Tom Petty
By Bill DeYoung
Gainesville Sun - February 20, 2000
Musician | Born 1950 | Legacy: Considered one of rock music's most creative post-Beatles singer/songwriters
Thomas Earl Petty was born in Gainesville, strummed his first guitar chord in Gainesville, wrote his first song in Gainesville. And more than any other figure in popular culture, it has been his abilities as a singer and songwriter that put Gainesville on the music map.
The son of insurance salesman Earl Petty and tag office clerk Kitty Avery, Tom was drawn to rock 'n' roll at an early age. He was 10 years old when Elvis Presley came to nearby Ocala to make a movie. Standing behind the barricades on the outdoor set, Petty saw the teenage girls swoon and scream whenever Elvis emerged from his trailer. "He got home and he told us all about it," recalled Earl Petty. "He was so excited. And he wanted him a guitar."
Stan Lynch tackles an 'Inside Job'
By Bill DeYoung
Gainesville Sun - May 30, 2000
The disgruntled drummer for Tom Petty's Heartbreakers, Lynch tells of a "begrudging admiration" between himself and Don Henley.
Working as Don Henley's co-producer on "Inside Job" was Stan Lynch's biggest job yet.
"Metaphorically, it's like I've built a lot of small houses and this is the first big building that I've really tried to build," says Lynch, who's stayed happily behind the scenes since leaving Tom Petty's Heartbreakers in 1993. "But it's been a logical progression. If I'd tried to do this 10 years ago, it would've been impossible. I would've freaked out."
New Music Reviews
Rome News-Tribune - November 15, 2000
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers | "Anthology: Through the Years" | MCA | Rating: ★★★★
Perhaps it's because he was so steeped in the history of pop and rock or perhaps it's because he was always so comfortable in the company of iconic elders like Bob Dylan and George Harrison. Whatever it is, it has made us forget that when Tom Petty released his first album with his band, the Heartbreakers in 1976, it was considered part of the impending new wave -- a rawer and realer antidote to Steely Dan-Boz Scaggs slickum.
Music: Record Reviews
By Raoul Hernandez
The Austin Chronicle - Friday, December 8, 2000
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers | Anthology: Through the Years (MCA) | ★★★
On 1995's Playback, a 6-CD box set most fans agree would be almost perfect as four longer discs, MCA made a case for Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers being one of the Great American Bands. Originally from Gainesville, Florida, much closer to Georgia than Miami, Petty and his crew of Dixie-fried longhairs moved to L.A. in the mid-Seventies to pick up the standard of musical forebears like Roger McGuinn's Byrds and ex-Byrd and Floridian Gram Parsons' Flying Burrito Brothers. Petty's worship of British Invasion pop and rootsy American music didn't manifest itself so much as an alt.country twang as it did what Playback titles its first disc, "The Big Jangle." Combined with the collection's second and third CDs, Playback works best as a hip, well-chosen hits compilation rather than a B-sides catch-all, which it dissembles itself into on the last three discs (aptly titled "The Other Sides," "Through the Cracks," and "Nobody's Children"). The new 2-CD Anthology: Through the Years takes the blueprints of Playback's first three sides and refocuses them slightly into a game best-of collection for non-completists. Given that the band already had a Greatest Hits back in '93, consumers now have the choice of a single, double, or sextuple configuration of prime Petty-ness, from "American Girl" through to "Mary Jane's Last Dance." Through the Years unwisely substitutes "The Wild One, Forever" from the Heartbreakers' 1976 debut for the box set's Damn the Torpedos gem "Shadow of a Doubt (A Complex Kid)," while adding the obligatory subpar new track, "Surrender," but otherwise it stays close to Playback -- down to the Full Moon Fever outtake "Waiting for Tonight." Unlike Greatest Hits, on the other hand, the new Anthology is smart to include raucous album tracks like "Too Much Ain't Enough" and "Change of Heart." With plenty of room to spare on both discs, Anthology: Through the Years could've easily included overlooked catalog highlights like "Deliver Me," from 1982's underappreciated Long After Dark or another track or two from the group's high-water mark, Southern Accents ('85), but then only hard-core fans will nitpick, and they, like liner-notes rock critic-turned-filmmaker Cameron Crowe, might be better off making their own mix tape. Then again, Crowe calls that a "hideous undertaking," which plays right into the hands of MCA's latest repackaging of great songs from one of the great American bands.
