Wildflowers | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | November 1, 1994 [1] | |||
Recorded | July 20, 1992 – April 29, 1994 | |||
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Genre | ||||
Length | 62:48 | |||
Label | Warner Bros. | |||
Producer | ||||
Tom Petty chronology | ||||
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Singles from Wildflowers | ||||
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Singles from Wildflowers &All the Rest | ||||
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Wildflowers is the second solo studio album by American musician Tom Petty,released on November 1,1994, [1] by Warner Bros. Records. It was the first album released by Petty after signing a contract with Warner Bros.,where he had recorded as part of the Traveling Wilburys. It was the first of three of his albums produced with Rick Rubin. Wildflowers was very well-received by critics upon release and was certified 3×platinum in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In 2020,Wildflowers was ranked at number 214 on Rolling Stone 's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". [7]
Wildflowers was credited only to Petty and not to his usual band,Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers because,in Petty's words,"Rick [Rubin] and I both wanted more freedom than to be strapped into five guys." [8] Nonetheless,the Heartbreakers predominantly served as the musicians on the album. The album features all the band's members with the exception of drummer Stan Lynch. Petty auditioned numerous drummers for the album,and eventually chose Steve Ferrone. Petty fired Lynch from the Heartbreakers just before the album's release,and Ferrone officially joined the touring band the following year,and later became a full band member. (Lynch did play on one outtake from Wildflowers,"Something Could Happen").
Petty wrote and recorded numerous songs for the album,and the original plan was to have Wildflowers be a double album,with 25 songs in total. However,Lenny Waronker of Warner Bros. Records felt that the album was too long,and it was decided to reduce the album to 15 tracks. [9] Of the 10 tracks left out,one,"Leave Virginia Alone",notably became a hit single the following year when it was recorded by Rod Stewart,while another four were included,in modified form,in Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' next album,the soundtrack album to the 1996 film She's the One . All ten songs,in their original form,were later released in the 2020 edition of Wildflowers,Wildflowers &All the Rest.
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [11] |
Chicago Tribune | [12] |
Christgau's Consumer Guide | B− [13] |
Entertainment Weekly | B− [14] |
The Guardian | [15] |
Los Angeles Times | [16] |
NME | 8/10 [17] |
Pitchfork | 8.8/10 [18] |
Rolling Stone | [19] |
USA Today | [2] |
Reviewing Wildflowers for USA Today ,Edna Gundersen wrote that,in contrast to the "adolescent fantasies" of fellow rockers such as Aerosmith and the Rolling Stones,Petty explored "middle-age reality" on an effective album of "sweet-and-sour heartland rock". [2] Elysa Gardner of Rolling Stone stated that Wildflowers "is not as sonically adventurous ... or as instantly accessible" as previous Petty albums such as Southern Accents (1985) and Full Moon Fever (1989),but its "resolute passion and maturity grow more evident with each listen until the album acquires a haunting,enduring resonance." [19] The Guardian 's Caroline Sullivan remarked that "misery suits Petty,and Wildflowers contains some of the best work of his career", [15] while Emma Forrest commented in NME that "an album that helps you sort your thoughts without interrupting them is just as significant as any furious paean to disgruntled youth." [17] In the Chicago Tribune ,Greg Kot said that Wildflowers,with its "subtle and painterly" sound,showed Petty moving further into musical "ambiguity","and the music seems newly freed,however subdued it may seem at first." [12]
Although finding it inconsistent, Los Angeles Times journalist Chris Willman observed that Wildflowers "has such an interesting,subtle kind of resonance you may not bemoan the lack of instant anthems." [16] David Browne,however,opined in Entertainment Weekly that Petty had failed to progress musically or lyrically, [14] and music critic Robert Christgau felt that Petty sounded "wilted" and "torpid". [13]
Four singles were released from the album between 1994 and 1995,the most successful of which,"You Don't Know How It Feels",reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Album Rock Tracks chart for one week. It was followed by "You Wreck Me","It's Good to Be King" and "A Higher Place" which reached Nos. 2,6,and 12 respectively on the Mainstream Rock chart. [20] The title track,while not released as a single,charted at #16 on the Billboard Hot Rock Songs chart [21] and at #3 on the Billboard Lyric Find. [22] and became one of Petty's most streamed and popular songs. [23] [24]
In a retrospective review,AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine found that Wildflowers is distinguished within Petty's discography by "its casual gait" and extended length,allowing it to capture "the full range of Tom Petty as a singer,songwriter,and rocker." [11] Pitchfork writer Sam Sodomsky said that it was Petty's best solo album,characterized by its "elegantly spare,personal,and intuitive" songs. [18] Rolling Stone listed Wildflowers as the twelfth-best album of the 1990s, [25] and later ranked the record at number 214 on its 2020 list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". [7] Guitar World placed the album at number 49 in their "Superunknown:50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994" list. [26]
In April 2015,when Petty's back catalog was released in high-resolution audio,this was one of only two albums not included in the series ( Songs and Music from "She's the One" was the other one),but a hi-res version was available on Pono Music.
