Highway Companion will be the last Petty cd I buy

jambayleaf

Not that he will care. After The Last DJ, I thought that was it for me. I liked Echo, and I think Wildflowers was his peak, but man, what a pile of crap this new cd is, IMO. I thought I would give it a shot after seeing him with PJ in St Paul, even though I thought he was losing a step live. I wondered why he would only play 1 song from his new cd, now I know. Besides Saving Grace, there is like two mediocre songs, and the rest are pretty much unlistenable. I should've known. Petty is done. He has made great music in the past. Another reason why he says this tour will be his last, because he knows the creative tank is dry. The firs 24 years, Petty ruled, the last 6 are forgettable. Golden Rose? wow

lukins fridge

anyone else have any more opinons on this album? this is discouraging.

i was really going to buy it- i'm spending a week at the beach next week and thought this would be a great soundtrack for that.

not that i don't believe you jambayleaf, just wanted a consensus.

WhiteMaleRat

I haven't seen many reviews. Nothing in RS. The Last DJ is tough to listen all the way through, as was Echo. But there is enough good songs on those albums to make them "good". The 1st half of Echo is awesome though.

You can't expect Petty to have a creative period like Full Moon Fever/ ITGWO/ Wildflowers....that's just too high of a standard.

look at Bob Dylan, when was his last truly good album or hit?

Pearl Jam and toast

WhiteMaleRat wrote:

look at Bob Dylan, when was his last truly good album or hit?

1998 and 2001, Time out of Mind and Love and Theft. Both award winners and hailed as some the very best work of his career.

He's got a new one coming out that will surely lead to similar results.

blackredyellow

i think it is pretty good... but i also thought echo was one of the most underrated albums of the 90's.

Down South is probably my favorite song so far, but a lot of the album has that classic Petty sound.

neartodeath

jambayleaf wrote:

Not that he will care. After The Last DJ, I thought that was it for me. I liked Echo, and I think Wildflowers was his peak, but man, what a pile of crap this new cd is, IMO. I thought I would give it a shot after seeing him with PJ in St Paul, even though I thought he was losing a step live. I wondered why he would only play 1 song from his new cd, now I know. Besides Saving Grace, there is like two mediocre songs, and the rest are pretty much unlistenable. I should've known. Petty is done. He has made great music in the past. Another reason why he says this tour will be his last, because he knows the creative tank is dry. The firs 24 years, Petty ruled, the last 6 are forgettable. Golden Rose? wow

wierd how opinions go...

i thought echo was sub par

the last dj was ABSOLUTELY amazing. probably his best since wildflowers

i've only listened to highway companion once and i liked it. tom petty has always been a hero.

i know that this cd will keep growing on me. i can tell after 1 listen. it's got the goods to be on par with wildflowers.

direwolf74

jambayleaf wrote:

Not that he will care. After The Last DJ, I thought that was it for me. I liked Echo, and I think Wildflowers was his peak, but man, what a pile of crap this new cd is, IMO. I thought I would give it a shot after seeing him with PJ in St Paul, even though I thought he was losing a step live. I wondered why he would only play 1 song from his new cd, now I know. Besides Saving Grace, there is like two mediocre songs, and the rest are pretty much unlistenable. I should've known. Petty is done. He has made great music in the past. Another reason why he says this tour will be his last, because he knows the creative tank is dry. The firs 24 years, Petty ruled, the last 6 are forgettable. Golden Rose? wow

You're insane. I heard the entire album yesterday and I absolutely loved it. It's definitely going to be my next purchase. If you're a fan of Petty, you'll like the album.

pearlzepfan

Anybody willing to upload the new album for me? I WILL be buying it within the next few weeks but I'm going to Duluth, MN for a few days tomorrow and would really like the album for the road trip (about 2 hours). I would just buy it now but I forgot it came out this week and I already bought an album last weekend and I am going to buy some vinyls up in Duluth so I'm pretty low on cash.

So if anyone can help me out I'd greatly appreciate it, thanks

pearlzepfan

chiefojibwa wrote:

check out limewire...it's probably there.

but be sure to buy it!

