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Big Blue Sky

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Posts posted by Big Blue Sky

  1. Posted · Report reply

    I particularly appreciate ❤️ the sound of those early songs & think it's remarkable that the band shared them. 

    • the 1st recording played on local Florida radio "Up In Mississippi Tonight",
    • song recorded in Florida "On The Street" by BT & used as demo in LA
    • recorded after they signed with Shelter: "Cry To Me" (cover), "I Can't Fight It", "Don't Do Me Like That", "Louisiana Rain" & also "Depot Street". 

    Q: Would you have given them a record deal in 1974? Would you have dropped them in 1975?

    Q: What's musically special about them? (Or are we seeing them as special because of who they later became)? 

    Q: Could TP have continued on as bass player, or did he have to move to rhythm guitar to be able to sing most if not all of the songs?

    PS also from that early phase (this being the song Leon Russell heard TP singing) ❤️

     

     

  2. Posted · Report reply

    On 7 March 2019 at 8:34 AM, MaryJanes2ndLastDance said:

     

    Certainly I think, had this come out now I'd be yelling CASHGRAB! But at the time I was perhaps more innocent.

     

    Goodness me, I must have been distracted by comments like this one ^^^  

    So glad you want to discuss the music. Let's get on with that, then shall we? 

  3. Posted · Report reply

    If you're ever sittin' around wondering who might want to listen to albums & box sets (like Playback) that the band releases, here are two articles.

    The short answer is: a LOT of people ever since 1976 including right up to today.

    So yeah, if you feel that at times they created albums or box sets with sections you don't want to listen to, that's up to you. As musicians, they were maybe, just maybe, working hard at creating & sharing the best quality music they could over an entire career. And that music connects with a LOT of people. 

    https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/7988674/tom-petty-heartbreakers-40-years-hits-breakdown

    • The debut launched an impressive career spanning four decades, with numerous feats and Billboard chart achievements... Blah blah... Petty notched 22 entries on the Billboard 200 and dozens of hits on Billboard’s rock and pop charts.

    https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/7989072/tom-pettys-music-sales-increase-following-death

    • While we were feeling very very sad indeed, some of their songs & albums surged back onto the charts. 

       

  5. Posted · Report reply

    You know when tea / coffee shops create sample bags by getting someone on staff to select some goodies from the entire range? Then over the next few weeks you try out the different sample options & find what you love & decide you want to explore further or get more of?

    You've tasted something that you like (Greatest Hits* even just one song) & now you can see what else there is from a selected range (Playback). If you want to explore further you sure can (original albums, singles, live concerts). 

    Also helpful to remember transition from vinyl to cd was happening late 80s early 90s. New technology: portable Walkman, CD player in car etc... Do you go back & buy all the earlier albums etc... For me, can easily imagine smart move to stash Playback box set safely in car glovebox before I set out for a 6 hour car trip in car with CD player. 

    And maybe, you know, people started by mentioning songs unique to Playback when they're talking about Playback. If you want to enthusiastically talk about chord progression in, say, American Girl, you are spoiled for choice as it's on so many albums, not just Playback. 

     

    * 12 million copies of Greatest Hits - sensible to consider that after 1993 at least some of these people might want to explore the back catalogue a little further. So, releasing Playback & VHS video collection 2 years later seems a very smart & logical move. To me & many more considering that Playback went platinum too.

    Shelter reacted to this

  6. Posted · Report reply

    On 23 October 2018 at 11:36 AM, chimera said:

    Okay so it was announced today that Fleetwood Mac will be playing some UK/European dates in June, so...since FM's 2019 NA touring already goes through the first week of April, do we think the Knobs are going to have some activity in January?  Or April/May?  Or will they wait until the late summer/fall to have a longer stretch of time - say, a solid two months of touring?

    I would hope the album gets released earlier in the year than later, at the very least.  

    In very recent Reverb interview posted elsewhere on Mudcrutch Farm, Mike Campbell says their Dirty Knobs album is almost finished & he's very excited about it & they want to release it by  of the year ie 2019 & then tour‼️. 🐝💂 🐾🐊 <--- that's a rather terrible emoji of someone wearing a very large hat. Couldn't find a better one for our favourite hat-wearing dread-locked guitarist. 

    Mudcrutch reacted to this

  7. Posted · Report reply

    Language.

    I'm sorry. 

    & yes - Don't Bring Me Down is written by Gerry Goffin & Carole King. 

    • Playback's first 3 albums have all those 18 TPATH songs off Greatest Hits plus 29 more Tom Petty songs & 2 covers (Byrds' So You Want To Be A Rock & Roll Star and Goffin/King's Don't Bring Me Down).
    • Breakdown is still about the same.  40% of songs on Playback being from Greatest Hits and a massive 60% of songs from other albums / back catalogue. 
    • That's not padding out a Greatest Hits. 

    🎸🎹  You're still welcome. 

  9. Posted · Report reply

    When they were considering songs' significance & whether to include them in Playback, did they want an extended Greatest Hits?

    • Well, there are 20 songs on Greatest Hits. Criteria is usually chart success, big sales or songs that are iconic for the band in some way. 
    • Yeah, 20 in total, with 18 Tom Petty originals plus 2 more. Some Greatest Hits versions include Buffalo Springfield's Something In The Air while others include Stop Draggin My Heart. Technically Stop Draggin duet with Stevie Nicks is "her" release off Bella Donna album, even though we know it's 100% pure Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers through and through. 

    Shall we now look at Playback?

