listening Post: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – Wildflowers

Only a few more rekkids to go……

Tom Petty – Wildflowers – 1994 (Buy it)

Petty sheds the Heartbreakers for another solo outing and dumps Jeff (Mr. Sheen) Lynne along the way. Hooking up with Rick (Let’s get back to basics) Rubin, TP puts out a record that is more assured, less clunky and distracted than some previous offerings.
I still feel like I don’t understand why Petty has been a force to be reckoned with for so long. But, that said, there is something assuring and precious in a good way about this record. Maybe its the end of the glossy, bombastic 80s. Maybe it’s that he has less to prove. I don’t know. But there’s more to love and revisit on Wildflowers than most of TPs previous albums. One holdover from the 80s, however, is that the songs just don’t know when they are over. Even a 3+ minute confection like “Time to get Going” overstays its welcome by about 45 seconds. But, it’s kind of hypnotically wonderful that you almost don’t care. Until I find myself thinking, “is this song STILL playing?” and then I hate it and I want to die. The record is a good 20 minutes longer than it need be. And it really grinds to a stop at the end. But, there’s so much good here that I can’t fault him trying to include everything.
There’s a melancholy that hangs over this record that make it at once nostalgic and reminiscent. This is the best Petty has sounded in a while and certainly the best record of his to get high to. And the most latter day Beatles he has sounded as well.

Grade A
A Side: You Don’t Know How it Feels, Its Good to be King, You Wreck Me
BlindSide: Time to Get Going, Hard to Find a Friend (Feat. Ringo Starr on drums!!)
DownSide: Honey Bee (It should be better, you know?)