My Middle Name Is Earl - The Official ILM Track-By-Track TOM PETTY Listening Thread

It's 1976. The first track on your debut album is 2 minutes long. You are not prog. Are you punk? We are intrigued...

hey, this guy is good...

a sampler of things to come. its comfortably retro and yet...there is something new about it.

i HIGHLY recommend the oral history book of Tom and the band if you haven't read it and dig him. its one of the best rock books i've ever read. compelling!

also, it goes without saying, Petty in the wild/pictures/ephemera/anecdotes welcomed and appreciated.

"Rockin' Around (With You)": Nice little song. Really reminds me how close style-wise Petty and Dwight Twilley were at the time. Tench throwing in a little synth action near the end to remind you that it's 1976.

yeah that synth thing is funny. just shows up out of nowhere.

tom kinda got the career dwight wanted? is that unfair? petty don't mind.

I like it, but there's not really much to this song; if you played a demo of it on a piano or acoustic guitar it would likely seem underwhelming. Songs like this one are highly dependent on good production, good arrangements, and good playing; fortunately, it has all three.

stan lynch kicks ass on this song

i dig rockin around with you too tom

cool hangdog bassline too, i guess that's ron blair?

punk velocity, anyway. maybe his first nyc gig was cbgb?
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/Bc8AAOSwXVJjWtqv/s-l1600.jpg

Y'all need that Paul Zollo book where Petty discusses every song he's written.

man, those are some good bands. suicide commandos. reddy teddy. i like that album of theirs that willie alexander produced a lot. kinda proto-punk/glam. laughing dogs. they were cool. for tuff darts fans. earth opera! can't believe they were still around in 1976. but i dig their records. the good rats were rockin' back then with a major label deal. honey davis was a weirdo. his albums are not for everybody. i never dug the shirts despite loving annie golden in hair. they were pretty boring. and then you have the ramones and television coming soon. and orchestra luna. everyone should own their album. i think me and andy zax are the only big fans of that album of people i know though. i own two dirty tricks albums but i don't play them much.

needless to say, suicide commandos debut one of the great punk/rock albums made in this country in the 70s.

that might be the only thing i have in common with tom petty. i graced the stage at CBGB once. dressed as a witch. matador NMS showcase. pizzicato five/chavez/customized/barbara manning/bunnybrains.

well that and we both worship the byrds.

Also you have a short "o" in your first name and short "e" in your last name.

hey yeah!

wait, that should be Kustomized, right? i don't remember what they sounded like...

I’m not a fan other than full moon fever so I won’t be weighing in, but I’m really looking forward to ilx analysis on this !

I am not sure how much I know about anything pre-Torpedoes except "Breakdown."

Dude was cool as fuck, but I secretly believe he peaked in 1979. Musically speaking, I mean.

how much might tom's early success owe to his uncanny evocation of grown-up Bad News Bear (1976) Kelly Leak (Jackie EARLE Haley)

I just watched Jackie in a terrible action movie. He deserves better. He's a really good actor but he does look like a fucked up bad guy now. he's awesome.

Breakdown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqxns-JTTqA

His first hit! I forget how slow it is.

i'll be back wth thoughts. gotta do stuff.

Maybe they only showed the theatrical trailer in Jamaica!

hey yeah!

wait, that should be Kustomized, right? i don't remember what they sounded like...

"Breakdown": The rare instance where imo the Grace Jones version is not funkier.

go ahead and give it to 'em

this sounds like a Steely Dan song

it doesn't really remind me of anyone weirdly! it just reminds me of tom petty. maybe fleetwood mac at the start...

the keyboard riff is objectively similar to "pretzel logic." the bass moves differently tho

(and it's not even that similar, just both electric key riffs in the key of a minor. petty moves from a minor to g major, the dan have a more intricate am to bm7/a to amin7)

Basically like the Volcano Suns. They’re great and the Suicide Commandos Make A Records is one of the best records of all time. I bought the short lived Mercury CD reissue in ‘96.
― from a prominent family of bassoon players (Boring, Maryland), Wednesday, February 28, 2024 9:13 AM (thirty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Make a Record is just an amazing, wonderful record I wish more people had heard

"Breakdown": On the verses, Petty sounds like how Springsteen looked in '73-4. Phil Seymour on backing vox! Electric Piano!

