Shelter

Some more fuel on the "what-is-a-hit?" fire, perhaps.. I just found this. Bittersweet somehow...
http://abcnewsradioonline.com/music-news/2018/8/3/tom-petty-is-the-first-artist-with-a-posthumous-top-10-hit-o.html  

I mean, that's a supergroup right there too - Brian Setzer, Clem Burke and Dave Stewart, can you imagine?!  That is the New Wave band Tom was never actually in. 

New live footage to me, love discovering these type of rarities. JJ Cale cover.

Two things:
1. Something In The Air is one of their most underrated recordings. Also the only one with Howie on shared lead vocals, which to me gives it a rather magical quality. Certainly a gem, and while very traditional in sound, it has some extra dimension.. and it really outshines the original.
2. Anyone noticed (yeah, this is my thing now) how the official sheet music/tabs/scripts book to the Greatest Hits album - aside for the usual cool photos that regularly are found in the TPATH sheet music books - has TP commenting/anecdotes for each of the songs? 

-1- The duet with Howie is what makes the song truly special to me.
-2- I noticed that about songbooks in general back then - I used to buy them because they had extra photos and such, not because I know how to play any musical instrument.  But I've never seen that one so that's a really cool extra!

Yeah.. too bad Dave's idea didn't quite work none of the times.. 😄

Speaking of these songs and similarities, or even coincidences, this thread might be as good as any for one of those widely popular "have you ever noticed" things...
Have you ever noticed how Make It Better seems to have, shall we say "informed" the Eurythmics song A Little of You (from their 1986 Revenge album?) Or perhaps, regardless of publishing date, it's the other way around? No matter the original idea origin, Dave kinda used the backbone to the song twice. (Especially the chorus.)

Red-winged.. vs Black-top...
But, yeah. Couldn't agree more. One of the top 5 most underrated songs ever?

I prefer these lyrics to the original.

I also had a NGD for my recent birthday.  I picked up an "Inspired by John Lennon" Epiphone Casino.  These are an upgrade over the regular issue Casino.  It has Gibson USA P-90 pickups, and a couple of other different cosmetic touches including the black ring around the pickup selector switch.  I'm really enjoying it so far. 
I was trying to think if Mike or Tom ever used a Casino on stage, and I don't think I've ever seen them do that.  Tom used a Casino in a couple of videos - I think the "Walls" video, and maybe the Mary Jane's Last Dance video from the living room?  I'd have to double check.  If anyone has a picture of Tom using one on-stage, I'd love to see it.

Shelter - did you just quote yourself?  Party foul.   Anyway, I always liked "Car Phone".  I'll pause right now to listen ........Yeah! fun song.  I like the 12-string riffs teasing some old Byrds tunes.  The voice at the end that you refer to?  Sorry, I never watched Twin Peaks but I doubt I would have made that connection anyway.

Yeah you know, I realize that this has only been explained from one perspective but...
It seems like Tom was sort of bewildered when Stan was being - seemingly - willfully obtuse regarding coming back to tour in '94.  But from the other side of it I imagine a feeling of: So you didn't want me on the record but you still want me to play these songs anyway on the road?  Really?!  I think that was perhaps the truest declaration of that perception: You're good enough for one thing, but not the other.  it's possible Stan even interpreted Tom recording another solo album as a means of getting away from him, and so I would understand if that led him to think, Why don't you just fire me already then?
Now the journey to this impasse was long and difficult and complex and fraught with peril but just on the very face of it. I actually do kinda know how Stan feels (sorry, I couldn't help the quip, the tense is all wrong, of course).  But his comment about being a plow horse (I think that's what he said?) was apt to his way of thinking.  Again, nobody's completely right or wrong in all of this, but I can appreciate some of the nuances on both sides.

Yeah Ron was the one who referred to Iovine as "scary."
Now here's a thing which isn't often discussed (well, just as a general observation on my part).  Fact: the Heartbreakers were just as hard on bass players as they were on drummers but nobody had to be fired because they could get what they wanted by either doing it themselves or bringing in their favorite ringer.  So again, there was something more to it than Stan playing shit in the studio.  But also, they had two of the nicest guys as bass players who didn't react badly to being told they couldn't do it right, or at least not bad enough to be "fired."

