"The Best Of Everything: The Definitive Career Spanning Hits Collection 1976-2016" by TOM PETTY and THE HEARTBREAKERS (March 2019 Geffen/Universal 2CD Set - Chris Bellman and Ryan Uylate Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...American Dream..."

You could argue that we need another Tom Petty 'Anthology' or multiple-disc 'Best Of' like we need another loss of an artist we adore, another slice of our musical past and joy taken too soon. But sentiment aside, what's important to remember with this March 2019 Geffen/Universal 2CD set is what’s new - the 2018 Chris Bellman and Ryan Ulyate Masters taken from first generation tapes. This twofer CD set looks and sounds stunning...

Including tracks from albums that aren't generally available as remasters, not only is the audio good on "The Best Of Everything" but real thought has gone into the play - clever sequencing that slips Soundtrack songs and lesser-heard exclusive cuts in-between all those album reference points we know so well ("Breakdown", "Free Fallin'" and so on). The line up on each disc makes the listen feel fresh. And for us 'have it all' types, we also get two rarities - an Alternate Version of "The Best Of Everything" from the "Southern Accents" sessions in 1985 and an August 2000 unreleased track called "For Real" - each tail-ending Discs 1 and 2.

And frankly this fantastic American Artist and his ace band deserve no less. Let's get to Indiana Girls on those Indiana Nights...

UK released Friday, 1 March 2019 - "The Best Of Everything: The Definitive Career Spanning Hits Collection 1976-2016" by TOM PETTY and THE HEARTBREAKERS on Geffen/Universal 00602567934394 (Barcode 602567934394) is a 38-Track 2CD set of Remasters (Two Unreleased) that breaks down as follows:

Disc 1 (72:17 minutes):

1. Free Fallin' (from "Full Moon Fever", 1989)

2. Mary Jane's Last Dance (from "Greatest Hits", 1993)

3. You Wreck Me (from "Wildflowers", 1994)

4. I Won't Back Down ("Full Moon Fever", 1989)

5. Saving Grace (from "Highway Companion", 2006)

6. You Don't Know How It Feels (from "Wildflowers", 1994)

7. Don't Do Me Like That (from "Damn The Torpedoes", 1979)

8. Listen To Her Heart (from "You're Gonna Get It", 1978)

9. Breakdown (from the debut album "Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers", 1976)

10. Walls (Circus) (from the Motion Picture Soundtrack to "She's The One", 1996, featuring Lindsey Buckingham on Backing Vocals)

11. The Waiting (from "Hard Promises", 1981)

12. Don't Come Around Here No More (from "Southern Accents", 1985)

13. Southern Accents (from "Southern Accents", 1985)

14. Angel Dream (No. 2) (from the Motion Picture Soundtrack to "She's The One", 1996)

15. Dreamville (from "The Last DJ", 2002)

16. I Should Have Known It (from "Mojo", 2010)

17. Refugee (from "Damn The Torpedoes", 1979)

18. American Girl (from "Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers", 1976)

19. The Best Of Everything (Alternate Version) - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED (original version on "Southern Accents", 1985)

Tracks 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 by TOM PETTY - all others by TOM PETTY and THE HEARTBREAKERS

Disc 2 (74:08 minutes):

1. Wildflowers (from "Wildflowers", 1994)

2. Learning To Fly (from "Into The Great Wide Open", 1991)

3. Here Comes My Girl (from "Damn The Torpedoes", 1979)

4. The Last DJ (from "The Last DJ", 2002)

5. I Need To Know (from "You're Gonna Get It", 1978)

6. Scare Easy (from "Mudcrutch", 2008)

7. You Got Lucky (from "Long After Dark", 1982)

8. Runnin' Down A Dream (from "Full Moon Fever", 1989)

9. American Dream Plan B (from "Hypnotic Eye", 2014)

10. Stop Draggin' My Heart Around (a Top Petty and Mike Campbell song from the Stevie Nicks solo album "Bella Donna", 1981)

11. Trailer (from "Mudcrutch 2", 2016)

12. Into The Great Wide Open (from "Into The Great Wide Open", 1991)

13. Room At The Top (from "Echo", 1999)

14. Square One (from "Highway Companion", 2006)

15. Jammin' Me (from "Let Me Up (I've Had Enough)", 1987)

16. Even The Losers (from "Damn The Torpedoes", 1979)

17. Hungry No More (from "Mudcrutch 2", 2016)

18. I Forgive It All (from "Mudcrutch 2", 2016)

19. For Real - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED (recorded 23 August 2000)

Tracks 1, 8 and 14 by TOM PETTY

Tracks 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 12, 13, 15, 16, and 19 by TOM PETTY and THE HEARTBREAKERS