Don't worry I will be buying it, but I don't like those kinds of downloading sites. I'ma bit paranoid when it comes to that stuff

pearlzepfan

Yeah, I'm pretty excited to hear it, I've heard nothing but very good things (except the original poster of this site.) I'll probably have to sacrifice on of the vinyls I was planning on buying in Duluth so I can buy this one.

jambayleaf

Good to hear others opinions. I just don't think this one is up to snuff, and I again I like Petty. I do agree that Saving Grace is a GREAT way to start the cd, but no other song rocks out on the cd. If you are looking for 4 or 5 like Saving GRace with a couple of great slower ones pepered in, like Petty's great albums do, this one will be disappointing I think for most. But, to each his own.

jambayleaf

chiefojibwa wrote:

i have to say, i've seen a lot of reviews out there and you seem to be in the minority. i would encourage any petty fans to buy this record.

I guess we agree to disagree, which is what's great about this forum. But, why do you think he only played one song from a new cd on his tour? Every other band I've seen plays at least 3-4 tunes off their newly released cd, or going to be released cd. Just interesting. I think he knows it would die on stage live, except for Saving Grace, which was fun to see live.

jambayleaf

chiefojibwa wrote:

i think, in particular, "flirting with time" and "down south" would have gone over well. i just really like this record. it seems like classic petty to me. great melodies, great guitars, great songs. imo!

Down South is one of the other ones I think is ok, also the second song, the title escapes me now, but I thought that one was ok too.

I guess I thought that's why people tour, to play the new songs. Pj plays like 5-8 new ones a night, Foos do that, Social D do that, Audioslave did that, Chili Peppers, NIN, etc. You go see any of these guys, and they'll play a few new ones for sure. I don't think Petty played any of the other songs on the cd anywhere, I could be wrong about that.

pipedreams

Tom jumped the shark when he got involved with Jeff Lynne, Traveling Wilburys and his solo stuff.

Hard Promises is a very underrated album.

surferdude

pipedreams wrote:

Hard Promises is a very underrated album.

Underrated yes, but that's pretty much a must have in my books. Every song is really good with a few standouts. From a time when people made albums, not just a few hit sings and a bunch of crap to fill time.

pipedreams

surferdude wrote:

Underrated yes, but that's pretty much a must have in my books. Every song is really good with a few standouts. From a time when people made albums, not just a few hit sings and a bunch of crap to fill time.

Agree. Saw Petty twice in the mid-late 80's. Always wanted to hear Nightwatchman, Kings Road and Women in Love live but never did. Such is life.

Clifwith1f

I think it's a great disc. I've been listening to it non-stop since I got on Tuesday. And I'm NOT a die-hard Petty fan. I really think it's a great disc, with zero unlistenable songs. Saving Grace, Square One, Flirting With Time, Down South, Damaged by Love and Ankle Deep are all great songs.

Clifwith1f

jambayleaf wrote:

I guess we agree to disagree, which is what's great about this forum. But, why do you think he only played one song from a new cd on his tour? Every other band I've seen plays at least 3-4 tunes off their newly released cd, or going to be released cd. Just interesting. I think he knows it would die on stage live, except for Saving Grace, which was fun to see live.

You can't make comparisons like that when your talking about Petty. He also almost NEVER changes the setlists at all. That's also unusual for artists, whether they have a new album or not. I wouldn't be surprised if he actually played no songs from the new album at his shows.

jambayleaf

Clifwith1f wrote:

You can't make comparisons like that when your talking about Petty. He also almost NEVER changes the setlists at all. That's also unusual for artists, whether they have a new album or not. I wouldn't be surprised if he actually played no songs from the new album at his shows.

Isn't that why you go see somebody? You've seen him do Learning to Fly many times, all those standards, all the time. I guess I wouldn't be so psyched to see Pearl Jam all the time if they did Alive, Jeremy, Even Flow, Betterman, Nothingman, Do the Evolution, WWS, Encore: Daughter, Yellow Ledbetter; that same show night in night out. Why make a new record? Isn't that why you go to a show? So you can see a band have fun playing new songs, and see how they sound live? Why go on tour if you aren't going to play any new songs?