Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers "Playback"
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"Video Killed the Radio Star" was the name of the first video ever played on MTV.
Twenty years later we know that this bold prediction is not true. Music videos, which
took the recording industry by storm and created a whole new entertainment medium are
today, slowly sinking into obscurity.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers "Playback" is a case in point. Few would argue with the
quality of the music. Opening with a 1979 cut of "Here Comes My Girl" and closing with
1993's "Mary Janes's Last Dance", this DVD evolves chronologically through some of
the great pop songs of the past twenty-five years.
As a big Tom Petty fan, It's hard to be unbiased. I like every cut on the DVD. In fact, I
love most of them! After a single viewing of this disk, anyone born after 1950 will
appreciate the way that this southern rocker from the 70's grows into one of the great
songwriters and performers of the 80's and 90's.
The videos themselves are a different story. They range in quality from the genius,
"Don't Come Around Here No More", to the atrocious, "Runnin' Down A Dream".
Perhaps I'm getting old, but in seems that visual stimulation does nothing to enhance the
music.
What these videos do however, is tell the story of why MTV and the music video industry
are in decline. The early offerings from the disk are from the late `70's and early `80's
and they are great! They include concert style cuts and simple visuals. ...Then this new
art form got ahead of itself. The mid `80's had great Petty songs, but the video producers
seemed to be in a race to see who could be the most abstract and absurd. They attempt to
tell stories that have nothing to do with the music.
In a mater of four or five years the great MTV phenomenon evolved into a series of two
or three second visual bytes that are hard on the senses and distract from the very song
that they are meant to enhance. ...Darwin was wrong. At least when it comes to music
videos, evolution is not always for the better.
If you like Tom Petty, buy this DVD! But of course, you already knew that. If on the
other hand, you are wondering what ever happened to music videos, rent this DVD and
see how poor visual effects can hurt great music and be a real Heartbreaker.
John Amback
February 14, 2003
833152
I had no playback issues at all although my record player is from the 80's so that may be why. The album itself is awesome of course. My only issue was with the carrier they used my first order was lost so I had to get one resent to me.
862243
I love both songs change of heart and she's a woman in love but it's not me as well Tom Petty is not all that great of a singer however he does get his point across and doesn't very strongly I would recommend getting this box that I had it but it got badly scratched. I had to replace a couple of the songs on it on it so I ended up buying these two selections.
3373521
RECORDED IN 1978 IN AUSTRALIA.FEATURES BOYS ARE BACK,COWBOY SONG,BAD REPUTATION AND MORE.GARY MOORE AND SCOT GORHAM PLAY SOME SMOKIN DUAL LEADS,INCLUDING AN AMAZING 5 MINUTE SOLO BY GARY MOORE.UNFORTUNATLY THE  SOUND QUALITY IS NOT VERY GOOD.A MUST FOR THIN LIZZY AND GARY MOORE FANS.
4800321
It is nice to hear songs that are updated & cleaned up.  The New Recording & Patsy Cline CD's were very nice too.  Well worth the money.
1127241
Love all the new Mudcrutch music I was recently became aware of by listening to Tom Petty radio on Sirius XM.  If you like Tom Petty as much as I do, you will love this.
4688957
Going in to this, I didn't really like the songs of Tom Petty but knew he was a cool guy. After this I learned what a smart and stand up guy he is. This is a very good documentary covering his life, musical influences, the business, and through it all you see what Petty is really like. I can just say he is not the norm in a very good way. And, I heard some songs including "southern accent" that I really liked that I have not heard before.
Worth watching even if you don't like his music.
3882906
Enjoy listening to Tracy live.  Nothing new on the album, obviously, but its fun to hear his songs done live.
1681647
Author Warren Zanes writes that Tom Pettys story is a whiff of Horatio Alger and a little Elvis.

Petty, whose musical career has spanned 40 years, released his first album in 1976 to little or no fanfare.  Damn the Torpedoes the third album released in 1979 was the success that changed every aspect for Petty and the band.

Zanes calls Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers the most consistently great American band to have come out of the 1970s and found their way into the new century.

