"Wildflowers & All The Rest" by TOM PETTY – 54-Tracks from the November 1994 "Wildflowers" Album Sessions Including 7 Unreleased Songs and 25 Unreleased Studio and Live Versions – featuring Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench, Howie Epstein, Steve Ferrone and Stan Lynch from TP’s band The Heartbreakers with Guests Lenny Castro and Phil Jones (Percussion), Jim Horn (Saxophone), Orchestration by Michael Kamen, Backing Vocals by Carl Wilson of The Beach Boys and Drums by Ringo Starr (October 2020 UK Warner Records 4CD Deluxe Edition Hardback DigiBook Set with Chris Bellman Mastering) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

 

 

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"...Climb That Hill..."

 

Released as a Tom Petty solo album, the original Warner Brothers CD and 2LP set for "Wildflowers" was unleashed 1 November 1994 on an ever so slightly indifferent world. It peaked at a modest No. 8 in the US Billboard album charts (No. 36 in the UK). Melodic, Rocking, Plaintive and straddling everything from Riffage Rock, US Folk, Rockabilly and Alt-Country - it was a typically well-crafted Tom Petty album beautifully produced by Rick Rubin with TP and Mike Campbell. 

 

"Wildflowers" was well received critically too. Featuring Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench, Howie Epstein, Steve Ferrone and Stan Lynch from TP’s band The Heartbreakers - Guests included Percussionists Lenny Castro and Phil Jones, Horn Player Jim Horn with Orchestration by Michael Kamen and Drums by Ringo Starr on "To Find A Friend" with Backing Vocals by Carl Wilson of The Beach Boys on the rocker "Honey Bee" (both Wilson and Starr reappear on this retrospective on CD2 on the track "Hung Up And Overdue").

 

And back in late 1994 with the CD format dominating all in its path, the 2LP variant on Warner Brothers 9362-45759-1 (which did not shift much at the time, it was years before the VINYL resurgence) later became a legendarily hard to find rarity that often commanded price-tags in excess of £100. And after that – and 1994 – it was largely forgotten. But his horrible and untimely passing in 2017 changed all that...

 

There are 3 x CD variants of the reissue "Wildflowers & All The Rest" - all released 16 October 2020 – a 2CD Standard Edition on Warner Records 0936249229284, a 4CD Deluxe Edition on Warner Records 093624899112 and a 5CD (US-only) Super Deluxe Edition on Warner Records 093624893004 that had a Bonus Disc called "Finding Wildflowers (Alternate Versions)". After consumer demand, that fifth CD was issued 16 April 2021 as a stand-alone in the UK and EUROPE on Warner Records 093624884934. There is also extensive VINYL represses of the original double-album and the extended retrospective. This review will deal with the 4CD Deluxe Edition and the Singular "Finding Wildflowers (Alternate Versions)" as an add-on so you get the 'full' picture.

 

History: across 1992 and 1994 and with a splurge of new material and creativity, Petty had wanted a proper double-album, 2CDs and 2LPs (much of it acoustic) - but Warner Brothers balked - so we got the truncated 1CD version in Nov 1994. Time now with posthumous hindsight to rectify that and comply with his original intentions. Compiled with the full co-operation of his Heartbreaker band mates Guitarist Mike Campbell and Keyboard whizz Benmont Tench, Producer and Mixer Ryan Ulyate and especially his family (wife Dana and daughter Adria) – they have collated this massive return – and what a winner it is. To the details...

 

UK and EUROPE released 16 October 2020 - the 4CD Deluxe Edition of "Wildflowers & All The Rest" by TOM PETTY is on Warner Records 093624899112 (Barcode 093624899112) and gives you a Newly Remastered Version of the Album on CD1 with the other 3 being outtakes and alternate versions – all themed. They play out as follows:

 

CD1 "Wildflowers" Remastered (62:57 minutes):

1. Wildflowers

2. You Don't Know How It Feels

3. Time To Move On

4. You Wreck Me

5. It's Good To Be King

6. Only A Broken Heart

7. Honey Bee

8. Don't Fade On Me

9. Hard On Me

10. Cabin Down Below

11. To Find A Friend

12. A Higher Place

13. House In The Woods

14. Crawling Back To You

15. Wake Up Time

Tracks 1 to 15 are the 2LP/1CD album "Wildflowers" – UK released 1 November 1994 on Warner Brother Records 9362-45759-1 (VINYL) 9362-45759-2 (CD).

