Shelter

Hm.. yeah, interesting. As I've mentioned elsewhere, I seem to hear new details that suggest at least gentle remixing in what's supposed to be a straight remaster. Foremost Echo an STO. Apart from that Nobody's Children stream (what song skips my mind right now), I haven't noticed any actual lyrics changes.. Very interesting, and observant.

Fantastic! Beautiful! How's the noise it makes??

Good to hear it. Will be interesting.

"Hey Internet!" I guess that's it, then. Here it is... Awesome! 140, that is.

One song that would likely be on many imaginable lists of mine... but that I somehow forgot in those video ponderings above... is Learning To Fly. 🦅 Can't quite get over how airy, catchy and quite beautiful, energic, that song is in it's original album version.

Happy birthday! !

Yeah, been wondering bout that last little part myself..

And I think - while surely unique in some ways - You Got Lucky is a perfect example of exactly how these things work. It's a little movie in it's own right, evoking all kinds of emotions, thrills and.. yes.. questions. It's brilliant. Most of all, I think it perfectly fits the atmosphere of the song, especially the then-futuristic sounds of Ben's pumping keys. Those sounds with those settings and costumes - a match made in heaven, if you ask me. If a brown red:ish heaven at that. As for the more obvious and strictly litteral renditions of a song into a short film, I suppose ITGWO, Free Fallin, Swingin' or Yer So Bad (although... in the latter.. what's with the "Elvis Tribe Found in Jungle" thing ..??) are stuff more straight down your alley, I suppose, not much to debate in terms of fit there. Unless you favor the straight up performance (or staged play along/lip sync all throughout type videos). Refugee, Here Come's My Girl, The Waiting, A Woman In Love, Change of Heart, American Girl (live), Breakdown(live), You Don't Know How It Feels (although the latter do have minor cinematic elements rolling in the background) Of course, in classifying the videos as either short-films or performance videos like that, I suppose MJLD really belongs with the former. Even if it's not as totally straight up in terms of lyrical fit as are the other four mentioned, I'd say that belongs to the classic short films category, as do of course the totally disconnected, but very much atmospheric, cinematic and even arty(?), story type video You Got Lucky. But DCAHNM may be more of a different case. Cause there are of course what might be called the classic "music videos" , that many people love. That is, videos that are displaying cool random imagery, rhytmic clips, playing with a theme perhaps, or a certain expression that may or may not be visibly connected to the song itself. Usually whith performance/playing along/lip sync/posing segments included, but not running all through the song. That is half creative video/half performance/photo shoot, the way most people made videos through the 70s, 80s and 90s. Tom was always great at this too, and rarely strayed too far from the story telling aspect of this artform, even when he didn't shoot actual little films, he seems to me to have had this.. "touch".) Examples of classic "music videos" by Tom's standard, would be DCAHNM then (somewhat towards the story telling end, admittedly?), Make It Better (also a story, kinda... a weird story..), Jammin Me (statement video that goes well with the song), I Won't Back Down (similar kinda statement and style actually, if more mature, mellow and celebrity ridden), A Face in The Crowd (style, atmosphere, something is happening here, but you don't know what it is....), Walls (a story about performing? Genius! ), It's Good To Be King (more style and atmosphere) and so on.. Needless to say, none of the story videos or half story videos, may not fit with what you see or feel in your own mind, when hearing the song. The records and the music is way overriding to me as well, always will be. But I find some of these videos to be true masterpieces of a different kind. They are art in their own right, in the best moments. They are great and entertainin examples of how these songs can be envisioned. As far as the short film, story telling videos go - that I like so much, personally, and that I think Tom was such a master of making (picking good directors and whatever) there are a few "missed opportunities".. some never realised dream projects. I mean - what if they would've made film attempts at Something Big? Rebels, Trip To Pirate's Cove.. or Last DJ.. the whole album..! Ok, all of this, of course, is just speculations on my part. I just really love what Tom and TPATH did with the video format from time to time and I think it's very interesting to see what some of their sharpest attempts lead to, in terms of little filmic masterpieces. I hijacked this thread here, sorry. It just happened to happen.. So, on with the lists...

Not sure it's the same one, but there is another "broadcast" bootleg recorded 1983 that credits "Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty" called "Leather & Lace"... that really sounds quite horrible, and features Tom, at least in any noticeable way, on one song.

Trippy... Way to take a 2.30 minute song into the realms of 7 minutes! Despite holding the original as one of the best songs ever, this 75 version is really awesome! Thanks for posting!

Oh.. and no matter what playlist I'd be building.. chances are that the likes of Luna, You And I Will Meet Again, Straight Into Darkness and Something Big would be on it...

