Wednesday 4 October 2017

Two Still Stand


The Travelling Wilburys always struck me as  rich rock stars' indulgence, and although I do have all their records the concept grated on me and I found a lot of their songs forgettable. But there was a few geat tunes in there such as "End of The Line" and when you hear Roy Orbison's voice come in on "Handle With Care" you just wonder how the others dare sing in his presence, it's an absolute incredible monster of a voice compared to the others.

Unfortunately we lost Roy and George and yesterday amid lots of confused reporting we found that Tom Petty had gone. Six yeards older than me her went out after finished a fortieth anniversary tour still doing what he loved in a universe that some people only get the Andy Warhol fifteen minutes of fame. Tom never got old, he lived life how he enjoyed it and could have gone on  for a lot longer but it wasn't to be.

The first Tom Petty song I heard was "Anything That's Rock and Roll", a knowing re-imaginig of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues" with the Heartbreakers which I bought immediately and followed up buying their eponymous first album , which also contained the Byrd's tribute "American Girl". There was a little confusion at the time because Johnny Thunder' Heartbreakers were very active at the same time though obviosly more punk than Petty.

When Tom released his first solo album, I wondered what we would get and was rewarded with the gorgeous "Free Fallin'" and so it went on. There is always a lot of new music, but I do have a few Tom Petty albums in my collection and a Tom Petty record always give you a lift on the radio. I've just realised he shares the same surname as Buddy Holly's producer, Norman Petty, I must find out if there's a connection there.

Anyway there are two Travelling Wilbury's left standing and still very active, Bob Dylan and Jeff Lynne, and while since "Face The Music" I haven't been overly impressed with Jeff Lynne's output (the ELO were meant as an experiment in what the Beatles would have done after "Strawberry Fields" if they had continued on that road) , but Bob Dylan's out has varied from from the brilliant ("Tempest") to bland ("Triplicate")

I was disappointed but not surpised to see HMV have a huge Tom Petty display up to capture all the real fans, but that's just business.

Anyway it's time to go to work, have a brilliant Wednesday my friends.


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