It’s a slog. But I am determined to get through the Tom Petty catalog. Even if it kills me…
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers – Into the Great Wide Open – 1991 (Buy It)
Petty brings the band back together for an official TP&tH album. Keeps Jeff Lynne around for that pop sheen and you know what? They actually sound great. The thing about this album is it’s filled with Petty songs that you THINK you know but you really don’t but it’s so familiar and comfy that you don’t mind it. And it actually rocks a little more than the man has let himself. Like Makin’s Some Noise and Out in the cold. The California rock of Dark of the Sun could easily be mistaken for middling Eagles. Until nasal Petty comes out and warbles.
Lynne does such a good job of producing this record for mass appeal that he actually renders Petty almost anonymous on his own record.
This is one of the best in the Petty catalog and I never need to hear it again.
Grade B+
A Side: Learning to Fly, Into the Great Wide Open
Blind Side: Out in the Cold,
DownSide: Two Gunslingers, Built to Last
