Few artists have so embodied rock as an enriching, life enhancing force like Tom Petty.
During a forty year career, that ended with his death at the age of 66 in October 2017, he made some of the most engaging and enjoyable music of the times, yet through it all there was a sense that Petty approached his craft as a fan – taken with the notion great records had the capacity to enthrall, in his case providing the inspiration to pick up a guitar in the mid-1960s.
With a group of like-minded friends from the Florida town of Gainesville, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (his four strong backing ensemble), emerged in 1976 with a self-titled debut set that evoked the Stones and leant heavily on The Byrds. The net effect was an an instantly likeable LP brimming with terse vocals and chiming guitars, Petty proving no slouch when it came to writing high energy, hook laden material.
Coming to prominence at a time when popular music was undergoing its biggest shake up for ten years due to the advent of punk, Petty and his Heartbreaker hombres, (Mike Campbell (lead guitar), Benmont Tench (keyboards), Ron Blair (bass) and Stan Lynch (drums), dressed like the Doobie Brothers, but sounded closer to The Damned and as a result found themselves, in the UK at least, labelled as ‘new wave’ – although in essence they were the acceptable face of up-tempo, mainstream rock.
Through the late-70s and 80s the troupe delivered a run of stellar hit singles that were often, but not always, the highpoints of energetic, well-crafted records. The sound of their albums became even more appealing once production maestro Jimmy Iovine took the controls with the excellent ‘Damn the Torpedoes‘ (1979).
After release of ‘Let Me Up‘ (I’ve Had Enough) in 1986, a record harking back to the tougher sounding unit of their early efforts (Iovine no longer on the scene), this their sixth studio album, came after a period of being the stage band of Bob Dylan.
The following year Petty became a member of the Travelling Wilburys, joining an ad hoc quintet that also included George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Dylan. Their relaxed recording sessions yielded an agreeable 1988 album that gave all their careers a boost, former Beatle Harrison having just ended a five year recording hiatus with ‘Cloud Nine‘, a charming work whose infectious tone was largely the result of hiring Lynne as producer.
Liking what he heard, Petty then recruited the ex-ELO totem to produce the solo record he had been intending to make for the past eighteen months.
When it appeared in April 1989 Heartbreaker Campbell (guitars/keyboards), had played a significant role in bringing the album to fruition (there were lesser roles for Tench and current bass player Howie Epstein, with significantly no input from drummer Lynch), the resulting ‘FULL MOON FEVER‘ therefore, less Heartbreaker and more groundbreaker – being the most successful and accessible album Petty would ever record.
Given his undoubted flair for lush production there is a case that Lynne could make even pedestrian fare sound stimulating – having done so a number of times with ELO – and while the material Petty presents him with sometimes wavers in quality, (eleven Petty originals some co-written with Lynne and/or Campbell, along with a Byrds cover), there is no doubt every track is heard to its very best effect, none of the dozen cuts over-wrought or outstaying their welcome.
While Petty draws on influences that range from Buddy Holly to Bob Dylan, Creedence to The Who (overtly so in the case of The Byrds), at the mixing desk Lynne gives it all a Beatlesque spin, the whole greater than its parts, but rarely less than edifying.
If back in the day Roger McGuinn had taken the folk songs of Dylan and given them a Beatle makeover to then fly off as The Byrds, on opening cut ‘Free Fallin‘ Petty pens a Dylan-affected lyric, (‘She’s a good girl/Loves her mama/Loves Jesus and America too/She’s a good girl crazy ’bout Elvis/Loves horses and America too’), that Lynne sets to a circa-1967 Byrds melody – the Los Angeles references (‘Reseda‘/’Ventura Boulevard‘) fixing the location from where the narrator wants to escape.
Taking flight as one of his most distinctive compositions, Petty, Lynne and Campbell revel in the opportunity to play and produce in the manner of their heroes. The framework of airy, inter-chiming acoustic and electric guitars is well established by the time Petty adds McGuinn-like inflections to the final verse – his wistful outlook taking in one last L.A. locale:
‘I wanna glide down over Mulholland/I wanna write her name in the sky/I wanna free fall out into nothin’/Gonna leave this world for a while.’
The guitar work is again exemplary (aided by an acoustic contribution from George Harrison) on the anthemic ‘I Won’t Back Down‘ – Petty writing a concise, assertive lyric on his refusal to be diminished by anyone or anything (‘Gonna stand my ground/Won’t be turned round/And I’ll keep this world from draggin’ me down/Gonna stand my ground.’)
The catchy chorus, rousing background vocals and pristine production served to make it the most obvious hit (again written in conjunction with Lynne) he had ever come up with and when lifted as the first single from the album, effortlessly climbed charts around the world – ‘Free Fallin‘ however, would do even better as a 45, ‘Full Moon Fever‘ already proving a remarkable success by the time that song became a massive worldwide hit in the summer of 1989.