    • Playback's first 3 albums have all those 18 TPATH songs plus 31 more Tom Petty songs & 1 cover (Byrds' So You Want To Be A Rock And Roll Star).
    • In other words, only about 40% are Greatest Hits while about 60% of those first 3 albums are other songs from across all their albums / back catalog. 
    • 60% ain't padding out.... 60% means the songs off first three albums on Playback creates something that's a very different listening experience than we have when we put Greatest Hits on. 

    🎩 You're welcome. 

  10. Posted · Report reply

    I ❤️ all of the complete box set & what you call the "big ticket".

    Took TPATH time & effort to curate those first 3. Which ones were included, which not. It's like they were choosing the significant songs from their earlier albums. But how did they decide which were significant, hmm? 

  11. Posted · Report reply

    Oh that's pathetic. What a response to send you, Earl Thomas. 

    42 minutes ago, Earl Thomas said:

    Thanks for your patience. I understand you're wondering if the website claims there are 1,000 units made, why your copy is over 1,000. I was able to find out that the record label releasing the Best of Everything decided to increase the limited quantity to 2000 units total. I hope this helps!

    This might be an appropriate response if this is the first time anyone's noticed & the minion at the record warehouse has helpfully searched for this one-off answer for this one-off question. 

    This is a issue involving  2000 units being sold via tompetty.com & 2000 fans directly involved & many more looking on. 

     

  15. Posted · Report reply

    Oh but surely, being in a minority might matter in a major way if you were, say, an insecure teenager supporting a teen band.

    You love a bunch of badass musicians 🎩 who started practicing & playing loud & rebellious rock and roll :D in the mid 1960s. So, when it comes to your thoughts about them, maybe it's less about "being in a minority" and more about the defiant joy of "having your own opinions".  (Okay, yes, enough with the motivational speeches. But you know what I mean, right? There are plenty of sheep in the world.) 

    Marion reacted to this

  16. Posted · Report reply

    In my opinion, I Can't Fight It is much more representative of who the band evolved into than Depot Street. Nothing terrible about Depot Steet if you like white boy reggae* but it doesn't seem as authentically eccentric and unique as some of their other music from that time. 

     

    * I'm teasing. 

  17. Posted · Report reply

    Copy that Martin03345. 

    To what extent did Denny Cordell & Shelter help TP, MC & BT grow as musicians? To what extent was Shelter losing its way & treating them as just another band? Sure, the retrospective discussion about those early days -in the documentary & books - paints Shelter in a positive light.  There are wonderful supportive aspects - like Cordell spending many evenings listening to music with TP & helping TP develop more of a critical listening ear across a wide range of music.  But same time, they basically jerked the musicians around,

    Like giving them the pile of dollars upfront while getting TP to sign away his publishing rights. Like encouraging  Mudcrutch to play white-boy reggae while encouraging TP to work on his song-writing & unique sound.  I agree, who on earth chose Depot Street as representative of that band's sound for their debut single? Like dropping Mudcrutch, but almost immediately giving TP the opportunity to work on Leon Russell's album. Like sending TPATH on tour in '77 with a mate of Cordell's (Reggie) for their manager - who spent all their cash, leaving them stuck in Pittsburg, or wherever, without any money to pay for thei hotel rooms. But Reggie was always really encouraging & built their confidence!

    Huh? Who does that? Oh yeah, record labels, that's who. 

    I sometimes have a game where I try to think of all the things that happened to Mudcrutch or TPATH which they survived but which broke other bands. Like, The Eagles broke up allegedly because someone poured a beer on someone else's head.  Pah, that's amateur level.  That story of Ron Blair eating the hash is funny, but other musicians* were being denied visas etc because of drug issues - which put a potentially disastrous cramp on their touring.  

    TPATH were smart, tough and amazing survivors, if nothing else. 

    * Macca in Japan, for example.

  18. Posted · Report reply

    1. Everything Two Gunslingers wrote is how I feel too. 
    2. If you don't want to buy it yourself, fair enough.  You could maybe use your own copies of the songs to create a set list / mixtape. How would that be? Except for the Ryan mastering magic, which is amazing.
    3. Is there something unusual happening during the ending of Walls on Best Of Everything? Or is it something as simple as I'm just getting the two versions of Walls mixed up? 
    Marion reacted to this

  19. Posted · Report reply

    Same article.

    image.jpeg.6f40c11485210fe8ac410703b9f13b4f.jpeg

    "Worst Of Tom Petty" haha. 

    Their "worst" is still gonna be amazing. 

    Also, about dropping the F-bomb in songs, yes, they're the only two songs I can think of too. Which is interesting, considering how often he seems to use it in interviews. Normally I'd say, well, musicians didn't  neccesarily want to be banned from TV / radio, or create unneccesary roadblocks to getting the songs out there. Was that it? But they didn't seem to care that much about rocking the boat on other occasions: cocaine (Listen To Her Heart); joint (You Don't Know How It Feels); scathing criticism of music biz (entire Last DJ album).

    Hoodoo Man reacted to this

  22. Posted · Report reply

    On 2 March 2019 at 5:06 PM, dylanfree said:

     

    Top Of The world. His solo is freaking amazeballs

    Agree! Listening to "Room At The Top" as part of new release albums. Mike's solo is indeed, as you say, freaking amazeballs.

    Confession: I'm not massively keen on "Echo" (the album), so don't tend to listen to it much. Plus, with Eddie Vedder using "Room At The Top" as a tribute grieving song, I was beginning to think of it as a sad piece of music. Wrong again! It's marvellous, but also a bit of complicated artistry (what did he just do?) ... so I'm understating it to simply say marvellous. 

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