Petty, who had a rough, abusive childhood growing up in Gainesville, Fla., was inspired by The Beatles.  He played in his first band, The Sundowners, at age 14.  The Epics and Mudcrutch followed and eventually led to the Heartbreakers.

Much of the book concerns the evolution of Pettys bands, their personnel changes, tensions, conflicts, frustrations and legal problems.

Petty has seen more than his share of success and the troubles that go with it, writes Zanes.

Pettys band has always been the most important thing to him.  He could have easily become a solo artist, but insisted upon keeping his band together, despite the difficulties.

Zanes spends as much time, if not more, discussing Pettys bands as he does the man himself. Thats understandable to a degree since Zanes writes that Petty is mysterious and doesnt invite investigation into his personal life.  After fame arrived, Zanes says Petty became an emotional recluse.

It seems as if band members, and former band members, are much more willing to talk about Petty and the Heartbreakers than he is.  Petty does, however, open up about the deterioration of his first marriage and his divorce.  Petty was clinically depressed, isolated and doing heroin after his divorce.  His second wife, Dana, helped pull him out of it.

Although Petty cooperated with Zanes on his biography, I was left wanting to know more about him.
194134
Not a bad live dvd.  Tom Petty plays songs from the Last DJ which was a pretty decent album. But he avoids the classics that would make this a must have for anyone who wasn't a die hard fan.  The CD has a few tracks but again nothing you have to own.

But if you like live DVDs as I do, then you'll certainly enjoy the time spent with Petty and the Heartbreakers.
4332264
12 tracks of premium rock! Self produced with a little help from Tom Petty! Deserves a six star rating! Thanx!
1310691
This is truly his greatest hits.  I have worn out several copies of this even before CD's came out.  A must have for Petty fans.
926902
Killer Rock 'N' Roll band from Detroit. Five stars because I was able to find it. Too bad the MP3s are not as good as they could've been had the folks who did the re-issue have access to the master tapes for re-mastering. Sounds to me like they used the vinyl recording, flew it into a computer and tried to re-master from that source. All-in-all... it sounds good enough for me and it ROCKS.
2077152
You already know if you like Tom Petty. I don't need to rate that.... the "product" is just digital music files - they play just fine.
3432870
This DVD is a wonderful collection of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers at there best. I love watching the videos as they evolve. A fare warning though, this an incredible collection of videos from Tom Petty but it only covers their work up until Mary Janes last dance. There is nothing from any releases after greatest hits. Still worth owning and enjoying.
4380408
Subject: Re: Your Amazon.com order of "Crossroads Revisited..." has shipped!

I received this fine but the Disc 3 has a skip or overplay on the song
Crossroads. This is the first time I heard it all.
3089097
I'm a fan of Tom Petty ( though NOT Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers- go figure!). I've listened to both albums one after another numerous times & the Heatbreakers always leave me cold, but Tom Petty's work is terrific (except for "Highway Companion" which I thought was a bunch of tunes that didn't make it onto other TP albums- for good reason!).
I love Tom Petty's work in the Traveling Wilburys, too...
I didn't know anything about Mudcrutch; didn't know I was "waiting " for it!
This sounds to me very much like a lot of the music that came out of San Francisco in the late 60's & early 70's. That musical era/ musical explosion of ideas ushered in what was probably the most creative & & far reaching period in American music!
That's a pretty serious legacy to call upon & these guys deliver! I loved the choices they made too! The songs are, of course mainly written by Tom Petty, but they fit in so well with the ones that were written by someone else (Including a Roger Mcguinn tune!).
The playing sounds like an album that was recorded in 1970 & inexplicably forgotten, then remastered "last week" & released. It's clean & well thought out- Nothing there that doesn't need to be there; everything there that does! Perhaps that's "maturity" in evidence. I don't know.
The vocals, again are mostly Tom Petty, but other voices come to the fore to add a vocal richness that is not evident on Heartbreaker albums.
There are a couple of "Heartbreakers" with Petty on this album, but it's the "new" people that flesh out the sound so effectively & so satisfyingly. This is a "must" for any sort of Tom Petty fan.