The title of the 2020 book Somewhere You Feel Free:Tom Petty and Los Angeles comes from a lyric in the album's title song "Wildflowers". [27]
Petty's family and bandmates arranged a 2020 re-release of the album that includes deleted songs,demos,and live tracks,entitled Wildflowers &All the Rest. [28] Disc four,Wildflowers Live,consists of fourteen previously unreleased tracks,two of which had only been distributed to fan club members. These live tracks were recorded on various tours from 1995 to 2017. [29] The super deluxe edition of the box set included a fifth disc of alternate versions of the Wildflowers tracks,called Finding Wildflowers. In April 2021,Finding Wildflowers was released individually. [30]
The making of Wildflowers is the subject of the 2021 documentary film Tom Petty:Somewhere You Feel Free –The Making of Wildflowers,directed by Mary Wharton. The documentary includes a significant amount of archival footage from the recording sessions,recorded by Martyn Atkins,which had only recently been unearthed following Petty's death;as well as new interviews with many of the producers and musicians who had been involved with the album. The film was released in November 2021 on YouTube. [31] [32]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Wildflowers" | Tom Petty | 3:11 |
2. | "You Don't Know How It Feels" | Petty | 4:49 |
3. | "Time to Move On" | Petty | 3:15 |
4. | "You Wreck Me" |
| 3:22 |
5. | "It's Good to Be King" | Petty | 5:10 |
6. | "Only a Broken Heart" | Petty | 4:30 |
7. | "Honey Bee" | Petty | 4:58 |
8. | "Don't Fade on Me" |
| 3:32 |
9. | "Hard on Me" | Petty | 3:48 |
10. | "Cabin Down Below" | Petty | 2:51 |
11. | "To Find a Friend" | Petty | 3:23 |
12. | "A Higher Place" | Petty | 3:56 |
13. | "House in the Woods" | Petty | 5:32 |
14. | "Crawling Back to You" | Petty | 5:05 |
15. | "Wake Up Time" | Petty | 5:19 |
Total length: | 62:48 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Something Could Happen" | Petty | 4:35 |
2. | "Leave Virginia Alone" | Petty | 4:16 |
3. | "Climb That Hill Blues" |
| 2:33 |
4. | "Confusion Wheel" | Petty | 4:20 |
5. | "California" | Petty | 2:38 |
6. | "Harry Green" | Petty | 3:54 |
7. | "Hope You Never" | Petty | 3:03 |
8. | "Somewhere Under Heaven" |
| 4:37 |
9. | "Climb That Hill" |
| 3:34 |
10. | "Hung Up and Overdue" | Petty | 6:03 |
Total length: | 39:33 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "There Goes Angela (Dream Away)" | Petty | 3:50 |
2. | "You Don't Know How It Feels" | Petty | 4:54 |
3. | "California" | Petty | 3:44 |
4. | "A Feeling of Peace" | Petty | 4:32 |
5. | "Leave Virginia Alone" | Petty | 3:46 |
6. | "Crawling Back to You" | Petty | 4:11 |
7. | "Don't Fade on Me" |
| 3:30 |
8. | "Confusion Wheel" | Petty | 4:21 |
9. | "A Higher Place" | Petty | 3:17 |
10. | "There's a Break in the Rain (Have Love Will Travel)" | Petty | 3:37 |
11. | "To Find a Friend" | Petty | 3:26 |
12. | "Only a Broken Heart" | Petty | 3:56 |
13. | "Wake Up Time" | Petty | 5:41 |
14. | "Hung Up and Overdue" | Petty | 2:45 |
15. | "Wildflowers" | Petty | 2:55 |
Total length: | 58:25 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "You Don't Know How It Feels" | Petty | 6:48 |
2. | "Honey Bee" | Petty | 5:21 |
3. | "To Find a Friend" | Petty | 3:57 |
4. | "Walls" | Petty | 3:22 |
5. | "Crawling Back to You" | Petty | 5:06 |
6. | "Cabin Down Below" | Petty | 3:04 |
7. | "Drivin' Down to Georgia" | Petty | 6:24 |
8. | "House in the Woods" | Petty | 5:38 |
9. | "Girl on LSD" | Petty | 5:21 |
10. | "Time To Move On" | Petty | 2:44 |
11. | "Wake Up Time" | Petty | 5:35 |
12. | "It's Good to Be King" | Petty | 11:38 |
13. | "You Wreck Me" |
| 5:44 |
14. | "Wildflowers" | Petty | 4:31 |
Total length: | 75:13 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "A Higher Place" | Petty | 3:51 |
2. | "Hard on Me" | Petty | 3:49 |
3. | "Cabin Down Below" | Petty | 3:47 |
4. | "Crawling Back to You" | Petty | 5:06 |
5. | "Only a Broken Heart" | Petty | 4:56 |
6. | "Drivin' Down to Georgia" | Petty | 4:58 |
7. | "You Wreck Me" |
| 3:31 |
8. | "It's Good to Be King" | Petty | 5:07 |
9. | "House in the Woods" | Petty | 5:06 |
10. | "Honey Bee" | Petty | 5:21 |
11. | "Girl on LSD" | Petty | 3:45 |
12. | "Cabin Down Below (Acoustic)" | Petty | 2:45 |
13. | "Wildflowers" | Petty | 3:32 |
14. | "Don't Fade on Me" |
| 4:28 |
15. | "Wake Up Time" | Petty | 5:31 |
16. | "You Saw Me Comin'" | Petty | 4:38 |
Total length: | 70:11 |
Additional musicians
Production
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Year | Single | Chart | Position |
---|---|---|---|
1994 | "You Don't Know How It Feels" | US Mainstream Rock Chart | 1 [68] |
1995 | US Billboard Hot 100 | 13 [68] | |
