Tom Petty: where do I start?

[binnie]

I've been meaning to get into Tom Petty for quite some time but I've really no idea what's great and what's not.

What albums do I check out first?

Any help really appreciated.

[sadaist]

Hmm...Petty is weird to me. Some of his tunes I love, and others I despise. Hard to say really. Looking forward to hearing your opinions on him though.

[VHscraps]

Try Damn the Torpedoes - love that album.



You can find a Classic Albums documentary about the making of the record on youtube.

Right now I'm watching that marathon Tom Petty documentary, 'Runnin' Down a Dream' on TV here (BBC Four in the UK) - four hours, and it is pretty damn good. Pro footage of them playing the Whisky in '77 (why is there never any footage of goddam Van Halen ...)

Someone needs to do a number like this on VH (the Petty doc was directed by Peter Bogdanovich, a 'proper' film maker who knows how to put a story together)

[VHscraps]

Damn the Torpedoes (Classic Albums doc), 55 mins ...

[FORD]

I'll vouch for Damn the Torpedos as a great place to start, though you can't really go wrong with any of the first three albums.

You should definitely pick up the "Playback" box set, if you can find it. It has a generous cross section of Petty's earlier studio albums (the MCA catalog) along with a bunch of rarities that weren't available elsewhere (aside from some long out of print B Sides and radio promo records, in a few cases)

[So this is love]

Tom Petty...hmmm I have a few albums alot of songs loaded in my Bose but I don't know where he comes in... I mean he's good to listen to at times... but depending of the mood I'm in...he's not in my top twenty which at the very top include the likes of VH...he's in my 30 to 100 best artists...difficult to rank this guy but I have the best of so that would be a start...

[gbranton]

My favorite thing I own by him is "Live Anthology", four discs of his best stuff live. I think it's one of those Walmart exclusive things.

[VHscraps]

Good example of the drums / bass kinda dragging the beat - 'Stop Draggin' My Heart Around', which Petty wrote for Stevie Nicks

[So this is love]

Good example of the drums / bass kinda dragging the beat - 'Stop Draggin' My Heart Around', which Petty wrote for Stevie Nicks

actually this is the best song involving Tom Petty, I find...

[VHscraps]

Anybody see Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers when they did a whole tour as Bob Dylan's backing band? Used to have a show from Australia on VHS - it was an official film, 'Hard to Handle'. I also had a killer show from some Farm Aid II satellite feed, the Heartbreakers and Dylan playing a full show to what I seem to remember as an empty stadium (their performance was via satellite from somewhere else in the US, and fed into the Farm Aid II broadcast - well, a couple of songs).

Found this on youtube, 'Knocking on Heavens Door' from that Australian tour film. I think this was 1986.

[Mr. Vengeance]

Petty's early work tend to have albums that start quickly. Usually three killer tunes. Then the albums slow down into less commercial work. That changed in later years where the albums were more balanced. Hard Promises is the album I recommend.

[clarathecarrot]

Try Damn the Torpedoes - love that album.



You can find a Classic Albums documentary about the making of the record on youtube.

Right now I'm watching that marathon Tom Petty documentary, 'Runnin' Down a Dream' on TV here (BBC Four in the UK) - four hours, and it is pretty damn good. Pro footage of them playing the Whisky in '77 (why is there never any footage of goddam Van Halen ...)

Someone needs to do a number like this on VH (the Petty doc was directed by Peter Bogdanovich, a 'proper' film maker who knows how to put a story together)

I bought this cassette when it came out 1980..or so...I wore it out, took it everywhere ,made people play it at parties, it is a tour of excellence...never bought another Petty work just wanted this as a time marker of a perfect time.

It is a dated thing, perhaps, if you don't want to be there, it may not relate to today. I don't know, how anyone would be with it... good luck.

He was around all thru the 70's then he just exploded with this, work... I don't know where he got the inspiration, but is very different than what he was doing before this came out, it set the tone for his future works and sound.

Roth On.

[TwoFoolsAMinute]

Honestly, I would recommend the greatest hits disc and branch out from there. I like bits from his whole career with and without Heartbreakers. Wildflowers may be my favorite though which was made not long after Into the Great Wide Open which is my least favorite. It's all pretty decent.

[Terry]

I'd agree that Damn The Torpedoes would be a good place to start.

Maybe pick up that and a greatest hits package.

I'm in the same boat as sadaist far as Petty goes: I enjoy some stuff, but other stuff I have no use for.

[kwame k]

I agree with starting with Damn The Torpedoes or the greatest hits.

[Matt White]

GREATEST HITS................

A great songwriter.......

always dug Tom.....Saving Grace is a KICK ASS tune....

[Hardrock69]

First heard him in 1978 when his first album came out. My roomie in the Army was from Florida, and had seen Tom Petty playing in the clubs down there.

Funny thing...the guy who gave Tom Petty guitar lessons when he was first starting out was Don Felder of The Eagles.....

Backing Bob Dylan was the perfect gig for him stylistically. I always viewed him as Bob Dylan's bastard step child who could actually enunciate the lyrics, lol. Unlike Bob.