Tom Petty and the Heartbeakers - Anthology:

Rating: 5/5

Review:
An excellent  compilation

This is an excellent compilation album of many of the best tracks recorded by one of the finest rockers of the last 30-odd years. Tom Petty was (and is) always around and enjoyed by a lot of people in the know but he never became a real first-rank star, and I think that's a shame because he's a true Great, in my view. It's not just me, either: Petty formed the Travelling Wilburys with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne. The respect of musicians of that stature really means something.

The songs here show that he can rock with the best of them and play the blues with authority, but his real quality shows in the songs which no-one else in the world could have made: it's a long list, but Refugee, Don't Come Around Here No More and Free Fallin' are obvious examples with their imaginative lyrics, really singable tunes, great chord sequences and a personal, quirky take on various aspects of life. If you ask me (which you didn't, I know) his true greatness shows in Learning To Fly, with the same four simple chords over and over again, questionable lyrics, little melody to speak of and deceptively simple production (partly due to Jeff Lynne). In other hands it could be banal, forgettable trash but it's brilliant - one of my favourite tracks ever. It takes a really fine musician to do that.

Anyway, enough. If you already know and like Tom Petty you won't need me to tell you all this. If you don't know him well this is a great album to start with. Don't hesitate - you can't go wrong here. It's a brilliant album.