| Product Summary | | Label: Eidos | | UPC: 00602517522961 | | Release Date: 5/20/2008 | | Buy.com Sku: 206719847 | | Item#: M3WL6C | | Buy.com Sales Rank: 2011 | Format:  CD |
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(P) 2008 Geffen Records
(C) 2008 Geffen Records
| Collects Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' biggest songs, including "American Girl," "Runnin' Down a Dream," and "Free Fallin'."
| | Album Notes and Credits |
Notes & Personnel Info |  | Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Tom Petty (vocals, guitars, keyboards); Benmobt Tench (vocals, keyboards); Howie Epstein (vocals, bass); Stan Lynch (vocals, drums); Mike Campbell (guitar, keyboards, bass). | | Producers include: Rick Rubin, Jimmy Iovine, David A. Stewart, Mike Campbell, Jeff Lynne. | | Digitally remastered by Joe Gastwirt (Oceanview, Los Angeles, California). | | Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Tom Petty (vocals, guitars, keyboards); Mike Campbell (guitar, keyboards, bass guitar); Benmont Tench (keyboards, background vocals); Howie Epstein (bass guitar, background vocals); Ron Blair (bass guitar); Stan Lynch (drums, background vocals). | | In the 1970s and '80s, amid the rise of New Wave and synth pop, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers almost single-handedly brought old-school power-pop and garage-rock musical values into the mainstream. The roots-conscious Floridians are often regarded as "heartland rockers," and tunes like the jangling, Byrds-like "American Girl" certainly make a case for that appellation. At the same time, "Don't Come Around Here No More" and "You Got Lucky" eagerly expand that stylistic template with haunting atmospherics and neo-psychedelic touches. | | GREATEST HITS offers a handy, hook-laden, single-disc summary of this great American band. It traverses the Heartbreakers' journey from raw, lean '70s enfants terribles to elder rock-&-roll statesmen. Conveniently, it also includes the two best Heartbreakers tunes never to grace one of their studio albums--"Mary Jane's Last Dance" and the Petty/Stevie Nicks duet, "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around." | | Hailing from the state of Florida, singer-songwriter Tom Petty has come to epitomize a new rootsy style of California rock'n'roll. Rhythmically, the music harkens back to the basic crunch of the Rolling Stones and the dancing pop of the Beatles, while Petty's gravelly vocals and sing-song narrative style suggest roots in the folk-blues Americana of Bob Dylan. | | Years before R.E.M. returned to the jangly, Rickenbacker-infected timbre of the Byrds, Petty's nasal delivery and bell-like mix of guitars and vocal harmonies gave new life to the atmospheric ballad style of Roger McGuinn, David Crosby and company. GREATEST HITS is evenly divided between material from Petty's mid-'70s/early '80s breakthrough and the more mature work he's been doing with producer Jeff Lynne since 1989's FULL MOON FEVER. | | The craft and content of his songwriting has grown more relaxed and accomplished with each passing album, whether alone or in tandem with Lynne and long-time lead guitarist Mike Campbell. Thus we move from the hard-churning outsider's anthem of "Refugee" with Benmont Tench's pulsing Hammond organ (from 1979's DAMN THE TORPEDOES), to the moody Southern California metaphors of the transplanted rock exiles and doomed romantics who populate "Free Fallin'" and "Learning To Fly"--all examples of Petty's timeless, evocative songwriting. |
Musical Guests | | George Harrison | | David Stewart | | Jeff Lynne | | Stevie Nicks |
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| | Technical Info | | Release Date : 05/20/2008 | | Original Release Date : 1993 | | Catalog ID : B0010327-02 | | Label : Geffen Records (USA) | | Number of Discs : 1 | | Studio/Live : Studio | | Mono/Stereo : Stereo | | SPAR Code : n/a | | UPC : 00602517522961 |
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| | Professional Reviews | | Spin (1/94, p.76)
- Highly Recommended - "...Petty's always had a real ear for the cultural charms of new-Americana--its freeway overpasses, tattoos, and taco shops--which he brilliantly mythologized..."Entertainment Weekly (11/19/93, p.92)
- "...give Tom Petty his due...he's finally released a GREATEST HITS album that is just what it says it is..." - Rating: A- Q (12/93, p.143)
- 4 Stars - Excellent |
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| | Bio | | | Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Not many artists can match Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' long record of commercial success along with a simultaneous period of creative growth and critical acclaim. In April 1996, Petty received UCLA's George & Ira Gershwin Award For Lifetime Musical Achievement. Previous recipients of the university's award include Ray Charles and Ella Fitzgerald. Petty was the first artist of the rock era to earn this distinction. "I may not own any George and Ira Gershwin records," said Petty at the ceremony, "but I'm honored to be here and I want to thank my fans for showing up at my concerts from time to time." In 1999, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers received their own star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood, an honor that acknowledges both their musical achievements and their humanitarian involvement with such organizations as Greenpeace, the National Veteran's Foundation, USA Harvest, Rock & Wrap It Up, and AmFAR (the American Foundation for AIDS Research). Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers--hailing from Gainesville, Florida before officially forming in Los Angeles--kicked the musical doldrums of the mid-'70s in the face with their 1976 self-titled debut album. It featured a stripped-down-but-accomplished brand of rock that blended jumpy rhythm & blues rhythms, ringing guitars and keyboards, over which Petty grabbed listeners by their throats with his disarmingly blunt lyrics and extremely direct vocal style. Still, it took America a full year to catch up to the album. 1978's follow up, You're Gonna Get It!, proved the debut album's intensity was no fluke. Marking the band's first gold album, it featured the singles "Listen to Her Heart" and "I Need to Know." Success followed success (including Tom's debut solo album and his appearances as a member of The Traveling Wilbury's, as well as more hits with The Heartbreakers).
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