 

CD2 "All The Rest" (39:27 minutes):

1. Something Could Happen (Recorded 28 July 1993)

2. Leave Virginia Alone (Recorded 26 January 1993)

3. Climb That Hill Blues (Recorded 1993, no specific date)

4. Confusion Wheel (Recorded 11 April 1994)

5. California (Recorded 14 April 1994)

6. Harry Green (Recorded 1994, no specific date)

7. Hope You Never – Alternate Version (Recorded 11 April 1994)

8. Somewhere Under Heaven (Recorded 30 September 1992, first released in 2015 in the film "Entourage")

9. Climb That Hill – Alternate Take (Recorded 30 November 1993)

10. Hung Up And Overdue – Alternate Version (Recorded 3 June 1993)

NOTES:

Tracks 1 to 6 are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

Tracks 1, 3, 4 and 6 are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED Songs (see also CD3)

Tracks 7, 9 and 10 are ALTERNATES, appeared in different versions on the "She's The One" Soundtrack album

Track 8 first appeared in the 2015 film "Entourage"

 

CD3 "Home Recordings" (57:54 minutes):

1. There Goes Angela (Dream Away)

2. You Don't Know How It Feels

3. California

4. A Feeling of Peace

5. Leave Virginia Alone

6. Crawling Back To You

7. Don't Fade On Me

8. Confusion Wheel

9. A Higher Place

10. Break In The Rain (Have Love Will Travel)

11. To Find A Friend

12. Only A Broken Heart

13. Wake Up Time

14. Hung Up And Overdue

15. Wildflowers

NOTES:

Tracks 1, 4, 5 and 8 are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED Songs

 

CD4 "Wildflowers Live" (74:42 minutes):

1. You Don't Know How It Feels (14 December 2002, Fleet Center, Boston)

2. Honey Bee (17 March 1996, Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto)

3. To Find A Friend (28 December 2000, Bridge School Benefit, Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountainview, California)

4. Walls (6 February 1997, The Fillmore, San Francisco, California)

5. Crawling Back To You (27 July 2017, Forest Hills Stadium, New York)

6. Cabin Down Below (14 June 2009, Tweeter Center, Mansfield, MA)

7. Drivin' Down To Georgia (11 August 2010, Phillips Arena, Atlanta, GA, first released to the TP Fan Club in 2010)

8. House In The Woods (23 May 2013, Beacon Theater, New York)

9. Girl On LSD (6 June 2008, Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, PA)

10. Time To Move On (17 August 2002, UMB Bank Pavilion, St. Louis, MO)

11. Wake Up Time (17 April 2003, Vic Theatre, Chicago, Illinois)

12. It's Good To Be King (31 January 1997, The Fillmore, San Francisco, LA)

13. You Wreck Me (30 August 2014, Fenway Park, Boston, MA)

14. Wildflowers (28 June 2005, Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, MI)

 

CD5 "Finding Wildflowers (Alternate Versions)" 69:21 minutes:

1. A Higher Place

2. Hard On Me

3. Cabin Down Below

4. Crawling Back To You

5. Only A Broken Heart

6. Drivin' Down To Georgia

7. You Wreck Me

8. It's Good To Be King

9. House In The Woods

10. Honey Bee

11. Girl On LSD

12. Cabin Down Below (Acoustic Version)

13. Wildflowers

14. Don't Fade On Me

15. Wake Up Time

16. You Saw Me Comin'

Tracks 1 to 16 originally released 16 October 2020 as part of the 5CD Super Deluxe Edition of "Wildflowers & All The Rest" (CD5). Released 16 April 2021 as "Finding Wildflowers (Alternate Versions)", an individually released CD on Warner Records 093624884934 (Barcode 093624884934).

 

Ace Engineer CHRIS BELLMAN (at Bernie Grundman Mastering) has beautifully mastered this release. I can't emphasise enough the gorgeous audio quality on this package - it's astonishingly good. And it looks gorgeous too – each card slip wallet inside featuring hand-tinted artwork that reflects the songs – released or otherwise. The attached photo-packed booklet gives song-by-song notes with contributions from Lead Guitarist Mike Campbell, Keyboardist Benmont Tench, Producer Rick Rubin and Reissue Co-ordinator and Archivist Ryan Ulyate – often more frank than you would think they should be. It feels and is substantial – and across five discs, there is an abundance to savour.