"You Wreck Me" | US Mainstream Rock Chart | 2 [69] | |
"It's Good to Be King" | 6 [70] | ||
"A Higher Place" | 12 [71] |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Canada (Music Canada) [72] | 2× Platinum | 200,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [73] | Silver | 60,000‡ |
United States (RIAA) [74] | 3× Platinum | 3,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Thomas Earl Petty was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was the leader and frontman of the rock bands Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Mudcrutch and a member of the late 1980s supergroup the Traveling Wilburys. He was also a successful solo artist.
Echo is the tenth studio album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Released in April 1999, the album reached number 10 on the Billboard 200 aided by singles "Free Girl Now", "Swingin'" and "Room at the Top", which hit numbers 5, 17 and 19 respectively on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks in 1999. The album was the band's last collaboration with producer Rick Rubin, and was also the last to feature contributions from longtime bassist/vocalist Howie Epstein, who died of a heroin overdose in 2003. Despite still being a member of the band, Epstein is missing from the album's cover photo because he failed to show up for the photo shoot, and Petty ordered it to commence without him. It also marks the first to feature longtime touring member Scott Thurston, as well as the first to credit drummer Steve Ferrone as an official member. Echo was certified Gold by the RIAA in July 1999, only three months after it was released. Echo is the only Heartbreakers' album to feature a lead vocal from another member of the band, namely lead guitarist Mike Campbell on "I Don't Wanna Fight".
The Last DJ is the 11th studio album by American rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The title track, "Money Becomes King", "Joe" and "Can't Stop the Sun" are all critical of greed in the music industry, which led to a song boycott by some radio stations.
Mystery Girl is the twenty-second album by American singer Roy Orbison. It was his last album to be recorded during his lifetime, as he completed the album in November 1988, a month before his death at the age of 52, and it was released posthumously by Virgin Records on January 31, 1989. It includes the hit singles "You Got It", which was co-written by Orbison and his Traveling Wilburys bandmates Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty, and "She's a Mystery to Me", written by Bono and The Edge. The album was a critical and commercial success; it peaked at number 5 on the Billboard 200 in the United States, the highest position Orbison had achieved on that chart, and number 2 on the UK Albums Chart.
Greatest Hits is a compilation album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, released on November 16, 1993. It is Petty's best-selling album to date and was certified 12× Platinum by the RIAA on April 28, 2015. The single "Mary Jane's Last Dance" became one of Petty's most popular songs, reaching No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The other new song on the album is a cover of the Thunderclap Newman hit "Something in the Air". The album contains no songs from 1987's Let Me Up . However, three songs from Petty's 1989 solo album Full Moon Fever were included.
Into the Great Wide Open is the eighth studio album by American rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Released in July 1991, it was the band's last with MCA Records. The album was the second that Petty produced with Jeff Lynne, following the successful Full Moon Fever (1989).
Songs and Music from the Motion Picture "She's the One" is the ninth studio album by American rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, first released in August 1996. The album served as the soundtrack for the 1996 film She's the One, written and directed by Edward Burns. The album was reissued in 2021 as Angel Dream.
"Mary Jane's Last Dance" is a song written by Tom Petty and recorded by American rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. It was recorded while Petty was recording his Wildflowers album and was produced by Rick Rubin, guitarist Mike Campbell, and Petty. The sessions would prove to be the last to include drummer Stan Lynch before his eventual departure in 1994. This song was first released as part of the Greatest Hits album in 1993. It rose to No. 14 on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Petty's first Billboard top-20 hit of the 1990s, and also topped the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart for two weeks. Internationally, the song reached No. 2 in Portugal and No. 5 in Canada.
