Fact #164379
When:
Short story:
Topm Petty And The Heartbreakers release their tenth LP, EchoFull article:
Initially, the standard review seems relevant - the one about Tom being the very embodiment of rock, about the Dylan and Stones influences but how the album's just another one off the Heartbreakers production line, okay, though hardly more than a comma in the right place when the final story of rock gets written. Then things kinda sneak up on you and Swingin', with its tale of a 21 year-old who had trouble with the law and went down like Sonny Liston, demands an extra replay, an added hearing of that wheezy harmonica and almost Sympathy For The Devil melody. Accused Of Love, a Buddy Holly hit for the millennium, casual yet able to strut, also insists on additional hearings, while Won't Last Long just heats the feet in a manner few rockers do. So, before you know it, there's something going on that's just shrieking for that added star to be hauled out of the review room. No alternative then.
Fred Dellar HiFi News July 1999
Now here's a rare event - I don't agree with Fred. I listened to this, trying to get into it, several times over a period of a week, but Echo still sounds to me like a worryingly weary Tom Petty plodding through the motions one more time for the money . The last time Petty seemed quite this bored to me was way back on Damn The Torpedoes. He's a total professional, of course, so the songs are cleverly constructed and the performances are immaculate, but he's falling back on his sub-Dylan drawl and his Byrdsy guitar jangles a little too often this time - and I speak as a long time Dylan/Byrds fiend. Even so, a half-hearted Tom Petty still ranks higher than most artists on peak performance, so the best cuts - Room At The Top, Counting On You, Swingin', Echo, Won't Last Long - are very good indeed. But those of you who remember how beautifully The Beatles were sent up by The Rutles will know what I mean when I say that this album sounds like it was made by Tin Potty and The Windbreakers.
Johnny Black HiFi News July 1999
Tweet this Fact
Fred Dellar HiFi News July 1999
Now here's a rare event - I don't agree with Fred. I listened to this, trying to get into it, several times over a period of a week, but Echo still sounds to me like a worryingly weary Tom Petty plodding through the motions one more time for the money . The last time Petty seemed quite this bored to me was way back on Damn The Torpedoes. He's a total professional, of course, so the songs are cleverly constructed and the performances are immaculate, but he's falling back on his sub-Dylan drawl and his Byrdsy guitar jangles a little too often this time - and I speak as a long time Dylan/Byrds fiend. Even so, a half-hearted Tom Petty still ranks higher than most artists on peak performance, so the best cuts - Room At The Top, Counting On You, Swingin', Echo, Won't Last Long - are very good indeed. But those of you who remember how beautifully The Beatles were sent up by The Rutles will know what I mean when I say that this album sounds like it was made by Tin Potty and The Windbreakers.
Johnny Black HiFi News July 1999