Petty gives Lowcountry dose of 'Full Moon Fever'
By Prentriss Findlay
Charleston Post & Courier - September 29, 1995
A candelabra smoked on stage while fans barked between songs.
Beer fell from above on puzzled concertgoers who looked overhead in wonderment.
On stage, as Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers churned out the hits, a T-shirt and a beach ball landed on stage.
"You're getting me really excited really early. You're getting me all worked up," Petty said dryly.
Hitting his second decade -- running
By James Bass
The Robesonian - October 2, 1995
Tom Petty proves that rock 'n' roll gets better with age.
RALEIGH -- If Tom Petty has proved anything, it is that good rock and roll never dies.
Now into his second decade and running, Petty has skilfully managed to keep the necessary elements of survival in an industry that thrives on musical evolution.
"You might remember this one. You can sing the words if you do," said the artist before grinding into a rendition of his classic hit "The Waiting."
Petty began his career in the 1970's with such hits as "Don't Do Me Like That," "Refugee," and "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" and shaped his career for the 1980's with the top ten success of songs like "Don't Come Around Here No More," "You Got Lucky" and "Jammin' Me."
The 1990's have found the same Tom Petty, but revised and built to run close with today's younger rock artists. Such hits as "Free Fallin'," "Learning To Fly" and the recent "You Don't Know How It Feels" are evidence.
His concerts provide all the tools to prove that Petty is not only a tried and true rocker, but a showman who captivates and keeps his audiences on their feet.
Into the great wide open: Veteran rocker Tom Petty to play Homecoming show
By Tabitha Soren
The Tuscaloosa News - Thursday, October 5, 1995
Singer Tom Petty is hanging out backstage with his 20-year-old daughter, Adria, about two hours before his concert at Madison Square Garden, one of his many stops on the "Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers Tour 1995."
(That tour will make a stop in Tuscaloosa Friday, for a UA Homecoming show at Coleman Coliseum. Petty's opening guest will be jazz artist Taj Mahal.)
Adria wants a T-shirt, so her dad gives her the money to buy some merchandise. The doors haven't opened to the public yet, and the two of them walk to the front of the hall, where a vendor refuses to sell them anything because he isn't officially open yet.
Since the vendor is sitting there doing nothing, he eventually acquiesces and sells the Pettys some goods.
Tom is amused by not getting recognized, but Adria gets a bigger kick out of it and videotapes the whole encounter.
When they come back, Tom hands me a program on which he has written, "I bought this for you with my own money."
A scene like this sums up the nature of this unassuming rock-god billionaire.
The beat of a different drum: Stan Lynch finds life's just fine after Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
By Bill DeYoung
Gainesville Sun -- Tuesday, November 21, 1995
"Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers started out as a very rebellious rock 'n' roll band," Stan Lynch says. "We were noisy and obnoxious; I thought we were fabulous." Over time, he grew to dislike the changes in Petty's music. "It became sissy to me," he says. "It was very offensive to be 30 years old and playing in a 'pop' band."
CRESCENT BEACH -- The other night, Stan Lynch went to see some friends perform in the Jacksonville Coliseum. "It's very nostalgic to walk into a big arena full of people," he says, shaking his head with wonder. "I feel like I'm supposed to be going to work."
For nearly 20 years, Lynch sat in the drummer's chair with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, making a bucketful of classic rock records and playing thousands of concerts in countries all over the world.
He left the band a year ago, to concentrate on writing and producing, something he says he wasn't encouraged to do in Petty's group. It was not an entirely amicable split.
"Am I a fool to let it go?" he asks. "Maybe. But look what I get. I have this whole life that now is my own. I can do whatever I want with it." He hasn't touched a drum kit in ages.
Rock Music: Petty set offers major overview
By Mark Brown
Youngstown Vindicator - Friday, November 24, 1995
Tom Petty fans are getting a good dose of previously unheard stuff in a new boxed set.
It's finally here: This week marks the release of a bunch of unheard songs from one of the greatest songwriting teams in rock music, along with a full career retrospective.
No, not that team. You've got Beatles on the brain, mate.
