Customer Reviews

Southern Accents

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm a true blue Yankee but I love the sentiment of this work: the dichtomy of longing for your roots but being weary of them too. These two themes are explored nicely in both "Rebels" and the title track. Petty does a good job of expressing his love for his roots without giving us typical good ol' boy bombast or treacle. In fact he is so effective that one could argue that his themes are universal and that the fact that he mentions the south at all is simply coincidental.

The title work is a great acheivement from Bentmont Tench's mornful piano to TP's heartful delivery of some great lyrics. I must say that the imagery of the dream about his mother coming to him is very touching. All of the song's are great here and contain some fine riffs, words and twists (like Tench's off key piano--recorded while he was unable to hear the mix through his head phones and just tinkered away as a joke--but later included because it's discordant result seemed to fit). Two overlooked gems are also here (both in my Top Ten fave Petty tunes) "Dogs on the Run" and "The Best of Everything". The former stands tall in the great tradition of metaphoric stories over a great rock chord progression and the latter a very sentimental look back with a fantastic opening line: "She probably works in a resturant, that's what her mama did". How many of us have not pondered the lives of someone we lost track of?

I am shocked at the negative comments directed at this album. I have every Tom Petty album made and this one became my favorite after the very first time I listened to it. The album opens with "Rebels," a powerful song about Civil War feelings not yet gone. Tom then goes directly into another song about discontent, "It Ain't Nothin' to Me." Tom stays in a bitter and somber mood with "Don't Come Around Here No More," the biggest hit of the album. However, the best song on the album is next, with the classic title track, "Southern Accents." This song sounds penned from Faulkner, with vivid references to the pride Tom feels for his Southern roots. The rest of the songs are all solid, with "Dogs on the Run" balancing out the album as the last great song. Music is subjective and to each their own. But for my money, this is Tom Petty's masterpiece.

With 1985's Southern Accents, Petty and the boys decided to add some experiments to the album, adding touches of new waves and psychedelica to the mix this time. Southern Accents is a winner, while not as popular as some of Petty's other albums Southern Accents is one of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers most rewarding albums. Highlights include the opener Rebels, the psychedelic Don't Come Around Here No More, the ballad Southern Accents, Spike, and the Best of Everything. Do yourself a favor and get the highly underrated Southern Accents.

"Full Moon Fever" may have spawned bigger sales, but "Southern Accents" is Tom Petty's best album. With production help from Eurythmic Dave Stewart, Petty incorporates synthesizers into his sound as on the weird "Don't Come Around Here No More." What really shines is the songwriting, the best that he's ever done. "With "Rebels" and the title track, he finally acknowledges his Dixie roots, which is a welcome element. The song closes with two excellent songs, "Mary's New Car" and the horn-laden "The Best of Everything." This is truly Petty at his best.

I grew up in Florida and went to school in Gainesville (University of Florida). Every DJ loved to mention that Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were "Homegrown" music. Even though the cliche was way over used, when I put this album on and blasted "Southern Accents", the only thing I ever thought of was Gainesville and the South (no matter where I was).

The entire album is fantastic, but the shiner on here is the title track. Cash thought so and so do I. Feelin an itch to be in South, put on this album. Now, if I can just get it back from my friend who has had it for the last 10 months.

I'm a blue-blood New Englander to the core but I still love Southern Accents, because it is a quintessential American album. This may be not TP's most acclaimed release but it is his most autobiographical, since he grew up in the everglades of Florida, a topic explored in great detail in Petty's recent book that came out in 2005. Because I am a student of the Civil War, "Rebels" is one my favorite all-time songs and the best reason to buy this cd. How this masterpiece of songwriting didn't end up on the greatest hits collection in 1993 is perplexing to me! Petty's haunting verse about how our history remains with us today still sends chills down my spine:

"Even before my father's fathers
They called us all rebels
Burned our cornfields
And left our cities leveled
I can still see the eyes
Of those blue bellied devils
When I'm walking round tonight
Through the concrete and metal"

While sometimes the overall sound of this cd is a bit jarring, and honestly the horns do not always fit in with Petty's laid-back sound, the wonderful "Dogs on the Run" and the final track with the late lamented Richard Manuel of The Band singing backup vocals help to make this album a must-have for hardcore Petty fans.

Southern Accents is probably Tom Petty's most underrated album. What amazes me especially is how a song like "Don't Come Around Here No More" sounds totally different from anything else Petty has ever made, not to mention VERY freaky and haunting. On the flip side however, a song like "Rebels" is a lost gem. "Spike" is a very catchy song as well. An album that combines Petty's most memorable songwriting with his most underrated effort as far as radio exposure goes.

Southern Accents represents Tom Petty's homage to his Deep South roots. Sure, Petty is a Gainesville, FL native but that doesn't fool anyone. Gainesville is as much a part of the South as Atlanta, Montgomery and Mobile. This album is also a watershed moment for Petty and his bandmates as it embodies a burgeoning period of experimentation. It captures Petty in his rawest form when he is singing from his heart. You can hear the true-to-life lyrics of his past in "Rebels," "The Best of Everything" and especially the haunting "Southern Accents." The title track is the most personal of all of Petty's songs. In it, he speaks to his childhood and young adult years with the wisdom of a man that can acknowledge those aspects of his past. The collection of songs here is a big departure for the band. It is part country, part psychedelic (on the delicious mind candy that is "Don't Come Around Here No More"), part bluegrass rock and part funk. If you don't find something to please yourself on one track, wait a few minutes and things will change. New sounds abound as vocal distortion (It Ain't Nothin' To Me) and new instruments (big brass horn section and a sitar) make an impression. Some consider it an uneven effort but when taken in the context that it was supposed to be a double album, Southern Accents comes off as a "best of" collection of what Petty wanted to sing about. He selected these songs to give a wide palette of flavor to the listener and he succeeds as he transitions relatively flawlessly from the various styles on this excellent album.

I am a Petty fan, but I have chosen Southern Accents to highlight over all his other albums because it is his riskiest. 9 tracks that differ from most of Petty's other work. I remember seeing the video for Don't Come Around Here No More back in 1985 and instantly liking both the video and the song. Later, when I bought the cd, it surprised me because I was used to Refugee or You Got Lucky which didn't sound like this. Sure, Southern Accents sounds dated 15 years later, but it's nice and there are no bad songs on here. I know fans would recommend Damn the Torpedoes or Full Moon Fever or even Wildflowers, but Southern Accents is Petty's only foray into different styles of music other than folk rock. This album is certainly more interesting than Petty's latest, 1999's Echo.

Southern Accents finds Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers at their creative peak. Using life in the South as his template Petty creates music that transports the listener into a world of emotions laid bare and love, anger, and frustration hold equal sway. Thoughtful and moving lyrics are found on a number of cuts, particularly the title cut, "The Best of Everything," and "Rebels." Balancing out these tunes are darker songs like the Randy Newmanesque "Spike" a tale that will fuel all those paranoid fantasies about little Southern bars, and the pure venom in "Don't Come Around Here No More" as dark a hit single as you will find. This is a must for any rock collection.