The latest (and the last) Tom Petty album is here with me now. And I don’t know what to say. Where should I start? Should I start at all? …
I was a crazy 15-year-old teenager when his solo “Wildflowers” was out. And I bought two copies instead of one, fearing one audio tape won’t meet my 24/24 musical needs, already getting huge ever since 1989. I was right. I still have the two tapes somehwere in a drawer. And they’re both wiped out.
My later mp3 Petty and Heartbreakers collection survived though – partly because I grew mature (and married) and I kind of stopped sleeping with the cd-player on (I cannot say the same thing about my upstairs neighbor: HEY, BUDDY, TURN YOUR SHITTY MUSIC OFF AFTER 1 A.M!!!!!!); and partly because, over the years, I got so familiar with Petty’s music that I feel alright with only saving it for long roads, holidays and other special occasions.
So today, when giving the “Highway Companion” a first listening, I did wonder if passing time makes any sense for guys like Petty and Lynne. And I did wonder if so much “Full Moon Fever” in the arrrangements and so much “Wildlfowers” in the vibe is a sign of conscious musical steadiness or a sign of not – really – being – able – to – make – any – musical – experiments.
I know that Petty is not an experimentalist whatsoever. He’s all about Beatles, Dylan, Harrison, Byrds. And I also knew he was going to work with Jeff Lynne for this album, therefore, I DID think about him wanting to close the circle in a most classical way long before the record was actually out.
Then why did I instantly start looking for “new ideas” when hearing “Highway Companion”? And why did I feel somehow disappointed with this record?… I think the first part from “Saving Grace” confused me a bit, made me think of the Strokes, made me think of a slightly different thing and then, when sliding back on the usual Petty pathway, I just gave up and listened to the whole record with my usual (well-trained) Petty-ear. And so I couldn’t be taken by surprise anymore. I liked the “Crawling back to you” and “Don’t fade on me” from the new “Square one”, I liked the “Into the great wide open” from the most wonderful “Turn this car around”, I liked the “Find a friend” from the cheerful “Big weekend” and I felt like being 15 again when hearing “The Golden Rose”, I loved “Jack” and I loved “Saving Grace”.
But here I am, listening this album for the 4th time and feeling how I (it) miss (misses) something. The hooks are there, the Rickenbacker is there, the storyteller-feeling is there, all the good things that made me a Petty-admirer during years are there, except that I find no beautiful end in this classical road; it’s a circular highway that makes me go back to where I’ve started. That is, to my dusty drawers with audio-tapes from the 90′s. I would have considered this retro-road as being enriching if I would have been driven back to the 70′s Heartbreakers. But it didn’t happen. Jeff Lynne made this record sound steady, uniform, stabilized, and … unfortified: a perennial solo Petty style. And I felt like bathing in a very well-designed swimming pool filled with water that hasn’t been changed for weeks. And weeks. And weeks.But let’s all say “farewell” to the last going-in-beautiful-circles songwriter and singer. Let’s all say “goodbye” to the last classical DJ, all in all, it’s been a fine highway; and a hell of a joyride.