Category: Tom Petty

Teaming up with Heartbreakers cohort Mike Campbell and Traveling Wilburys cohort Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty is back in the solo album business with a moody, atmospheric, unpredictable album that I’m finding grows on me more and more with each listen. Built loosely around a theme of traveling and means of transportation, Highway Companion‘s tunes range from catchy rock that sticks in your head and doesn’t leave, to slower numbers drenched in atmosphere. Petty’s ability to craft a song, combined with Lynne’s ability to find each song’s depths, are potent reminder that there was a reason Full Moon Fever was a huge hit some 16 years ago.

The standouts include “Flirting With Time”, an upbeat rocker whose chorus defies any attempt to resist singing along, the mezmerizing “Golden Rose”, the spare beauty of “Night Driver”, though really, while I’m just listing my favorites that I find myself re-listening to again and again, I have a harder time thinking of a song that doesn’t come up to snuff. The album’s that good, with consistently sharp songwriting from Petty and crystal clear (and yet very warm) production. Fans of Petty’s laid-back, country-flavored solo work as well as his edgier, bluesy material with the Heartbreakers won’t be disappointed at all. Highway Companion really is the epitome of the album with something for everyone, and gets some of the highest recommendations I’ve given to an album released this year.

1. Saving Grace (3:47)
2. Square One (3:24)
3. Flirting With Time (3:13)
4. Down South (3:25)
5. Jack (2:28)
6. Turn This Car Around (3:58)
7. Big Weekend (3:15)
8. Night Driver (4:26)
9. Damaged By Love (3:22)
10. This Old Town (4:15)
11. Ankle Deep (3:22)
12. The Golden Rose (4:42)

Released by: American
Release date: 2006
Total running time: 43:37

Naturally, the thing that drew me to this album was the post-Traveling Wilbury association of Petty with ELO’s Jeff Lynne, and this album is proof that this combination may have been more interesting than the combination of Lynne and George Harrison. The songs “Free Fallin'” and “A Face In The Crowd” are just a couple of the examples of the unique synergy, with Lynne contributing music and lyrics as well as his skills in the production booth. More typical Petty tunes include “Running Down A Dream”, “A Mind With A Heart Of Its Own”, and “Yer So Bad”, but even those songs sport Lynne’s trademark production.

1. Free Fallin’ (4:14)
2. I Won’t Back Down (2:56)
3. Love is a Long Road (4:06)
4. A Face in the Crowd (3:50)
5. Runnin’ Down a Dream (4:23)
6. Feel a Whole Lot Better (2:47)
7. Yer So Bad (3:05)
8. Depending On You (2:47)
9. The Apartment Song (2:31)
10. Alright For Now (2:00)
11. A Mind With A Heart Of Its Own (3:29)
12. Zombie Zoo (2:56)

Released by: MCA
Release date: 1989
Total running time: 39:04