Not much though. 😁 
Personally I never felt any disco dimension to Tom - he always been a rock n roll to the bone kinda guy to me, if tinted in various sub genre hues at times, not to mention TPATH pretty early on sorta invented their own brand rnr, their own trademark noise. But in terms of the technical approach to arrangements, Tom's rhythm section preferences - that is the mid career decision to take Jeff's lead and change to a decisively more clinical time keeping only backdrop - modern pop/dance oriented genres and even machine created beats/drums aesthetic DO come to mind at times. Drums as not supposed to serve the song in any more fancy way than being the foundation. The mathematical core to drive it but preferably unnoticeable so. (Note: this is not a bad thing by definition. There are examples of bands that manage to get to the core of rock'n' roll, keeping it raw and pure, keeping their hips swingin so to speak, by means of totally artificial drummers even.)
But again, to me this rather interesting "disco" dimension is a drumming only thing, with latter era Tom. I never saw him even glance at Boney M in any other way. Not even on IANTM.
(For funny and sad reference to this discussion, see clip in A Bunch Of Videos... where Stan is "beating up the old drum machine".)

Ah, that is great!! Thanks!

Two thumbs up!  With a bonus disc of Heartbreakers originals which were performed live but never released on a studio album.

After seeing the live show from '82 that recently surfaced in pretty high quality, I have upgraded my respect for that era.  Those were great versions of the songs, and Tom's voice was absolutely top notch.

Whatever works for you! On other hand, if anyone else doesn't want to listen to Cash, I guess I can try to briefly explain why I feel he influenced the Heartbreakers especially Mike Campbell.
So, why Cash? Well, we know Mike's dad would come home, lie on the sofa and listen to albums including ones by Johnny Cash.  MC: why do you like him so much? MC's dad: Because he sings the truth. So this music and way of of interpreting what a song is forms part of Mike's childhood. 
Cash played his own music as well as covers. He's one for loyalty to the song (music & lyrics) almost as though he's part of the oral tradition of passing on cultural heritage from generation to generation.  He's able to reinterpret the feel by only changing an aspect within the whole, ie tempo, key to fit his vocal range, phrasing and pauses for emphasis.  Listen to Cash sing I Won't Back Down for an example of this. (A version that Tom Petty admired.) So the song's essential quality remains the same as the original version, but Cash does something special with the music that makes his version unique.  
Yet he doesn't have a fusty aura of earnest faithfulness or too great an emphasis on classic reproduction just to conserve the music as received from an earlier generation. Museum, no. Desperate, no. Gravitas, yes.  He demands you take him seriously, partly because he's putting so much of himself into creating music of such quality.
He pretty much seems to only sings it if he can do something interesting with it or if it has meaning.  But he doesn't tinker or mess with it unneccesarily.  Like with, say, apple pie.  For it to be recognisably still apple pie, it has to have apple & pastry.  Do anything else to it and maybe it's amazing but it's not the same anymore.  So then you gotta call it something else.  Can add (spice) or change shape ... Lots of options & flexibility within a boundary.  So not one for 10 minute solo or new lyrics unless that's the way the essential quality of the song is expressed. 
Know what I mean? Do at least parts of this this resonate? Disagree? 

I see, you were speaking more about the subject matter, the lyrics, their overall sentiment, than about the music. Because while It Ain't Nothing To Me is some kind of a twisted stab at funk (or disco even???), Jammin' Me is a flat-out rock song. So to me, they feel entirely different. Lyrics never really dominate the mood of a song for me.

"It Ain't Nothin' To Me" seems to be bordering on parody at times for me, but I would say the similarity has to do with how they're both "list" songs although "Jammin'" is rather serious even as it has a sort of punk attitude about it.

Just want to add... 92 was absolutely spine tingling fantastic. In case you ever were in doubt....
 
(Oh, and that includes Stan, as far as I could/can tell.)

Something like that, yeah! The day I get to hear all of the SA session material, and the day I am able to imagine it all done with a tad more timeless production, is the day I'm ready to pass final judgement on the era.
Too bad that day will likely never happen, since I have a feeling the 83-85 era may be at least a bit more prolific than it's usually credited for. Whatever bits and pieces we have suggest as much. Them not quite being super stars enough to dictate everything, at the time, slaves under contracts and (frankly) generally busy partying their minds to pieces Dave Stewart style, and lots of other typical mid 80s, 10-years-career reasons, made whatever flow of genius there was, barely recognized and sadly lost in chaotic times. At least that's how I like to understand it.

Go on, do it, book it into your day. I'd say do it as soon as you can. 

I agree in terms of what it could have been, if they'd had their shit together at the time.