened my eyes and ears to this man and band's genius. How stupid of me to ignore most of his work for so long. The hits are and will always remain wonderful. But the well is so deep and I had no idea. I feel quite foolish. What a songwriter. What a storyteller. What a guy. And the band...just an amazing band. An American Treasure is just what it says in the title. I thought I would put this here to thank you all for this amazing thread. I've read it all the way through and gained so much insight from all of you, and seeing your passion and love for the music come through has been it's own reward. To those asking who the audience for such a box would be...well, it got me hook, line and sinker and I am now collecting Mr. Petty's complete works on CD. I feel like he was hidden from me in plain sight. He made it look so easy that it took me 30 years to notice the genius at work. And the fun and the heart and soul! I haven't had this much fun blasting music in the car in years. Anyway, I don't want to hijack the thread. Just THANKS to all of you and to Tom. I know what it feels like when I encounter a "life artist" for me and this is one of those times.
Lovely post. If you haven’t watched (all 4 hours! of) the documentary on Tom, “ Running Down A Dream”, I highly recommend it to you. It turned me from a casual fan to a devotee.
As i read Parachute Woman's post i thought the very same thing and was going to recommend so you beat me to it. In fact i watched the first dvd again this week, its 4 hours in total but ive watched it many times. Thoroughly recommended.
Thanks guys! Yes, I watched Runnin' Down a Dream just yesterday. And it was positively splendid. I have come away with so much respect for Tom Petty. It's great to see someone with such an incredible amount of talent who also retained a sense of humor, genuine love for his bandmates, family and where he came from and a devotion to his fans. Wow. I was quite emotional at multiple points, especially during that sensational live version of 'Southern Accents.' I was also amazed by just how much footage they had and how much of the story had been documented as it was happening! Really fortunate. This was easily one of the best rock documentaries I've ever watched. Also, my dad looked a LOT like Tom Petty when they were both young (skinny, long blonde hair, angular face). Brought a smile to my face/
There isn't a short or simple answer to your question because the "Wildflowers" material that features Stan Lynch on drums was recorded before anybody knew what the "Wildflowers" album was or was to be. The material that derives from this period which is spread out on both "An American Treasure" and "Playback", comes from a period in time when Tom Petty/Heartbreakers were fresh off of returning from a European tour in the spring of 1992 and Tom Petty had written a bunch of material which ostensibly would've formed the basis for the next Tom Petty/Heartbreakers record but the recording sessions broke down and in Petty's own words, he made the decision to walk away from the band. This decision would eventually lead him to Rick Rubin, who further crystallized the idea that the next album should be built around the idea of creative freedom in that Petty would be able to cast the songs individually rather than being strapped into the same five musicians for the duration of the process. So the two projects although they certainly share common material, are entirely separate. On one hand you have a collection of material that if brought to completion probably would've been the next Heartbreakers record, but failed to come to fruition and then you have "Wildflowers" which is the result of two years of cultivating some of these songs, trying out different musicians and different arrangements until they arrived at the finished product. It's two very different things. I think a lot of people look at "Wildflowers" and say "Well Tom Petty changed drummers". It was never just about changing drummers. The whole approach changed. Tom Petty once said about "Wildflowers", that it was never anything that the Heartbreakers couldn't do but instead was a search for artistic freedom. So part of that freedom was being able to work with these tracks beyond just tracking them to tape and calling it a day. By this point, Tom Petty and Mike Campbell were becoming heavily invested in using the recording studio and getting the most out of what the recording process could afford them. Rick Rubin was a huge part of the transition as well as he didn't have a hand in the material that was cut with Stanley. In fact, Petty has described the pre-Rubin recorded as essentially aimless and Rubin was brought aboard essentially to steer the project in a cohesive direction. Of course what ended up happening is the Heartbreakers record went away and the material recorded from that point forward developed into a project with it's own unique identity. It is however, interesting to ponder how, if the collection of material the Heartbreakers recorded in 1992 may have congealed into a proper album. The record certainly would've borne some commonality with it's eventual successor at least in terms of the compositions. If nothing else, the 1992 material was a solid collection of songs which in enough of itself could've formed the basis for something significant: 01. Drivin' Down To Georgia 02. God's Gift To Man 03. You Get Me High 04. Crawling Back To You 05. Lost Without You 06. Come On Down To My House 07. It's Good To Be King 08. Wake Up Time
This would probably have been the band's most hard rocking effort ever if it had come to fruition. He played Georgia... and Come on Down... when I saw them in Glasgow on the European leg of the ITGWO tour and it was... intense to say the least.