Beatles, Petty release catalog hits
By Jason Casselberry
The Brand - December 8, 2000
Tis' the season to be merry. And tis' the season to crank out the greatest hits discs. So without further ado, here's two discs that may be to your liking, The Beatles 1, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' Anthology - Through the Years.
The Beatles 1 come hot off the heels of not only the release of the book Beatles Anthology, but on the 20th anniversary of the death of John Lennon. And the purpose of the album: to showcase 27 of The Beatles' best hits, serves its purpose well. Name a Beatles song; it's on there (except "Strawberry Fields" and "Please Please Me"). Anybody that has yet to hear what a Beatles song sounds like needs to make this an essential purpose.
The Heartbreakers, on the other hand, is cranking out their third "Best of" compilation in five years. But that's OK. It's got their best stuff on here, two discs to be exact. And it's all good. You've heard these songs before and they're just as good, even digitally remastered.
If you've bought a greatest hits set like this before by these groups, stay away. If not, then you needs these compilations.
Beatles: A+; Tom Petty: A
Through The Years
By Mike Bell
CANOE - December 31, 2000
Two CDs of the best of everything Tom Petty
ANTHOLOGY: THROUGH THE YEARS | Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers | (UNI/UTV)
The shoe: truly one of man's great feats.
I believe it was poet Ogden Nash (who later went on to form the seminal rock/philosophy act Crapsey, Whitman, Nash and Jung) who wrote: "I think that I shall never view/Footwear as lovely as a shoe."
Comforting, familiar, practical and, yea, noble, it has moved with us through history and helped establish and crush civilizations.
And, sure, the Fleuvogs, the Nikes and the Dr. Martens of this world can dress it up and market it all they want and fetishists like Imelda Marcos can make it seem like a dirty, dirty thing, but the simple truth remains that the shoe is an idea that will always be there and will never grow old.
Like the music of Tom Petty.
Petty will bring his Heartbreakers back to SPAC for July 7 concert
By Michael Lisi
The Daily Gazette - May 9, 2001
SARATOGA SPRINGS -- It's been almost six years since Tom Petty has brought his Heartbreakers to the Capital Region.
Well Petty fans, the wait is almost over.
Petty and The Heartbreakers are set to roll into the Saratoga Performing Arts Center on July 7, one of 14 shows added to his summer tour, according to Petty's official Web site, www.tompetty.com.
The SPAC date was also listed on Sonicnet.com, a popular music Web site; SPAC officials haven't announced the date yet.
Summer at the Gorge: Still living the dream
By Heather Lalley
The Spokesman-Review - Friday, May 11, 2001
Tom Petty still has the attitude to keep him in rock 'n' roll.
Tom Petty, like the title of his guitar anthem, is a guy who won't back down.
He battled his record label and, later, his publishing company.
He fought with a tire manufacturer who used a Petty sound-alike song in its commercial.
He threatened not to play a show in New Jersey when officials prevented Greenpeace from setting up information booths in the lobby.
Petty even told George W. Bush to stop playing "I Won't Back Down" at his presidential campaign events. (Bush stopped, and Petty later played the song at Al Gore's concession party.)
It's that attitude, perhaps, that has contributed to Petty's staying power in the rock world.
It's still good to be Tom Petty, king of classic rock
By Gene Stout
Seattle Post Intelligencer - Sunday, May 13, 2001
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers headed into the great wide open Saturday, kicking off the 2001 season at The Gorge with two hours of anthemic, all-American rock 'n' roll.
Celebrating their 25th year as a band, Petty and the Heartbreakers reached back to some of their earlier albums for their set, performing such songs as "Too Much Ain't Enough," "Here Comes My Girl" and "Even the Losers." There were new songs, too, notably "Billy the Kid" from the group's recent "Echo" album.
The Gorge show, featuring an opening set by Jakob Dylan's Wallflowers, was part of the group's "Way Out West" tour, which is moving eastward in midsummer with additional dates in the Midwest and East. During a break in June, Petty hopes to begin work on the group's next album.
At The Gorge, it was apparent Petty was enjoying his spring/summer trek. He and the band performed old songs as if they were new, adding texture and nuance to longtime favorites. Many songs featured extended jams.
Wearing a sequined jacket and striped tie, Petty introduced himself as "so young and so tanned" despite a grayish-white beard that made him look older than his 50 years. His rapport with fans couldn't have been better.