 

The initial album had four singles on it – the hugely Radio-friendly "You Don't Know How It Feels" (December 1994), the live showstopping Rocker "You Wreck Me" in February 1995 with "It's Good To Be King" and "A Higher Place" later into 1995. I have to say I can dig either version of the hooky melody "Crawling Back To You" – the one on the album with the stunning Michael Kamen strings that so work (unusual for a TP song) or the unadorned more Ryan Adams Country Rock version on CD5 that is frankly just as cool. And again the Alternate high-voiced whisper of "Only A Broken Heart" on CD5 is just as good as the official album cut.

 

But I am amazed they left such a great rocker like "Drivin' Down To Georgia" with its clever piano middle eight off the album (see CD5) and instead opted for the more ham-Rockabilly "Honey Bee" – a mistake I feel. The difference between the absolute balls-to-the-wall Rock hit that is the album version of "You Wreck Me" as opposed to the 12-String Acoustic Guitar and Drums of the Alternate on CD5 could not be more pronounced (they were right to chose the Rock cut). The live version too is enormous. The lazy tempo of the Alternate for "It's Good To Be King" is great – so incredibly musical – but I can hear why they chose the final released version.

 

Over on CD2, the seven unreleased songs are all fully formed and as beautifully produced as the album cuts – so when you play bloody good acoustic/electric jangle melodies like "Something Could Happen" or "Confusion Wheel" – it seems inconceivable that they stayed in a can somewhere and were not at least considered as flipsides for the four singles the album eventually produced. Disc 2 may be short on playing time folks, but it is big on surprises and fan-wins. You get TP protecting the vulnerable girl from the big bad world in "Leave Virginia Alone" – another shuffle and jangle that could easily have been on either of The Traveling Wilbury albums (fabulous slide guitar solo from Mike Campbell towards the end of the song).

 

"Climb That Hill Blues" is essentially an Acoustic Demo done at the TP home studio that they tried to turn into a Rock song but felt they had failed (see Track 9 on CD2 for Rock version called "Climb That Hill"). Torn apart – afraid – don’t know who to trust - "Confusion Blues" is brill and benefits hugely from Campbell guitar where the lonesome feels like the Byrds meets Irish Folk Music (if you can imagine such a thing). The Alternate Version of "California" loses the doubled-vocal harmonies at the end of the track – the Harmonica ala Dylan solo is still there – but it is just tighter. A genuine find is the Acoustic and Harmonica only Murder/Vehicle Suicide Ballad "Harry Green" – a fantastic tale from his teenage years after a brave man who saved TP from a redneck trashing. A rare case of TPO using an actual name – it so Dylan – but so moving too and just a little sad...

 

The Home Recordings and Live versions offer wildly differing approaches – the first all meek and sedate and incredibly intimate – the second being with the band and the numbers worked out – so they ROCK. You also get those outtakes in a live environment that in some respects often worked better in. There is beautiful audio to the 16^th Avenue song "There Goes Angela (Dream Away)" – the opening cut on CD3 – all strummed acoustics and Dylanesque Harmonica. Even in simple acoustic and doubled vocals, hearing new tunes like "California" and the full-band-feel "A Feeling of Peace" is a thrill. CD3 cements the Acoustic Album theory - "Leave Virginia Alone", "Don't Fade On Me" split up by the jangle of "A Higher Place". In fact if you compare the merely good Home Recording of "A Higher Place" to the brilliant band-rehearsed version of it that opens CD5 – it's astonishing how much The Heartbreakers brought to his initial great ideas – they were and are the glue that cemented everything. And how witty is that "Girl On LSD" tale he tells on the Live CD that has the crowd in stitches. Five whole CDs and not a bad un – wow!

 

Like so many guys of my age, I was taken aback my Tom Petty's untimely passing in October 2017. It hurt me way more than I knew how to deal with. After Prince and Bowie – he was another hero of my musical life gone too soon (Stevie Ray Vaughan, Amy Winehouse and Jeff Buckley – other diamonds taken too damn quick as well)

 

But with the September 2018 4CD 'Deluxe Edition' of "An American Treasure", this October 2020 return to an oldie "Wildflowers" and the November 2022 extravaganza that is "Live At The Fillmore 1997" (another 4CD set in Deluxe Edition form) – the Petty family and his band mates The Heartbreakers have kept Tom's legacy fresh, amazing and frankly formidable. Yet another top job done...