Petty's release may be best yet
By Scott Hudson
The Augustana Mirror - April 18, 1985
Due to a change of locale (and state of mind) during Spring Break, I didn't get a chance to listen to much new music. However, one new album caught my attention. Tom Petty released Southern Accents, his first album in almost three years, and possible the best release of his seven-album career.
Southern Accents is such a triumph because Petty opted to experiment with different styles and sounds. Petty uses musicians as diverse as Dave Stewart (Eurythmics), Jack Nitzsche (Neil Young), Garth Hudson and Robbie Robertson (The Band), and his own band, the Heartbreakers, in an effort to combine elements of the 60s, 70s and 80s.
Tom Petty explores roots on new album
By Frank Spotnitz
The Citizen Auburn - Friday, April 19, 1985
NEW YORK -- Tom Petty had been working on his new album, Southern Accents, for the better part of two years and had reached the conclusion that there was no way he could finish it by the end of 1984.
Partly out of anger, partly out of despair, Petty last October slapped his left hand against the wall of the stairwell outside his Los Angeles recording studio and broke three bones.
The album still was incomplete and now Petty had to face the possibility he would never play the guitar again, or perhaps for only short periods.
"I think from the time I did it, I just realized what I was up against and I just set my mind to healing it," Petty said in a telephone interview from Los Angeles.
Album Spot
Review by Russell Kyle
Glasgow Evening Times - April 19, 1985
Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, Southern Accents (MCA).
This outfit have never cut a bummer of an album. They have been making magic music for years and this set doesn't alter that fact. The title track is a gem along with Don't Come Around Here Anymore. The strange thing about Tom Petty is just why he has never cracked it to any great degree in Britain. Of the nine tracks there wasn't a real bad ones. They are an outfit I'd like to see in concert.
Pop Beat
By Anthony DeCurtis
Herald Statesman - Sunday, April 21, 1985
On "Southern Accents," his first album release since 1982, Tom Petty reaches back to his Florida roots to forge a cycle of songs that is rigorously old-fashioned and earnestly contemporary. While most successful LPs these days are collections of four or five potential hit singles and a equal amount of competent, high-gloss filler, "Southern Accents" (MCA) is a thematically unified meditation on the American South -- its self-destructive parochialism and its nourishing sense of tradition.
"We got our own way of living, but everything gets done/With a southern accent, where I come from," Petty croons on the album's deeply affecting title track. The quiet regional dignity of those lines contrasts sharply with the hell-bent cry of red-neck doom that constitutes the lyrical hook of "Rebels," the record's opening cut: "With one foot in the grave and one foot on the pedal, I was born to rebel." Both visions are dramatically presented and left to stand on their own terms -- the listener is left to discern the full picture of a region's pride and narrowness, and the eventual fates of both types of characters.
Read more: Gannet-Westchester Herald-Statesman - April 21, 1985
"Southern Accents" | Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Review by Stuart Levine
Daily Sundial - Thursday, April 25, 1985
Tom Petty has not forgotten his Dixie roots. His new album, "Southern Accents," tells an effective tale of what it's like to be a Rebel with a combination of hard rock numbers, slower ballads and the influence of Eurythmics' Dave Stewart.
The first single to be released, "Don't Come Around Here No More" takes a while to get used to, but like good wine, gets better with age. This is Stewart's most noticeable contribution to the album.
"Rebels" picks up where "Long After Dark" left off. It has a hard rock 'n' roll sound with guitarist Mike Campbell leading the way. One may wonder why this was not the single given to the radio stations across the country.
The title cut is Petty's theme for the album. He tells us he's always been a good ol' Southern boy and that although some Yankees may think he's lazy or just plain stupid, he doesn't care what they think.
The Heartbreakers' sound is crisp, clear, and to the point. Campbell, keyboardist Benmont Tench and drummer Stan Lynch have been together so many years, it's hard to find any musical faults.
For any long time Petty fan, this album has all the ingredients to satisfy the need for hard driving rock 'n' roll, TP style. If you're not familiar with the sound of Petty and his Heartbreakers, give the album a try, it has a sound worth listening to.
High Atop The University Center Hotel
Gainesville Sun - April 26, 1985
(L-R) Stan Lynch, Tom Petty, and Benmont Tench face MTV Cameras.
Album Review: Petty is particularly poor
By Andy Katz
The Lafayette - Friday, April 26, 1985
Tom Petty | "Southern Accents" | Backstreet Records
Tom Petty's new album "Southern Accents" is the worst to come from Petty so far. After "Damn the Torpedos" and "Hard Promises" did so well, it seemed logical to expect the same level of high quality music. If you pick this one up, you're sure to be let down. There is definitely a Southern touch to the album, but if that's the style Petty wanted to pursue, why is "Don't Come Around Here No More," an obvious rock tune, the first single to be released from the album? Songs such as "Spike," which has the annoying lyric "Hey Spike what do you like" repeated consistently, doesn't even deserve to be recorded. "Rebels" should be entitled "Mumbles" because the lyrics are barely discernable. The title song, "Southern Accents," is particularly poor. THe music is basically simple and Tom has always had trouble singing ballads.
During one of the recording sessions for this album Tom broke his hand. It was announced to the public that he had smashed his hand into a wall in a moment of exhilaration while hearing his new album. Be serious, Tom just felt the frustration that his fans will feel when they hear this album too.
In The Groove: Tom Petty hits the right chord
By Roy Lyn Dennis
The War Whoop - April 26, 1985
Tom Petty's new album, "Southern Accents," does for the South as "Born In The U.S.A." did for the depressed Midwest.
Like Springsteen's last album, Petty characters are hard-pressed and down-trodden trying to pick themselves up with materialism and self-denial, only to find they are back where they started from.
"Rebels" deals with Southern pride, not only dealing with the South's backwardness, but criticizing the North for the South that grew out of the Civil War. One can feel the resentment that the Southerner feels in these lyrics, "I can still feel the eyes of those blue-bellied devils/when I'm walkin' around at night/through the concrete and metal."
Edit: Yes, the original scan said "the band Fame." I have a feeling it was an editor....
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers | Southern Accents (MCA Records)
Review by Brian VanOchten
Central Michigan Life - May 1, 1985
One has to wonder how a guy who can't sing is able to achieve multi-platinum status as a pop/rock recording artist.
Funny, but that's exactly what Tom Petty and his Heartbreakers have been doing of late. The new studio album, Southern Accents, is no laughing matter either. Its destiny also is one of the platinum echelon.