From such a vantage point, you might expect the singer to gain some memorable insights, but all he notices are “statues that atone for my sins” and government buildings with “a guard on every door.” Finally, he shrugs and concedes, “It’s hard to say who you are these days.” Such vague generalities and abstractions dominate the album. The opening track, “Saving Grace,” finds the narrator flying through the sky, staring through the branches into the backyards of ordinary Americans, fueled by one of John Lee Hooker’s boogie-blues riffs. The results are stripped-down arrangements that direct the listener’s focus to Petty’s low-key, o?-handed vocals and to his lyrics.Īnd, for the most part, these lyrics don’t stand up well under such close scrutiny. The three men played all the instruments, sang all the vocals and handled all the production. On Highway Companion, Petty has given most of the Heartbreakers the month o? and has made the entire album with just two collaborators: Heartbreakers lead guitarist Mike Campbell and Petty’s fellow Traveling Wilbury, Jeff Lynne. Think of his brightest moments-“American Girl,” “Refugee,” “Even the Losers,” “The Waiting,” “Free Fallin’,” “I Won’t Back Down.” Do we remember them for their philosophical insights or for their ever-expanding swirl of vocal, guitar and keyboard harmonies? So why is his new album so underwhelming? Because Petty has gotten away from his strength-whipping pop hooks into an emotional frenzy of harmonies-and has focused on his weakness: overly ambitious lyrics. Plus, Petty has a clear-cut advantage over such role models as Young and Bob Dylan: He has the same nasal tenor that can bend notes and twist timbres into new meanings, but he has a much surer sense of pitch, so he can marry these meanings to juicy melodies. Young has scarcely exhausted the possibilities of country-rock or of encroaching mortality. There’s nothing wrong with treading in another artist’s footsteps. Moreover, Petty is tackling some of Young’s recent obsessions: the running-out-of-time for the baby-boomer generation and the need to clear all distractions and get back to life’s fundamentals, back to what the second track describes as “Square One.” If this echo of Neil Young (and his motto, “It’s better to burn out than it is to rust”) weren’t enough, the lazy country-rock-stomp intro of “Turn This Car Around” and “This Old Town” make Petty’s new songs sound like outtakes from Young’s Harvest album. “If you don’t run, you rust,” Tom Petty sings on his new album, Highway Companion. MP3 Downloads, Streaming Music, Lyrics | TomPetty.Bare-bones production draws attention to lackluster lyrics on Petty’s latest.organization : Amazon Technologies Inc.desc : All abuse reports MUST include:,* src IP,* dest IP (your IP),* dest port,* Accurate date/timestamp and timezone of activity,* Intensity/frequency (short log extracts),* Your contact details (phone and email) Without these we will be unable to identify the correct owner of the IP address at that point in time.Registrar Domain ID: 4238059_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN.Domain expires: 9 Years, 305 Days left.
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