Ram Album Picks
The Ram - Thursday, December 5, 1985
6. Tom Petty | Southern Accents
Though less convincing as a concept album, Southern Accents marks a turning point for Petty and Co. The album is really half of a concept album, (the songs written with Eurythmic Dave Stewart have nothing to do with Petty's return to his roots) and whatever Petty's driving at is never really clear. Nonetheless, there are some great tracks on this album. "Don't Come Around Here No More" is one of the catchiest weirdo tracks to ever hit the airwaves (sitars in the 80's?), and "Spike" is perhaps the most underrated song of the year. The critics who have accused Petty of "redneck rock" should give this song, in which Petty makes fun of a group of rednecks making fun of a punk rocker, another listen.
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers Move In Spirited Tracks
By Daniel Brogan
Chicago Tribune - December 6, 1985
TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS, Pack Up The Plantation--Live! (MCA): An eclectic mix of Petty's own work and his favorite Byrds, Searchers and Animals covers. Former collaborator Stevie Nicks stops by to pitch in on "Needles and Pins" and "Insider." Recorded at a variety of venues on Petty's most recent tour, this two-record set never attempts to reproduce the feel of a Heartbreakers concert, and thus at times seems a bit disjointed, but the individual tracks are spirited throughout. An accompanying home video will soon be released.
Petty gives new life to oldies in Pack Up The Plantation
By Glen Gore-Smith
Winnipeg Free Press - Saturday, December 14, 1985
Pack Up The Plantation (MCA), a two-record set from Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, is a live concert album, plus the soundtrack to the movie and long-form video of the same name.
By interspersing originals with non-nostalgic cover versions of vintage rock tunes, including The Searchers' Needles And Pins, and The Animals' Don't Bring Me Down, Petty adds a dimension of variety, while putting his own style in a historical context.
There's a cost to this,of course. To make room for the oldies (and because some tracks are stretched), certain of Petty's better songs are omitted (Don't Do Me Like That, Don't Come Around Here No More).
New life
Petty has a tendency to put his heart into his singing, without quite unlocking the heart of the music. But Plantation, at its best, does what a live album is supposed to do: Breathe temporary new life into well-worn material -- in this case, most notably on Needles & Pins, Southern Accents (duets with Stevie Nicks) and You Got Lucky, arguably Petty's most compelling song. ★★★
Records
By Marty Racine
Houston Chronicle - Sunday, January 5, 1986
Pack Up the Plantation - Live! | Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers | MCA
Used to be, during the late '60s/early '70s heyday of live rock albums, that in-concert recordings were special projects that were often more compelling than a particular group's studio efforts. Rock 'n' roll has always been a live, spontaneous medium, and live albums captured rock's true excitement and intensity and provided the opportunity for a band to stretch out and boogie a little on vinyl.
In the '80s, due to developing technology, advanced recording techniques, emphasis on shorter songs (no more endless boogie) and the rise of studio-perfect whiz kids such as the Thompson Twins, Eurythmics and the rest of the techno-popsters, live albums have fallen out of favor - except as a ploy to fulfill a contractual obligation. And let's face it: Many of today's overnight superstars are simply not seasoned enough to put out a good stage show.
Tom Petty
By Richard Defendorf
Orlando Sentinel - January 5, 1986
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Pack Up the Plantation -- Live! (MCA
2-8021): This double album contains 11 Heartbreaker originals and renditions of five tunes by performers who influenced the Heartbreaker sound. From it all, the listener gets a feel for the music and variety, if not the excitement, of a Heartbreaker concert.
The covers are performed as a good bar band would perform them, with arrangements that are more imitative than innovative. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, as they say. ''So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star'' and the Searchers hit ''Needles and Pins'' (sung on the choruses with the proper ''needles and PINZ-a'' inflection) are crowd-pleasing bows to Heartbreaker heroes. Renditions of the Isley Brothers' ''Shout'' and the Animals single ''Don't Bring Me Down'' come off as merely competent.
