Record Rack: Petty's Route gets complex
By Randy Lewis
The Los Angeles Times - July 23, 2006
Tom Petty | "Highway Companion" | (American Recordings) | ★★★
Taking on the role of traveling buddy for his third solo venture, Tom Petty, sans Heartbreakers, clearly is more interested in the journey than whatever destination may lie at the end of it.
In the album's dozen songs, for which he plays most of the instruments himself, he cruises slowly down the back roads of what most often feels like the South of his youth, making this a journey of considerable self-assessment. It's also a more writerly exercise than typical of his concise and straightforward Heartbreakers hits. In "Down South," he sings about pretending to be Samuel Clemens to impress the girls, but more often than not he taps the melancholy reflection of a Reynolds Price rather than the razor wit of a Mark Twain.
All The Petty Horsepower
By Jim Farber
New York Daily News - Sunday, July 23, 2006
TOM PETTY | "Highway Companion" | (American Recordings)
Tom Petty's new album finds him on the run - from time, reality, routine, inebriation - from everything that holds him down or, conversely, threatens him with too much freedom.
It's an itchy feeling Petty's out to capture, a flinch from his own skin. Logically, he chose to explore these travels of the inner life through a metaphor musicians know well: the road.
The lyrics to "Highway Companion" feature more car images than a classic Bruce Springsteen album. The good news is, Petty has gunned his creative engines as well.
CD Reviews
Review by Jaan Uhelszki
The San Francisco Chronicle - July 23, 2006
TOM PETTY | HIGHWAY COMPANION | AMERICAN/WARNER BROS. | $18.98
Tom Petty's third solo album, "Highway Companion," is filled with paradox, restlessness and a near-obsession with the passage of time, created by an artist who perceives more road behind him than before him. At 55, he's right. But what's key here is that he's not sublimating his fears of aging but using them to inflame these songs in a way that he hasn't since his first solo album, 1989's "Full Moon Fever." Every word counts in his quest to figure out his place in a radically changing world. This disc seems to finish the narrative arc that Petty began in 1989, when he was singing about "Free Fallin'." Here, he's dealing with what happens when that momentum stops. Isaac Newton's first law of motion proposes that a body in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force, and Petty seems to be battling those forces with a vengeance. But it's not clear what his bete noire is -- his own fretful demons about getting old and losing his place in rock's pantheon, or a diminishing marketplace. It's no secret that the last couple of Heartbreakers albums weren't the commercial blockbusters that their earlier works were, but this album could change that. Petty (left, performing in June in St. Paul, Minn.) has reached down into the deepest part of his battered Southern soul and returned with a frank, poetic assessment of the things that go bump in his own dark night, crafting songs full of worry, prophecy and then an elegant acceptance of his choices. What ties all the songs together is that concept of motion -- be it running ("Saving Grace"), driving ("Turn This Car Around," "Night Driver"), riding a horse ("Ankle Deep") or riding a train ("The Golden Rose"). One thing is clear: Petty is no longer "Running Down a Dream" but rather trying to hold on to one.
This Week's Hot CD: Tom Petty's 'Highway Companion'
Seattle Post-Intelligencer - Monday, July 24, 2006
Highway Companion (American/WEA) | GRADE: B
Even though he hails from the wrong coast, Petty writes about Los Angeles' losers and dreamers as effectively as though he'd spent a lifetime being cut off on the 101 by Hummers driven by junior agents from William Morris.
In his finely crafted new solo effort, he gets down to it again with "This Old Town," a rumination that could've been kicked off Neil Young's "Harvest" for being too much of a downer. This town, Petty sings in a melancholy, beaten-down voice, "ties your hands/ It spikes your drink/I'd say more, but I can't think."
It's one of a dozen haunting, sparingly fleshed-out songs that find Petty facing down mortality and wondering where all the years went. That tone is reflected elsewhere in "Flirting With Time," a smog-choked last stand set in a place where "shadow men talk a real good game."
Petty's Country Roads
By Randy Lewis
The Washington Express - Monday, July 24, 2006
Tom Petty takes a slow, introspective tour of the South
Taking on the role of traveling buddy for his third solo venture, "Highway Companion" (American Recordings), Tom Petty, sans Heartbreakers, clearly is more interested in the journey than the destination.
In the album's dozen songs, on which he plays most of the instruments, he cruises slowly down the back roads of what most often feels like the South of his youth, making this a journey of considerable self-assessment. It's also a more writerly exercise than typical of his concise and straightforward Heartbreakers hits. In "Down South," he sings about pretending to be Samuel Clemens to impress the girls, but more often than not be taps the melancholy reflection of a Reynolds Price.
Tom Petty: Into the great wide open
By Edna Gundersen
USA Today - July 24, 2006
MALIBU, Calif. — While getting his 14th studio album off the ground, Tom Petty happily discovered he was past the point of learning to fly.
"All the craft I've picked up and all the life experience I've had rolled into a place where making records is easier," he says. "If I get an idea, I know how to put it down. When I was a kid, that was the struggle. Now I can do what rolls through my head without a lot of effort. It validates the idea of being in rock 'n' roll when you're 55. I feel, what's the word?"
He frowns, then brightens.
"Relevant!" he says, erupting into laughter.
Petty turns inward on new 'Highway'
By Sarah Rodman
Boston Globe - July 25, 2006
Tom Petty knows from the road.
On "Highway Companion," his third solo album and 14th studio release overall, the Florida-born rocker who has criss crossed the world for the past 30 years travels down musical avenues to the past, ruminates on his path to the future, and contemplates where he is now.
In 12 elegant, spare, and instantly singable tracks, you can hear the 55-year-old recognizing that the sands in the hourglass are more plentiful in the bottom than the top. "This could well be your last stand," he sings on the lightly swinging "Flirting With Time." But instead of sounding mournful in the face of his mortality, Petty offers reassurance, satisfied resignation, and a bit of optimism.
Tom Petty
By Fred Shuster
Chicago Tribune - July 25, 2006
Tom Petty | "HIGHWAY COMPANION" | RATING: 3 SOUND LEVELS
Even though he hails from the other coast, Petty writes about L.A.'s losers and dreamers as effectively as though he'd spent a lifetime out west. In this finely crafted solo effort, he gets down to it again with "This Old Town." This town, Petty sings in a melancholy voice, "ties your hands/It spikes your drink/I'd say more, but I can't think." It's one of a dozen sparingly fleshed-out songs that find Petty facing down mortality and wondering where all the years went.
A Smooth Ride With Tom Petty
By Ricardo Baca
The Denver Post - July 25, 2006
Tom Petty, "Highway Companion" | ROCK | American, released today
The magic of Tom Petty's naturally sun-kissed music is the way it comes off so seemingly effortlessly. While some critics don't like his nasaly stories, his voice is chocolate cake to the ears. And his bluesy, straightforward rock - complete with some of the most solid guitar work in the game - is his trademark.
Petty is a rock. And "Highway Companion" is an inside peek at his travel journals that show he's still creating work that actually deserves a spot in the live show next to "American Girl."