Besides, Lennon/McCartney sets a standard that probably can never be matched. But at times, Tom Petty and Mike Campbell have come pretty close.
"Playback: 1973-1994" comes out this week, and it's everything you could hope for in a boxed set -- from Petty's early demos to scasa of unreleased songs, as well as all the big hits, overlooked album tracks and hard-to-find B-sides.
Petty fans will find it loaded with treasures; casual fans could pick it up and find out what they've been missing. The whole story is here.
Petty's hometown of Gainesville, Fla., was probably one of the unhippest places to be growing up in the '60s, but appearances can be deceiving: there was a quiet revolution going on.
What to Give, What To Get: Music
By Brian A. Gnatt
The Michigan Daily - November 30, 1995
How to beat the holiday shopping shuffle
It's that time of year again. Time to take that hard earned cash and turn it into gifts for your loved ones. Or at least the ones you're supposed to love.
Anyway, as far as gift giving goes, what better gift to give than the gift of music? For Mom there's always Michael Bolton. Dad likes the oldies, and the siblings can always go for the Pearl Jam imitation of the week.
But if your family and friends actually have good taste in music, or you just want to teach them a thing or two, here's your chance to get them something, with a little spunk this holiday season.
Tom Petty | Playback | MCA
This six disc collection of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers contains just about every piece a Petty enthusiast could ever want. It has three discs of regular release material, one of them a B-sides compilation, and two others of previously unreleased material. For hours of stoned enjoyment!
Popularity finally catches up to Petty and Heartbreakers
By Jason Petty
The Yellow Jacket - December 1, 1995
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers finished up their Wildflowers tour early this fall after playing before numerous sellout crowds. It shows that his popularity has finally caught up to him and many believe that it was long overdue.
Petty and his band hail from Gainesville, Florida but officially formed in Los Angeles, California in the mid-1970's. In 1976 the band kicked the stagnant music scene in the face with their self-titled debut album. The brand of rock they introduced was stripped down, it combines jumpy blues rythyms and ringing guitars, over which Petty got in the listeners faces with his blunt and direct vocal style. It took listeners in the United States a whole year to catch up with the album. The single "Breakdown" was released for the radio and became a top-40 hit after word got back to the states that Petty was igniting flames in Europe.
Lend Them Your Ears: Standout Collections Whose Time Has Come
By Jim Farber
New York Daily News - Tuesday, December 5, 1995
TOM PETTY and THE HEARTBREAKERS | "Playback" | (MCA) | 3 Discs
Nearly three hours on Tom Petty's six-CD set have never before been heard by the American public.
Most of us could do without the live tracks (since few major artists put on as snoozable a show as the Heartbreakers). But luckily, nearly all the band's B-sides and outtakes outpace most rockers' A sides and album tracks. Even throwaways, like the California-rock "Heartbreaker's Beach Party," carry a certain authority.
To boot, we get choice covers of obscure Nick Lowe and Van Morrsion numbers plus, of course, three full CDs of greatest hits. A find for any fan.
POP MUSIC: Out of the Vault and Ready to Wrap
By Jon Pareles
The New York Times - December 7, 1995
In recent years, record companies have been repackaging their back catalogues as lavish, multiple-CD boxed sets geared for holiday gift giving. This year the companies have dug deeper into their vaults to offer first-time sets from some of the last of the holdouts among their top artists. There are also sets from lesser-known artists and labels and from musicians whose works have been boxed for a second or third time. Here are 30 choices that New York Times critics find noteworthy. Prices are suggested retail.
TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS: 'PLAYBACK' MCA; six CD's ($80)
Tom Petty was already looking back when he arrived in the 1970's with music steeped in Bob Dylan, the Byrds and Elvis Presley. The Heartbreakers were gifted borrowers, while Petty had his own persona: a trailer-park Southerner with low expectations, seething with resentment at women and authority figures. Half the set distills Petty's albums; the remainder holds B-sides of singles (including gems like "Down the Line"), songs from Petty's pre-Heartbreakers band, Mudcrutch, and unreleased material that documents a long-running battle between Petty's rowdy side and his producer's restraining influences.