From Tom Petty, A Live Performance
By Steven Rea
The Philadelphia Inquirer - January 5, 1986
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' double album, Pack Up the Plantation - Live! (MCA ★★★) offers the Southern rocker and his band in concert - and as live albums go, this one goes well. Included are some of the affably unpretentious singer-guitarist's big hits - "Refugee," "The Waiting" and ''You Got Lucky" - plus some oldies that obviously had a big impact on the teenage Petty, growing up in Florida. "Needles and Pins," the mid-'60s Searchers hit, is given a particularly inspired reading, with Petty's nasal timbre complemented by the nasal (in a higher register) tones of Stevie Nicks (Nicks is also featured on "Insider"), while 12-string electric guitars twang wildly away. And Petty pays tribute to Roger McGuinn and the Byrds, doing "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" - a song he has virtually made his own. Like most live collections, this one has its share of filler, most notably "Breakdown": This is one of Petty's best songs - a driving, dramatic rock tune - but here he just turns it over to the crowd, and who needs a record of 10,000 Tom Petty fans mumbling the chorus and clapping off the beat?
Listen Up! Rock
Review by Greg Magarian
The Milwaukee Journal - January 12, 1986
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers -- "Pack Up the Plantation -- Live" -- MCA
This two-record set documents Petty's rise to the heights of the American rock scene, a process crowned b last year's outstanding "Southern Accents" LP. The album is programmed as well as it is time, containing solid performances of most of Petty's big hits -- "Breakdown," "The Refugee," et al -- along with some great cover selections.
Petty is no Springsteen on stage; most of the tracks are simply energetic recreations of the studio versions, with a little more room for ace guitarist Mike Campbell to cut loose. Petty does transform one of his best tunes, "The Waiting," from a standard rocker to a spare, restrained slice of pathos, and Stevie Nicks shows up to add vocal support on "The Insider."
But the real treats for Petty fans are the covers -- another Nicks duet on "Needles and Pins," a party-velocity "Shout," and faithful cracks at "Don't Bring Me Down" and "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" that will make you forget the '70s ever happened. The mix of such inspired cover choices with a well-performed bunch of Petty's own standouts make this album a good bet for anyone who still loves rock 'n' roll.
Tom Petty: Not the ultimate big-time, but big enough
By Michael Goldberg
Anchorage Daily News - Wednesday, January 15, 1986
The phone call came from Bob Dylan. Would Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers be willing to back him for a five-week tour of New Zealand, Australia and Japan? "Are you kidding?" exclaimed Petty, still jazzed from playing with Dylan at Farm Aid. "Put me down! Send me the itinerary!"
And so Dylan did: The tour begins Feb. 5 in New Zealand. It will be filmed, perhaps for a cable-TV special. No U.S. dates had been scheduled at press time.
At initial rehearsals in Los Angeles, Petty, the Heartbreakers, and Dylan were all in top form, working out such recent Dylan songs as "Union Sundown" and "In the Garden," then jamming into the night on old blues changes. "I can't remember when I've had so much fun playing," said Dylan. "They play my music great."
Hot Wax!
By Steven Rea and Ken Tucker
Charleston News and Courier - January 17, 1986
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' double album, "Pack Up the Plantation -- Live!" (MCA) offers the Southern rocker and his band in concert, and as live albums go, this one goes well.
Included are some of the affably unpretentious singer-guitarist's big hits plus some oldies that obviously had a big impact on the teen-age Petty, growing up in Florida. "Needles and Pins," the mid-60s Searchers hit, is given a particularly inspired reading, with Petty's nasal timbre complemented by the nasal (in a higher register) tones of Stevie Nicks (she's also featured on "Insider"). And Petty pays tribute to Roger McGuinn and the Byrds, doing "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star," a song he has virtually made his own.
Like most live collections, this one has its share of filler, most notably "Breakdown." This is one of Petty's best songs but here he just turns it over to the crowd. And who needs a record of 10,000 Tom Petty fans mumbling the chorus and clapping off the beat?