Gainesville Sun - March 29, 1985

Notes on "Southern Accents," the new Tom Petty album, which arrived in stores this week (and is already selling well, according to our "Top Ten" chart): There are no less than five producers listed on the album, including David Stewart and Robbie Robertson; ex-Heartbreaker Ron Blair is credited for bass on "The Best of Everything;" the album is not on Backstreet Records, but its parent company, MCA -- the subsidiary (which could claim only Petty as a successful artist) was liquidated two years ago, right after Petty's last album; and, finally, the entire LP is barely 30 minutes long, a Petty trademark. It's a very good record, though, and although it's stylistically different from the artist's previous works, it's definitely worth the few listens it takes to follow the groove.