Tom Petty

Full Moon Fever was the first time Petty ditched the Heartbreakers to go it alone. Well, not completely alone -- ELO's Jeff Lynn, by now a collaborator in the Traveling Wilburys, co-wrote many of the songs and produced them with a distinctly lacquered finish. The result was trumpeted as a triumphant comeback, stacking up hits like "Free Fallin'," "I Won't Back Down" and "Runnin' Down a Dream." The list of songs here might even best the chestnuts from Damn the Torpedos; among the bridesmaids are well-tooled numbers like "Yer So Bad" and "Love Is a Long Road," leaving nary a dud.

Tom Petty picks his friends well. Touring behind Bob Dylan in 1986 helped him and his
band, the Heartbreakers, make their most spontaneous and feisty record, 1987's Let Me Up
(I've Had Enough). And his tenure in the Traveling Wilburys let the usually straight-faced
Petty loosen up even more: He came up with one of his funniest tunes - "Last Night" - but
more important, his performances seemed to gain strength from the relaxed atm... More >

He wanted something off-the-cuff and got lucky: except for the punk putdown and the pseudo-Dylan throwaway, both nice on their own terms, nary a lyric nor tune clashes with the terrific early-Byrds cover. If guys made roots-rock albums anymore, anything here would spruce one up. (Grade - B+)