Highway Companion is the third and final solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Tom Petty. It was released on July 25, 2006, and charted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 album chart. The album was produced by former Traveling Wilburys bandmate Jeff Lynne, who also produced Petty's highly acclaimed first solo album, Full Moon Fever, as well as the Heartbreakers' next album Into the Great Wide Open. Petty released the album through Rick Rubin's American Recordings label and Warner Bros. Records, where Petty has had a record contract since his second solo album, Wildflowers. The tracks "Saving Grace" and "Big Weekend" were released July 4, 2006 on the iTunes Music Store. It ended up being Petty's only album for American Recordings, as that label moved to Columbia Records distribution in 2007; Warner Bros retained the rights to Petty, eventually reassigning him to subsidiary label Reprise Records.
"Learning to Fly" is a song by American rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. It was written in 1991 by Tom Petty and his writing partner Jeff Lynne for the band's eighth studio album, Into the Great Wide Open (1991). The entire song is based on four simple chords,. Released in June 1991 by MCA, it became a top hit for Petty and the Heartbreakers, topping the US Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart and peaking at number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"You Don't Know How It Feels" is a song and the lead single from American musician Tom Petty's 1994 album, Wildflowers. The track features candid lyrics describing the songwriter's desire for personal and professional autonomy. The single reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart, No. 3 on the Canadian RPM 100 Hit Tracks chart, and No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Petty's last top-40 hit in the US. An alternate version was posthumously released on June 26, 2020. This version peaked at No. 54 on the iTunes chart.
This is the discography of Tom Petty, who was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. Petty released 13 studio albums as the lead singer of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, two with supergroup the Traveling Wilburys and two with his first band Mudcrutch, in addition to three solo albums.
Mojo is the twelfth studio album by American rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, released on June 15, 2010, on CD and June 29 on Blu-ray. It was Petty's first album with the Heartbreakers in eight years. Mojo debuted at No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard 200, selling 125,000 copies in its first week of release. The album was also the band's first full album with bassist Ron Blair since 1981's Hard Promises, as he played on only two tracks on the previous Heartbreakers album, The Last DJ.
Hypnotic Eye is the thirteenth and final studio album by American rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, released in the UK on July 28, 2014 and in the United States on July 29, by Reprise Records. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, becoming the only Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers album ever to top the chart. Hypnotic Eye was nominated for the 2015 Grammy Award for Best Rock Album. It was the Heartbreakers' final studio album before disbanding in 2017, following Petty's death in October of that year.
Mudcrutch 2 is the second and final studio album by American rock band Mudcrutch, released on May 20, 2016 and was the last recorded studio material by Tom Petty before his death in 2017. The album entered the U.S. Billboard 200 chart at No. 10, selling about 33,000 copies in its first week.
An American Treasure is a 2018 compilation album and box set of Tom Petty, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Mudcrutch released by Reprise Records on September 28, 2018. The set includes several rare and unreleased songs alongside more obscure album tracks that showcase Petty's songwriting. The majority of the content is Heartbreakers material but there are also several solo songs and some recordings by Mudcrutch. Critical reception has been positive.
"Wildflowers" is a popular song by Tom Petty and the opening track from the album of the same name. The song became quite popular in concerts, and though it was not released as a single, it charted at #16 on the Billboard Hot Rock Songs chart, at #11 on the Billboard Rock Digital Song Sales and at #3 on the Billboard Lyric Find. AllMusic describes it as having a simple but effective folk-based chord progression, with a sprightly, almost country-oriented rhythm.
"You Wreck Me" is a song by American musician Tom Petty, the fourth track on his second solo studio album, Wildflowers (1994). The song was released as the second single from the album and became a concert staple. While the song did not chart on the US Billboard Hot 100, it did peak at number two on the Album Rock Tracks chart.
The Best of Everything is a 2019 greatest hits album with recordings made by Tom Petty, with his backing band The Heartbreakers, as a solo artist, and with Mudcrutch. It was released on March 1.
Live at the Fillmore 1997 is a 2022 live album compiling Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers 20-concert residency at The Fillmore in San Francisco in January and February 1997. The full 'deluxe' version of the album includes 72 tracks pulled primarily from the last six concerts performed in the residency, of which 58 are songs and 14 are 'spoken word' interludes. Those six shows were professionally recorded and tracks from the setlists in those shows have been previously released on The Live Anthology and the 2020 expanded reissue of Petty's 1994 album Wildflowers.
...his second solo record was a turning point for the then-44-year-old rocker into a wiser era, strolling through folk, blues, and rock...