Wildflowers | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | November 1, 1994 | |||
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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Wildflowers is the second solo studio album by American musician Tom Petty, released on November 1, 1994. The album was the first released by Petty after signing a contract with Warner Bros. Records (where he had recorded as part of the Traveling Wilburys) and the first of three albums produced by Rick Rubin. The album was certified 3× platinum in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America.
In 2020, the album was ranked at number 214 on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". [3]
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." [4] 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. [5] 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 | [7] |
Christgau's Consumer Guide | B− [8] |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [9] |
Entertainment Weekly | B− [10] |
The Guardian | [11] |
Los Angeles Times | [12] |
NME | 8/10 [13] |
Pitchfork | 8.8/10 [14] |
Rolling Stone | [15] |
Uncut | 8/10 [16] |
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. [17] The title track, while not released as a single, charted at #16 on the Billboard Hot Rock Songs chart [18] and at #3 on the Billboard Lyric Find. [19] and became one of Petty's most streamed and popular songs. [20] [21]
Rolling Stone placed Wildflowers at number 12 on their list of the best albums of the 1990s. [22] Guitar World placed the album at number 49 in their "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994" list. [23]
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". [24]
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. [25] 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. [26] 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. [27]
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. [28] [29]
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 |
Additional musicians
Production
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Year | Single | Chart | Position |
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1994 | "You Don't Know How It Feels" | US Mainstream Rock Chart | 1 [63] |
1995 | US Billboard Hot 100 | 13 [63] | |
"You Wreck Me" | US Mainstream Rock Chart | 2 [64] | |
"It's Good to Be King" | 6 [65] | ||
"A Higher Place" | 12 [66] |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom (BPI) [67] | Silver | 60,000‡ |
United States (RIAA) [68] | 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 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.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were an American rock band from Gainesville, Florida. Formed in 1976, the band originally comprised lead singer and rhythm guitarist Tom Petty, lead guitarist Mike Campbell, keyboardist Benmont Tench, drummer Stan Lynch and bassist Ron Blair. In 1982, Blair, weary of the touring lifestyle, departed the band. His replacement, Howie Epstein, stayed with the band for the next two decades. In 1991, Scott Thurston joined the band as a multi-instrumentalist—mostly on rhythm guitar and second keyboard. In 1994, Steve Ferrone replaced Lynch on drums. Blair returned to the Heartbreakers in 2002, the year before Epstein's death. The band had a long string of hit singles including "Breakdown", "American Girl", "Refugee", "The Waiting", "Learning to Fly", and "Mary Jane's Last Dance", among many others, that stretched over several decades of work.
Damn the Torpedoes is the third studio album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, released on October 19, 1979. This was the first of three Petty albums originally released by the Backstreet Records label, distributed by MCA Records. It built on the commercial success and critical acclaim of his two previous albums and reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart. The album went on to become certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
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. 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.
Greatest Hits is a compilation album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, released in 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.
Southern Accents is the sixth studio album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, released on March 26, 1985, through MCA Records. The album's lead single, "Don't Come Around Here No More", co-written by Dave Stewart of Eurythmics, peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song "Southern Accents" was later covered by Johnny Cash for his Unchained album in 1996.
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.
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.
Anthology: Through the Years is a double compilation album featuring the best of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. It contains a new song, "Surrender," written by Petty in 1976 and recorded during sessions for the band's first album but left off the record, recorded again in 1979 but left off "Damn The Torpedoes," and finally recorded again in 2000 for this release. "Surrender" is also the last studio recording of Howie Epstein before his death in 2003. The 1976 version of the song was included on the 2018 box set An American Treasure.
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, three with supergroup the Traveling Wilburys and two with his previous 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 album includes 58 tracks pulled primarily from the last six concerts performed in the residency. 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...