Tracks 6, 11, 17 and 18 by MUDCRUTCH

Track 10 by STEVIE NICKS featuring Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

When looking at the cover on a small shot - I had initially thought the cover photo/artwork was a bit naff actually, but when you open out the three-way gatefold card sleeve, it’s gorgeous to look at inside. They’ve put mini shots of all 18 different album covers across the two CD-holding sleeves (1976 to 2016) - whilst the 20-page attached booklet has three pages worth of single picture sleeves from all over the world (an impressive display). The liner notes are provided by TP’s champion and regular user of his material in his films, Director CAMERON CROWE – giving a potted history of what’s been picked and why. The artwork at the rear has '2018' as the Copyright date for a compilation released in March '2019' - I suspect this has to do with the fact that these transfers were done for the "American Treasure" 4CD Deluxe Retrospective released September 2018. 

AUDIO – everything has been mastered from original stereo master tapes (and some digital files) by CHRIS BELLMAN working at Bernie Grundman Mastering – mastering supervised by RYAN ULYATE. I’d argue that everything after 1994 and the award-winning audio of "Wildflowers", (especially anything with Rick Rubin producing) has absolutely no need for remasters and their sonic power here is awesome. But the 1976 debut through to 1991’s "Into The Great Wide Open" is another matter. A perfect example is the "Southern Accents" LP issued in April 1985 – never remastered fully as an album except in Japan some years ago on an expensive SHM-CD – my crappy sounding MCA CD is a joke on the title track "The Best Of Everything" – a sort of four-minute non-event on an album that many felt underwhelmed. Here the Previously Unreleased (Alternate Version) that ends Disc 1 is 5:25 minutes long instead of four and the audio is staggeringly good. But more importantly this new version makes you feel like someone somewhere missed a trick with this gorgeous ballad. The brass and keyboards is more out there now and the power of the melody is suddenly screaming at you – a lost masterpiece in my books and I can so see why it was chosen for this set.

Other revelations include "Don't Come Around Here No More" and "Southern Accents" – those once-buried sitars with power in the first and those distant strings now beautiful in the second. The sequencing too – take this trio - "Angel Dream (No. 2)" from 1996 (with Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac on very apparent backing vocals) slots in perfectly before "Dreamville", an overlooked cut from the 2002 album "The Last DJ", and then followed by a groovy rocker "I Should Have Known It" from 2010 – all of it works so damn well. The only slight disappointment to me is "The Waiting" where the guitars still sound like they were recorded in another room down the hall – strangely lacking - especially when it comes to that solo – but I suspect that has more to do with the original production.

Over on Disc 2 we get Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac, Mudcrutch and that new song. Amazingly 1991’s "Learning To Fly" sits sweetly before a huge remaster of "Here Comes My Girl" from the breakthrough third album - "Damn The Torpedoes" from 1979. The second album Side 2 opener/rocker "I Need To Know" now feels punchy while the Mudcrutch mobile-home song "Trailer" and the acoustic higher-ground of "Square One" are typically deceptive TP songs – tunes that eat their way into heart. It’s fantastic stuff to hear anything from the undervalued "Let Me Up..." album – and here we're given the name-checking "Jammin' Me" song where none-other than Bob Dylan gets a co-credit alongside TP and Mike Campbell as they all vent their spleen about people they don't like (look out Vanessa Redgrave and Joe Piscopo). It sails to a 40-years down-the-line finish with two excellent Mudcrutch melodies from 2016 – his voice in "I Forgive It All" sounding like he was ill - producer and band friend Ryan Ulyate amidst the credits. The new song is good rather than being great - "For Real" - TP doing it his way and keeping it real...

Problems – It should probably have included something from The Traveling Wilburys albums and for some reason Disc 1 offers three track options when put in your computer with the first being all Japanese language (choose option three – Disc 1 of 2 in English). And I’d have put the genius of "Too Good To Be True" onto Disc 1 (from "Into The Great Wide Open") before "Refugee" and featured something better than "You Got Lucky" from the vastly underrated 1982 album "Long After Dark" – but that's just me.

When I think about how ordinary and lazy the 3CD retrospective "Don't Stop: 50 Years Of" for Fleetwood Mac was - you can't help but admire the keepers of TP's flame when it comes to "The Best Of Everything". They’ve not just done him proud, but given us a timely reminder of his four decades.

I miss Tom Petty and his great band. Travel into those fields of musical wildflowers our good friend and thanks for all the memories...