Whether intentional or not, ‘Love is a Long Road‘ comes over as an homage to ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again‘. When the pulsing keyboard intro collides with rolling drums and forceful electric guitar, the expectation is to hear ‘We’ll be fighting in the streets‘ rather than the opening lines ‘There was a girl I knew/She said she cared about me,’ of this Petty/Campbell collaboration.
While a song of no great lyrical depth, it surges along in keeping the energy level high, stalwart session drummer Jim Keltner making his presence felt (elsewhere the drumming is all down to Phil Jones) on a track at this stage of the game the Heartbreakers would have taken with more restraint, but less polish.
Of the other Petty-Lynne co-writes dotted around the record, ‘A Face in the Crowd‘ is a plaintive two-verse lament on how lives merge in the most unexpected way, the track distinguished by stripped back instrumentation, while the superbly titled, ‘A Mind with a Heart of its Own‘ comes infused with rockabilly overtones, the offhand delivery of the lyrics giving an air of being made up as they go along.
If albums released the same year by songwriter contemporaries such as Jackson Browne and Don Henley dealt with more weighty subject matter, Petty is not shy when it comes to injecting humour into his work. Closing track ‘Zombie Zoo‘ is a series of amusing, if sarcastic, observations on the teenage populace of L.A. (‘Cute little drop out/How come you pack a rod/Is your mother in a clinic?/Has you’re father got no job?/Sometimes you’re so impulsive/You shaved off all your hair/You look like Boris Karloff/And you don’t even care‘) his acerbic comments rammed home by thumping drums, Roy Orbison harmony vocals and background screams.
Meanwhile on ‘Yer So Bad‘, which Petty sings like Dylan having got out of bed on the wrong side, is a late-80s period piece from the off, the opening lines referencing an upwardly mobile social group, (‘My sister got lucky/Married a yuppie/Took him for all he was worth/Now she’s a swinger/Dating a singer/I can’t decide which is worse’). The story, driven along by frenetic acoustic guitars, unfolds and is then wrapped up in just over three minutes.
Side one closer ‘Runnin’ Down A Dream‘ gives songwriting dues to Petty, Lynne and Campbell, the singer seeking adventure and fulfillment in this hard-rocking cut fleshed out with some feisty guitar solos by the latter. From behind the wheel Petty watches the world go by accompanied by music from the radio, making specific note of an early 60s Del Shannon hit, (‘Trees flew by/Me and Del were singin’/Little runaway/I was flyin‘), this song the embodiment of why so many reviewers described the album as perfect for a road trip – although while stuck in traffic some would be inclined to switch it to either Browne or Henley.
Petty receives sole credit for three songs, ‘Dependin’ On You‘, ‘The Apartment Song‘ and ‘Alright For Now‘ that appear through the middle of side two, amounting to nine minutes of pleasant, eager-to-please soft rock. The former sounds for all the world like ELO stripped of their string section, the latter a lilting acoustic guitar lullaby that treads similar ground to ‘It’ll all Work Out‘ from the Heartbreakers previous studio album.
In opening side two, the rendition of ‘Feel A Whole Lot Better‘ is more a Byrds tribute than cover version, being a note for note replica of their 1965 opus, when in two and half minutes they out-Beatled The Beatles. Still, if it alerted just one person who bought ‘Full Moon Fever‘ to the genius of original-Byrd Gene Clark, its inclusion served a purpose.
Released to positive reviews across the board, after a decade that had brought such trends as synth-pop, hip-hop and glam-metal, it suddenly became the rock record conservative tastes and broad spectrum radio stations had been waiting for. In their largely positive review, Rolling Stone magazine described ‘Full Moon Fever‘ as ‘another rewarding, low-key side project for Petty‘, but the response of the record-buying public was overwhelming, sending the album into sales territory the artist had never previously inhabited.
In reaching number eight it gave Petty his first UK top ten placing, but Stateside climbed to number three, attaining quintuple platinum status across North America where it has sold in excess of eleven million copies. Over time commentators would come to view the record less favourably, although by 2020 it had undergone more reappraisal, appearing at 298 when Rolling Stone complied its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of all time.
But the great attribute of ‘Full Moon Fever‘ is, to paraphrase one of the song titles, being an album with a heart of its own – an uplifting collection where Petty gives those who have inspired him a nod, the overall mood one of celebration. It was, therefore, hardly a surprise when years later he would describe it as ‘the most enjoyable record I ever worked on.’
It triumphs due to an unwavering spirit, tapping into that faith we have in rock being an irresistible force, that feeling that grabs us as listeners and made Petty want to communicate his feelings through music in the first place – ‘Full Moon Fever‘ the album someone who once sang of being ‘raised on promises‘ was destined to make.
TOM PETTY – FULL MOON FEVER (Released April 24 1989)
Free Fallin’/I Won’t Back Down/Love Is a Long Road/A Face in the Crowd/Runnin’ Down A Dream/Feel A Whole Lot Better/Yer So Bad/Depending on You/The Apartment Song/Alright for Now/A Mind with a Heart of Its Own/Zombie Zoo
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