And... with regards to the MJLD video... since it wasn't clear enough.. I wasn't talking funny, not joke, neither kneeslapping nor a lol kinda "humorous", but rather a "play" with a special movie genre aestetics, done with a few "silly" details and part of a longer cinematic tradition of their videos. I guess, I'm mostly just saying that it's probably not that "serious". But please, don't get me wrong - death is horrible! (uh, what's with me and words these days..!)

creepy sure but not funny

For effect, try a swap. The one video to go with the other song. And vice versa. In a way the Mary Jane short film becomes even spookier that way and the DCAHNM song takes on whole new meanings.. I suppose, speaking of effect, judging from the neverending commercial sucess rates of crime, suspence and gore in TV, film and literature, people seem endlessly intruiged and rapt by death, murder and mystery. In that way, the really light hearted, stylized and semi-humorous shot at the genre that is MJLD could be somewhat understandable? To me it's basically just another creative way to set Tom's music to a short film style video, an operating procedure that has been put to force, for better or worse, since the steam punk sci-fi loose western scenario of You Got Lucky, through phycedelic wonderland art trips of DCAHNM and RDAD, the rom-com, soup opera dramas of Free Fallin, Yer So Bad, to the south cal noir mystery King Of The Hill and bio-pic tall tales ITGWO and Swingin'. In such tradition MJLD makes sense to me. And works quite well. Such praise and attempt at context aside, I'm not particularly fond of morgues myself... (Btw, what would the MJ2ndLD video look like?)

I tried using the same strings as Tom once. I mean literally the same strings. Taken off his guitar, put on mine. As far as sounding alike goes.. that did not work.

Ah.. not as much as you may think. Other than agreeing with most all you say - finding it very true - I was merely mentioning the live set as a possible exception to what you were suggesting. If I hinted at some objectionable opinions while doing so, that can't be helped. I guess we are all entitled to a certain degree of varying opinions and ways of analysing or perceiving things. (If I am to be an exception to this, I am not sure I am flattered to be "chosen", and I am sorry to have "problematized" yours. It's all in good sprit, but I should perhaps know better.) Good question! 😄

I would not at all say that they rolled by a "take it or leave it" attitude. At least not in a live context, where I think it was quite the opposite, rather. It's a well known fact that several band members (most vocally so Benmont) wished to see this or that change to the set list from time to time - being it certain songs overlooked or just a more dynamic and changing approach to the setlist in general, but for most parts they admired and accepted Tom's vision enough not to make too much about such ideas in ways of arguing or fighting. After all, there can be just one boss and obviously Tom did not only decided what type "archs" suited his goals best - something he was very good at, I'd say and something MC many times have spoke highly off. Over time he also got more and more set about what songs usually rendered the most "perfect" versions and the most desireble reaction in auduiences. From that they built a core set almost completed full shows with songs that they believed the audience associated with them and had come to hear. He wasn't gonna let them down by skipping any of those songs. If anything TPATH live is one of the least "take it or leave it" bands I have ever seen. They were always very eager to please, very professional showmen and borderline, what I'd call anxious to please. I for one - search this forum for proof - oftentimes hoped and prayed that they would give a little less tought to the expectations of the shallow masses of average consert goers and dive in a whole lot deeper, for their own fun and for many of their most hard core fans. That they, if they would have wanted, easily could have created a whole other type of perfection reputation for themselves, by going further and wider. A artistic reputation, with another set of expectations and freedom to roll with it, rather than the more fixated, binding commercial/entertaining perfection they ended up with. It's chicken or the egg, I know.. Just saying they were playing into this quite decisevely, overly careful not to give anyone a finger or even step on a single toe. That doesn't mean they didn't care too much about reception when they played among themselves, created new stuff or recorded. And as for their own favorites in the catalog, I suppose they all have their own such. That would be a great angle for a collection or playlist, I think you're right to suggest as much! I think there are mentionings in interviews here and there over the years what some of the favorites might be. Ben's, Mike's and Howie's and so on.. Can't say from the top of my head, but I am pretty sure they have all commented on this. I seem to recall Benmont mentioning songs many times, and Mike name dropping a few he's extra proud of. It may be considered characteristic thatwhen picked a TPATH song to honor Tom with in his solo show it was You Can Still Change Your Mind, whereas The Dirty Knobs rock out Runnin Down A Dream. I don't think I've heard Steve or Scott ever mention any favorites, though... not sure.

Not sure how to define "big radio single", but yeah.. songs like American Girl, Breakdown, Anything That's Rock'Roll, I Need To Know and Listen To Her Heart were all early singles that took off quite a bit. At first mostly over in Europe, and especially in the UK. Not until quite a bit later in US. Although I heard AG and BD got quite some airplay, I also heard that many people heard Roger McGuinns 1977 version of AG first (of course, given how famous HE was). In fact, though, it wasn't until the promotion of DTT that they thought it worth while to make videos, shooting their first for Refugee and Here Comes My Girl. As for their oldest, most "classic" hits AG and BD, they never had proper videos, and wasn't selected as promos, given "videos" until Pack Up The Plantation, and that of course was the 1985 live versions that also made it to quite a few single b-sides to come. And then of course they were again released as promo only single a-sides to radio plug The Greatest Hits pack in 1993. All goes to show, there are many way to create a classic. Playing and playing and replaying it live, releasing, re-relreleasing, and re-issuing it in various ways, including live. And before you know it, people will think it hit the ground running as this massive hit it really wasn't at first.