Wiki:

"Breakdown" was a song written and recorded for the band's debut album. Initially, the song had lead guitarist Mike Campbell with a distinct guitar lick being played only near the end of the song. While playing it back one night, Tom Petty and Dwight Twilley, a friend of Phil Seymour, were in the studio, and Twilley enjoyed it. He suggested that the lick should be used throughout the song, and Petty obliged. At 2 AM, he gathered the Heartbreakers to join him in re-recording the song. Their final take was seven to eight minutes long, but it was pared down to 2 minutes and 39 seconds on the album. Guests on the song's recording include guitarist Jeff Jourard, a common collaborator with the band in their early days, and Phil Seymour, who sings backing vocals.

One of those great live album moments nobody ever talks about is the audience singing the first two verses to Petty on the extended version Pack Up The Plantation!:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNxfPAF1frM

wow i don't think i knew that phil seymour was on that. love him. i wanna hear that original 8 minute version now.

Yeah, Seymour is on this and "American Girl", plus Twilley steps in on "Strangered In The Night".

for some reason its just nice to know that those guys were friends. phil, dwight, and tom. all very talented.

there's a little bit of cod reggae going on in the vocals. i wonder if this was originally envisioned to have more of a reggae feel. man right out of the gate these guys were great arrangers and players. love their early dedication to keeping things short.

i think i remember reading richard meltzer, re. some BOC recording, saying "i know it's alright but i love when rock bands tell me anyway." i thought about that here.

i don't hear cod reggae, more an exaggerated 50s rock styling a la buddy holly (but filtered thru petty's drawl)

The backing vocals are very present on "Breakdown." It's almost like there's a whole other song there.

for true cod reggae Petty:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwGFoGsEGMU

i love the pace/pacing of "breakdown". it just creates this great mood of expectation. i want to know what's going to happen next! that , to me, is key to being a good artist.

I love how these two songs would be a perfect way to start a live set: the quick rave up to get the audience going, with room to patter over it even, and then settle into "Breakdown."

In The Wild: I'm hosting my weekly pub quiz tonight. For music, I use an ever-growing Spotify playlist curated by myself and several other hosts that is currently weighing in at over 1300 songs. I use it in Shuffle mode, which just spit out "American Girl" and then "Girls" by Dwight Twilley, which of course features Mr. Petty.

my primary exhibit that I use to demonstrate his association with 1976-77 era punk is his inclusion here:

https://www.discogs.com/release/2233401-Various-Whitmans-Punk-Sampler

Their final take was seven to eight minutes long

god I hope this gets released someday

dammit i didn’t even know you had started!

Rockin Around:
To me this is the Heartbreakers doing a kind of punk-ish ode to Buddy Holly & The Crickets. the skiffley kinda beat and that plaintive-yet-cool vocal … he gets all the girls. I love it. And the retro vibe is the mission statement for them

Breakdown:
There is a fever in the 70’s and that fever is reggae
Mike Campbell’s gorgeous guitar stings with Tench’s fucking beautiful keyboards on this. Petty’s angst hurling itself into the chorus. And it is only the second track and it is alreadt insane how so many genuiuses are in a single band together and sounding THIS good on their FIRST ALBUM?
also the production on Breakdown is so exactly the sound of 70’s radio to me, it sounds like standing in my childhood kitchen.
ugh i will love it til the day i die. this song is like a drug, intoxicating rhythym & swagger right out of the gate

My wife put on the Live Anthology box while making lunch today. We listened to Discs 2 and 3 together. It ruled.

anyway here’s lads

https://media.gettyimages.com/id/73998958/photo/tom-petty-the-heartbreakers.jpg?s=2048x2048&w=gi&k=20&c=-K753J3l35JogyLkn29lZOV7c1KSNQQkmIX_uoskMMo=

xpost Live Anthology is a gift that keeps on giving, love it so much!!

now with more ceiling tiles & wider pants!

https://media.gettyimages.com/id/73998942/photo/photo-of-tom-petty-the-heartbreakers.jpg?s=2048x2048&w=gi&k=20&c=KZ0nRfLYAfM_UnYIrhAr4JBbfEYUozF0g2tQqyLKadU=

"Think About Me" has a real Chess blues feel to me, like a lost Bo Diddley track. An unobtrusive toe-tapper, would sound good in a bar.

just figured out that when it's not "the last time" it's "good lovin'."

All Mixed Up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m7-pt7bcDY

now that is a tom petty song you don't hear every day.

i almost sense the ghost of dave stewart when i hear that one.

This one, believe it or not, once in a while gets stuck in my head.