This didn't just start in '92. It goes back to the early mid 80's when Tom started using drum machines (alienating Stan), and after Let Me Up, he worked solo leaving the band out. This is a continuation of Tom not wanting to be in band anymore. In the early years, Denny Cordell wanted Tom to be a solo artist, but Tom wanted to lead a band. By the mid 80's, he didn't. He wanted to be solo.
You aren't wrong in your assertion that "Let Me Up (I've Had Enough)" was the last true Tom Petty/Heartbreakers album of it's ilk. Petty was frustrated at that point both with being creatively stifled and likely also with Stan Lynch, but he never had any inclination of ditching the Heartbreakers for a solo career. If anything, the band itself probably would've collapsed under the strain and stress of a lot of things that were going on around 1984-1987. Fortunately two things occurred which prevented this from happening. First the tour with Dylan cannot be understated in it's importance as far as the the longevity of the Heartbreakers is concerned. They learned how to play as a much tighter, professional unit of the course of that tour and it probably extended them some life in terms of what they were going to be cohesively going forward as a performing band. Secondly, Petty's much needed respite on the other side of the hill with Jeff Lynne and George Harrison refreshed him as a songwriter and it was Lynne who got Petty interested in the business of making records. I've written about this at length before but if you look at the tours that Tom Petty/Heartbreakers did after "Full Moon Fever", they really were a period of adjustment and compromise. Petty had a batch of new songs that he had recorded without the band that he wanted the Heartbreakers to tour and the band wasn't necessarily keen on playing that material, because it was a revamping of their sound and one that the band had little hand in shaping. So while the concerts from this period featured the new music that Petty wanted to play and the fans wanted to hear, they also featured a great deal of "roots rock 'n' roll" that would placate the members of the band who weren't necessarily behind the idea of the Jeff Lynne material. Eventually Scott Thurston was brought about to enhance the acoustic guitar presentation on stage as well. So by the time they were touring behind "Into The Great Wide Open" in 1991, the band had effectively congealed behind this approach which is why many fans feel that the 1991/1992 tour was the best tour the band ever did. There was just one problem in that Stanley no longer wanted to be in the band. This is important, Petty always wanted to be in a band. He never wanted to be a solo artist as he was uncomfortable about appearing onstage by himself. He wanted to be in a band but also wanted the autonomy of being the leader of the band. This eventually brought him into conflict with Stanley who had issues with the material that Petty was writing and also with being asked to perform this material on stage. It basically withered away whatever was left of his tether to the rest of the band and he moved to Florida. In a way it got to the point where according to Petty, Stanley could no longer play on the type of songs that Petty was writing and Petty communicated that to him and Stanley got upset likely because he knew that Petty was no longer going to exclusively play the type of rock 'n' roll that he was interested in playing. So simply put, Petty never wanted to be a solo artist in terms of ditching the band. He wanted to be in a band as long as that band didn't include Stan Lynch which is essentially what the "Wildflowers" album represents. It's the encapsulation of the process changing from "Let Me Up (I've Had Enough)" which was the end of The Big Jangle to assimilating the Heartbreakers into a band that put their primary focus on making finely wrought records which is why Stanley isn't around from that point on.
I love the part where he berates the record company executive trying to make bad suggestions to Roger McGuinn. It's just such a perfect encapsulation and dramatization of how he really felt about the record industry and how they treated artists.
