Full Moon Fever - Tom Petty (1989)
Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers had a string of successful albums in the first half of the 80s, but the second half was more tumultuous. The most recent record had been as good as any but hadn’t sold well. Years of constant touring had burned everyone out.
Petty had intended not to record for a while, but then got into a better mood in his home studio and ended up building an album with some of the Heartbreakers as well as fellow Traveling Wilbury and ELO mastermind Jeff Lynne.
The record is front loaded. Three of Petty’s biggest hits are all on the first side. But the whole thing is a wonderful look at a creative talent working on stuff he loves.
The production is more polished, the songs are less ramshackle, and the whole thing finds a great, round, golden sound.
Tracks I Liked
Love Is A Long Road - a banger of high order
Runnin Down A Dream - Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell supposedly rolled into the studio after lunch one day and burned the guitar solo into the world’s memory in one take.
Alright For Now - a song I used to sing to my kids at bedtime.
Tom Petty died October 2, 2017, the same day we found out my Dad’s cancer was back (though Dad did stick around til the following April). A fun little one-two punch that cements both events in my memory. Braves GM John Coppolella resigned that day amid an amatuer signing scandal, which is also cemented in my head but obviously not on the same level. That was a hell of a day, man.
