Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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41 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
BEWARE: You MAY already own this!, May 20, 2008
Do not be fooled by this newest "Greatest Hits" collection released for Tom Petty as it is the same as the package released in 1993 with one minor and one major exception. Additionally, the proclamation that this contains 'EXTRA TRACKS' is completely misleading.
The minor exception is that they have simply changed the cover and the major exception is that they REPLACED the last track on the first Greatest Hits ("Something in the Air") with the Petty/Nicks collaboration "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around." Hence, there are no EXTRA tracks, but simply a substitute of one for another! "Something in the Air" was an exclusive track and cannot be found on any other Tom Petty collection. Adding "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" as the last track also interrupts the chronological order of the first 17 songs, as it was released in 1981 and follows his 1993 track "Mary Jane's Last Dance." As of this writing, the first Petty hits collection is still in print and about two bucks cheaper. However, I cannot imagine the record companies keeping both available.
As far as the songs go, both of these collections include Petty's biggest hits up to 1993 such as "Refugee," "Don't Do Me Like That," "The Waiting," and "I Won't Back Down" and it is second only to the two disc anthology titled "Anthology: Through the Years" which I would recommend over this one if you prefer a more comprehensive overview of Petty's work as that collection includes his hits up to the year 2000 and has everything that is on here at a very good price.
If you already own the first "Tom Petty's Greatest Hits" you can always just download "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" if you need that song. As far as a one disc collection goes I cannot imagine one being more thorough than this one. Minus one star, however, for the redundancy and misleading information regarding 'extra tracks.'
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Well, September 19, 2008
Over the past 32 years, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers have given us nothing but great music. These guys have lasted 30+ years and proved that they can still rock and roll just as good as they could when they first started. So, in 1993, MCA (now Geffen) released the classic hits collection 'Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Greatest Hits.' The record has now been considered a classic compilation.
Earlier this year, Geffen remastered the album and added a bonus track. So, how does this album measure up?
Well, when I saw this in the stores, my feelings were mixed.
I'm glad to see this album remastered. If you own the 1993 version and you decide to buy this because you had heard that the sound was going to be great, right you are! There is a huge difference in terms of sound here.
And, of course, this collection has all the Tom Petty songs the casual fan will probably ever need. 1970s hits like 'Refugee,' 'American Girl,' 'Breakdown,' 'I Need To Know' and 'Don't Do Me Like That' are here, as are his '80s hits like 'Free Fallin,' 'Don't Come Around Here No More' and 'Runnin' Down A Dream.'
Still, the three stars are here because of the track listing. Why did they substitute one of my personal favorite Petty songs, 'Something In The Air,' for the 1982 Heartbreakers collaboration with Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks in 'Stop Draggin' My Heart Around'? I'll confess, I never was crazy about this song, and I definitely think it's out-of-place here.
Also, why did they completely remove 'Something In The Air'? That track was new in 1993, meaning it was only offered on the original 'Greatest Hits' album, which is now out of print, and in several years it's going to be a hard-to-find track? They had plenty of room to keep that song and add 'Stop Draggin' My Heart Around' to the track listing. Why Geffen was stupid enough to make that decision is beyond me.
Overall, if you can, buy the original 1993 compilation, because the sound quality on that is pretty great too. But, if you are a Petty collector or a fan who is particularly picky about sound quality, buy the 2008 version. Don't get me wrong, besides 'Stop Draggin' My Heart Around,' every song here is five stars. But I question Geffen's decision to remove 'Something In The Air.'
Recommended for the collectors and the sound quality-picky Petty fans. Otherwise, hunt down the original 1993 version or just buy his studio albums.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Go ahead, give it to me, July 21, 2008
Tom Petty is the embodiment of a classic rocker. He and his band, The Heartbreakers, are in the same league as Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band or Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band. The personify a certain working class ethos and stuck to their roots, all while codifying their influences to a sound that became singularly theirs. In Petty's case, that was a love of sixties rock that revolved around The Byrds and The Rolling Stones, with the Heartbreakers adding inspired backing.
When the leather jacketed face of Tom Petty first smiled from Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers in 1977, his look and sparse, muscular backing had many prematurely lumping him into the punk camp. But discerning listeners caught on quick, with the chiming "American Girl" and the bluesy "Breakdown" becoming favorites. When You're Gonna Get It! arrived soon after, both the rocking "I Need To Know" and the hook-laden "Listen To Her Heart" flirted with the Top 40 and more eyes came to Petty's talent. "Listen" is an amazing confection, both chiming Byrds-ish guitar and muscular hook.
Even with these signs of greatness, it was Petty's third album that delivered the goods. Damn the Torpedoes remains a classic, the moment when Petty hit his stride as a songwriter and The Heartbreakers became more than the sum of their influences. Four songs from that album are here, the blistering "Refugee," the pleading "Don't Do Me Like That," along with the stellar "Here Comes My Girl" and "Even The Losers."
What followed his turn to super-stardom was the legendary price war with MCA, with the suits wanting to make Hard Promises a premium price release, and Petty demanding it be kept lower...to the point that he threatened to title the album 8.98. Petty won the battle and delivered and album that was stellar, and had a great single in "The Waiting." The real curiosity was that Petty gave up one of his best songs to Stevie Nicks, and their duet on "Stop Dragging My Heart Around" catapulted her solo "Bella Donna" album to number one.
Petty continued to make strong albums, but none in the classic range of "Torpedoes." Long After Dark was one of the most straight ahead rock albums he'd released, yet "You Got Lucky" one of the most new-wavey singles. There was the arty Southern Accents, which found the sitar-accented single "Don't Come Around Here No More" playing out in a deliciously psychedelic fashion (and the "Alice In Wonderland" inspired video). Then there was the rollicking and under-rated Let Me Up (I've Had Enough), with the Bob Dylan co-composition "Jamming Me."
Still, things were starting to feel like diminishing returns. That is, until Petty decided to try a solo album. The stripped down and back-to-basics Full Moon Fever re-certified Petty's greatness as a songwriter, and was as solid from start to finish as "Torpedoes." "Running Down a Dream" is as good a rocker as he's ever done, "I Won't Back Down" is an anthem that threw down a gauntlet (and became a post 9/11 rallying cry) and "Free Falling" could be Petty's best song ever. It was more acoustically based than his Heartbreakers albums, and set the tone for future solo albums like Wildflowers.
That success brought cloning when the band got back for Into the Great Wide Open, which is an OK album that followed a perfect one. Regardless, the creative juices still were flowing for "Learning To Fly" and the title track, which are more fully produced than the "Full Moon Fever" songs. It also brought Petty and the Heartbreakers to the end of their MCA tenure (roughly 2/3's of their history so far). This "Greatest Hits" is basically the same as one issues in 1992, the difference is that a remake of Thunderclap Newman's "Something In The Air" is replaced by "Stop Dragging My Heart Around" (and the great "Last Dance With Mary Jane" is still here). Given that the older Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Greatest Hits is no longer listed as 'new,' this is a great place to get Tom Petty's singles in one solid swoop.
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by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers 
