#WILDFLOWERS TOM PETTY LYRICS FREE#

(To hear a free Sound Bite from this album, call 20 and press 8171.) Such moments occur often enough to prevent us from writing Petty off but not often enough to restore him to the ranks of rock-and-roll's major figures.

The internal tension of 'Time to Move On' is generated not by the lyrics but by the contrast between the chipper, catchy vocal melody and the droning slide guitar.īest of all is 'You Don't Know How It Feels,' a harmonica-driven stomp that sounds like an outtake from Neil Young's 'After the Gold Rush' the harmony vocals on the chorus are so infectious that they breathe new life into the title's time-worn complaint. The broken-hearted lament 'Hard on Me,' for example, works not because of its boilerplate words but because of its elegant, angst-filled melody. The music has to carry the weight, but when it does, the California rocker can be genuinely appealing. Unfortunately, Petty is not a gifted enough lyricist to exploit the irony of a middle-aged man trying to maintain an adventurous spirit amid accumulating sadness. The dominant tone is weariness even when Petty insists it's 'Time to Move On' and invites the listener to 'turn the radio loud,' for 'tonight we ride, right or wrong,' a note of fatigue undermines this rock-and-roll cheerleading. Three of Petty's old band-mates in the Heartbreakers (guitarist Mike Campbell, keyboardist Benmont Tench and bassist Howie Epstein) and various session players color in the backgrounds, but Petty's voice and rhythm guitars dominate the foreground so much that this deserves to be called a solo album.

'Wildflowers' was produced by Rick Rubin, the wild man of rap and metal, but instead of beefing up Petty's sound, Rubin strips it down, much as he did with Johnny Cash. Reinforcing this tendency is the presence of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr on 'To Find a Friend' and of Beach Boys singer Carl Wilson on 'Honey Bee.' That similarity doesn't keep the new song from being a modestly affecting meditation on heartbreak, but it does suggest the backward-glancing nature of Petty's latest project. Petty's 'Only a Broken Heart,' from the new album, sounds so much like Harrison's 'Isn't It a Pity' in its forlorn vocal over slow, minor-key chords that the connection is impossible to miss. Only with appropriately reduced expectations can one enjoy 'Wildflowers' for what it is. It's just that Harrison on his own is a second-tier rock-and-roll figure whose best work is long behind him, and that's pretty much the case with Petty as well. That's not such a bad thing Harrison (Petty's old band-mate in the Traveling Wilburys) has a knack for giving moody spiritualism a pop tunefulness. Then you may realize that 'Wildflowers' resembles nothing so much as a George Harrison solo album. The predominance of the twangy rhythm guitar, the high-pitched, nasal singing, the irresistibly catchy pop hooks and the melancholy lyrics straining for a spiritual significance just beyond their grasp - all these elements make Petty sound as if he were a Beatle imitating Bob Dylan.

As you listen to 'Wildflowers,' Tom Petty's first new album in three years and his first for Warner Bros., you may be struck by a certain quality, new for Petty but nonetheless familiar.

Wildflowers tom petty lyrics