The third single iirc

Although this is one of the Campbell-produced ones, it sounds chintzy -- not a dis! It's in keeping with the album's garage band ethos.

i like the slow rockin' stones groove. (saw them again last night -- need every last drop.) i could live without the accordion-sounding thing.

from video i have seen it definitely looks like you are getting the last drop from the stones....ooof.

still sound good though. they just really look like they need some soup and a nap....

aww they looked like they were having a good time last night. no one was complaining.

that little intro again feels like a Talking Heads impression, tho this time more of a piss-take. song itself is... god, that synth brass is so canned and awful.

really there's not a song here, it's listenable because it's Tom Petty and his great band the Heartbreakers but .... what was that awful Billy Joel song with the dude from Foreigner? "Just Wanna Hold," I'm gonna say. someone posted "The Heat Is Not On," and that's where I'm at here. everyone involved was, indeed, all mixed up imho.

oops, it was actually in reference to "Modern Woman."

The Heat Is Not Quite On

― Eazy, Thursday, November 9, 2017 9:17 AM bookmarkflaglink

A Self-Made Man

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8kNnb08l7Q

Petty said that Johnny Cash almost covered it.

a little bit kinks-like? ray davies had a better "ironic" voice.

I like this one, not much to it but the combo of the blues-vamp verses and Byrdsy chorus works for me.

This is one of the songs that kind of prefigures Full Moon Fever imo — the lightness and ease of it, bordering on facile but with a nice kick.

This one's okay. I've given it a few listens today, without it really making much of an impression, but at least there's nothing egregiously misguided about it.

Ain't Love Strange

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXysGNwC0w4

i dig this one! jaunty.

"well, it can get you in the back boy"

i like that opening line.

nice one! verging on country crossover with that tuned-down telecaster.

and with just a tiny spoonful of "Don't Do Me Like That" in that insistent opening!

this is nice. i'd take more of it!

I like this:

Well, it can make you string barbed-wire
Around your little piece of ground
Yeah, for emotional protection

How Many More Days

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKp_obriYDQ

Van Morrison's favorite Tom Petty song.

kidding. you guys would have believed me though maybe.

It was their makeup person's favorite Petty song, though! This is true.

i would have believed you! weird song -- rushed nervous vocals reminiscent of van. it sounds like mike campbell's open tuning has him fighting to keep the slide solo in the key of the song.

Also improvised in the studio

The Van Morrison call-out is otm, this has a Big Music vibe to it, like someone was listening to the Waterboys. It's fine as such.

Let Me Up (I've Had Enough)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeZICly3Qdw

i'll take that over the black crowes any day.

Make That Connection

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DsbFIJTFm4

"make that connection" the only b-side as far as i can tell. a very no-frills album.

I won't front: "Let Me Up (I've Had Enough)" is top ten Petty. I love the way the bass tugs at the chorus, and Benmont and Stan hold up their ends.

did “let me up” soundtrack any “i’m trying to figure out my life but can’t” montages in 80s comedies? cause it should have

let me up the album was a very pleasant surprise for me in general. i hadnt heard a note of it before and figured its absence from greatest hits albums indicated a dud. how wrong i was, it’s no frills even by petty standards but there is a kind of petulant joy that animates the rockers and the more poignant tracks provided the first real evidence of the vein he’d mine with wildflowers (still prob my fav petty-related thing)

very otm

The album was contractual obligation: no producer, just a well-rehearsed unit in a studio jamming after touring with Dylan. When the album became his biggest commercial flop and the arson happened, he pretty much disowned it. I think it's the most relaxed thing he's recorded to date, without which we get no Full Moon Fever. Then George Harrison came into his life.

We return to the next chapter on Monday.

with the Wilburys album: now i'm thinking i'll just post two tracks a day? it would take 5 days. and any b-sides i'd add on day 5.

and then on to full moon fever.

does that sound okay? i was looking and thinking maybe just doing songs with petty lead vocals but he sings on everything and has no clear lead on anything. and obviously he helped write everything.

sounds good to me.

"let me up" probably my favorite from this album. i love the "gimme shelter"-ness of it. great tempo for rocking out.

I am down with a Wilburys daily double

I don't love this album. There are some OK songs on it, but it was always destined to slide into obscurity. Every band that exists for long enough puts out placeholder albums, and this is exactly that. I think it was damaged commercially by releasing "Jammin' Me" as a single (also, how the hell does that song open the album?), and by its ridiculous cover art, which makes it look like a goddamn Squeeze album or something. It might have done better if "The Damage You've Done" had been the first single.

"Jammin' Good" did just as well as previous Petty singles, though. "The Damage You've Done" sounds like an album track.

lol "Jammin' Me."

Even if the single itself is successful (the broad American public does love a novelty song), releasing a track like that as a single damages one's brand. The vibes are off.

I have a soft spot for this album, not least because I saw him on the tour for it and it was a good show. Definitely the end of the first part of his career.