Tom Petty - Wildflowers

You're all gonna cry "blasphemy!," but Wildflowers is my favorite Tom Petty album. I love earlier Tom Petty, but you have to know that i was a die hard MTV kid. The video for You Don't Know How It Feels was a big deal. I don't know if it was the actual first continuous shot music video, but it was pretty highly talked about. Plus, the various attempts at censoring the chorus were hilarious; how turning "joint" backward or changing "roll" to "hit" (i assume they were misguidedly thinking like "going to another bar"?) made it any better is beyond me.

Regardless, all three big hits are stellar (It's Good to Be King is very much one of his best songs altogether, lyrically/musically/emotionally), but the deep cuts are really interesting too. Some say the softest tracks are borderline sloppy but they had to wait twelve more years before Highway Companion came out to validate that opinion (it's certainly MY least favorite album). You could argue that there's a fair amount of thematic recycling (both musically and lyrically) on this album and from this album on later ones, but i think the differences actually justify it (you'll just have to go hear them for yourself).

Wildflowers is the perfect title, because it let's the whole project breathe. It's a metaphor for emotional freedom. It's still mostly the Heartbreakers, but it's not confined to the band's oeuvre. It's not Tom Petty the rockstar, it's Tom Petty the songwriter at large (songs that didn't make the album found good homes with other artists). It's a good mix of hard rock, folk, and country blues. It covers all the moods, and at just shy of 63 minutes, it's practically a double album.

My dad used to say Tom Petty was the best of the Bob Dylan-alikes (better than the original being the implication), and i don't really have an argument. They are quite similar in many ways, but with completely different egos and Tom Petty is certainly more likable. You know my refusal to qualify technical proficiency very well by now, but Petty is inarguably the more melodically inviting vocalist.

This album isn't trying to be anything more than it is, it's a sunny solitary day in a meadow, the songs blossom wherever the wind blew them, nothing's forced or hurried. It's a happy album in spite, or maybe because, of it's melencholic episodes. It's a thoroughly pleasing listen, and well worth carving out an entire hour to enjoy.

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