Ehm.. yeah, I've been pondering the task at hand from a wide variety of angles now, and I can't see how a disc or two, no matter how it would be sequenced, would add anything substantial to anyone. If the goal is to find new fans, potential new fans may, just perhaps, buy a package that include all the key songs - that is the old hits again, but their interest in a second era disc on its own would be limited, and for good reasons too. If the goal is to screw the old fans for more money, it would probably work - it always does - but few of us would ever actually listen to the record, since we already have everything anyway and chanses are slim that any collection would coinside with what we think is the ultimate list of "best" songs. Besides, I'd say that Tom's latter era stuff are not the songs or albums for it, and these are not the times. Frankly. To add some trade mark Shelterisms and extra dimension to that reasoning: I guess I see latter era Tom to be extremely album-oriented. TPATH always excelled at making albums, mind you, but up until the Great Wide Open they always did albums with stand alone single hits as pillars or show-offs sprinkled all over them. Later on that aspect lost it's charm to them, evidently, growing older in a changing world. Speaking of honest emotions, I'm not sure they are more honest, but they are arguebly less scattered and bursting, more contemplateive. So what we are dealing with in trying to make a Greatest Hits vol 2, is to cherry pick random stuff - since the hits aspect is rather elusive or obsolete for a lot of these songs - from albums to construct a new album of those, in a time when people don't even listen to albums anymore. Not sure it would ever fly. So, with regards to this whole concept, I suppose I've come to the conclusion that the best way to handle it is to - in the words of Paul - let it be. Yes. That's it! Exactly. I've been thinking the same thing. For this type of sample display - being it "the acoustic Petty", the rocking Petty" or simply "the best Petty" or "an introduction to Petty", playlists would be the best and most effective way to go for most people, including die hards who wants a quick break from their huge record collections, to just have fun and listen to a "mix tape". (For anyone seriously and deeply interested in the music and/or in physical formats, Nurk is right, there is always the whole discography. The only way to go, really, in terms of buying records, if you ask me. No greatest hits can never compete for your most beloved artists.) Given a theme or a title, under which to collect a number of Tom Petty songs, making such list would be very rewarding, no doubt, both for the person constructing the list and for the person - new or old - listening to it, exploring this universe. If anything, this is a method of exploring that was rather rare in the old days, when, unless you had imaginative friends that could make you actual mix tapes, you had to discover albums yourself or rely on company made hits collections. But those days are no more, and even if a lot about the state of rock'n'roll these days smells like death, this aspect of sampleing and discovering music, actually do have a lot of perks for the children of our times. I mean, just think about it. What would a playlist "Tom Petty Roadtrip" or "The Secret Adventures of Tom Petty" run like... Now we're really letting our imagination loose.. Never mind the minute mark, nor the "hit" stamp. Just ride that river, wherever it goes. Now, this would not be a fair way to discover the art of making albums that Tom was such a master of, mind you, the way discovering his music the old way was. But I suppose people that becomes interested enought will end up down that route anyway eventually. Besides, Greatest Hits albums never was a good way to familiarize yourself with the albums, and between having a stale Greatest Hits collection - even one as briliantly stacked with wonders as TPATH's "Greatest Hits" - and a personally cured "tape"/playlist with a theme, angle or twist, I'd much rather go down that latter rabbit hole myself. So. Playlist it is.

I know. It does take some mental work to get into the "zone", right. Nevertheless, thanks for answering. I like your thinking.

^ I see you left a door open in that post. I just have to knock on it. 8. Down South (live). Why live? What version? How come?

Classic! Such a beautiful addition to the documentary thread! You're the man.

Yes, I'd say there's a few good ideas in there. Of course the whole thing would depend on what type collection we imagine here. Would it be career spanning or would it be culled from post 93 only, as a vol 2? Would it be single or double disc? Box? The most difficult, also the most interesting in some ways, since it would require the toughest selecting work, would be to construct a career spanning single disc collection of some 16-18 songs. Not that I see the need for such. I suppose that we will see more than our share of all those songs, older and newer, being released over and over again, with time. In the mean time I will be ear to the ground, listening for signs that any previously unreleased stuff will surface. That's were my heart and mind is at this point.

For now, I'll just add this... https://www.mudcrutch.com/forum/index.php?/topic/14510-your-tracklist-for-a-greatest-hits-part-ii/ https://www.mudcrutch.com/forum/index.php?/topic/15744-discussion-of-a-possible-greatest-hits-volume-2/&tab=comments#comment-309676

Something for you hard rockers out there... Believe it or not, I was actually the first person watching this video!! "No views". That never happened to me before on the tube...!