Friday, August 21, 2009

We waited four minutes for this, Tom



Jackson Browne - Late for the Sky
(listen) I woke up this morning with "Running on Empty" in my head, but instead of listening to that, I'll just wait until it is playing somewhere like it always is. Jackson Browne is one of those guys on whom I've never really been able to form a marked opinion. "Lawyers in Love" was a ubiquitous hit when I was a kid, so there is a lingering "eww... grown up music" patina on him for me. This album is good, probably even great if one were to really submit to it, but now that I am an actual grown up, I just don't know if I have the bandwidth free to receive old Jackson Browne's convoluted messages.

Drive-By Truckers - The Fine Print (Out on Sept 1) An old warhorse I was listening to this morning, three times actually, was the cover of Tom Petty's "Rebels" that sits in the jumpseat right behind the weird and brilliant "George Jones Talkin' Cell Phone Blues" that opens the forthcoming Drive-By Truckers rarities collection.

Drive by Truckers - "George Jones Talkin' Cell Phone Blues"
from the DBT website


Tom Petty - Southern Accents (listen) That three-note lick at the beginning of "Rebels" is a thing of economical architectural genius. It is like the St. Louis Gateway Arch; sleek, obvious and profound and while it is front-and-center in the DBT remake, it is buried along with the rest of Tom's life in the original sprawling epic album. Even though its far from being my favorite Tom petty record, I love it for its excesses, its desperate reconciliation. I love how "Don't Come Around Here No More" spends four whole minutes being the epitome of a 80's bad idea - hey, I know, let's get the guy from Eurythmics! - before it approaches being a hormonal, grunting, panting raveup of genius proportions. We waited four minutes for this, Tom, don't fade out on us now! Damn the Torpedoes! Ride that wave out! But he doesn't. That's how I feel about the 80's in general.

Also that goofy Alice in Wonderland video... But this story repeated in one of the comments, is it true?
Stevie Nicks used to date Joe Walsh. One night, she ended up going back to Dave Stewart's hotel room. Joe Walsh showed up and got angry, Stevie told him, "Don't come around here no more." Tom Petty was told the story by Dave Stewart and Stevie Nicks verified it. Tom and Stevie have been friends for years, as Tom and Dave have.
I do unabashedly love "Dogs on the Run" on all its Springsteen-gone-Gainesville glory.

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