Echo

Tom Petty

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 13, 1999)
• Original Release Date: April 13, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Warner Bros / Wea
• ASIN: B00000IFWE
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (164 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #69,231 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Just a few bars into song 1, "Room at the Top," and you know you're in the capable hands of a master songwriter. A mellow chorus wafts by, whispered in Petty's patented Byrdsian drawl, and the song seems to tick-tock to a stop. But storming over the top is a riff from guitarist Mike Campbell. Another chorus and you know there's a bridge creeping up. Petty, in a gesture that's both droll and dynamic, mutters "Hit it" to announce it. The proceedings slow again, then Campbell's gears start grinding again, and there's a grand crescendo that is, if you'll pardon the pun, heartbreakingly wicked. Then Petty murmurs a deep, resonate "No-oh" in a broken, brilliantly understated way that's rock & roll perfect! If you understand the alchemist genius that transmutes such humble metal into gold, you're ready to curl up with 14 songs of near-similar standing. Petty and the Heartbreakers have succeeded in making an album that's stunning in its simplicity yet as carefully ornate and wondrous as a stained-glass window. Indeed, renaissance might be an appropriate tag for the reborn Petty, except that he's never really gone away. Like that "Room at the Top" bridge, he's always been lurking around the corner, waiting to surprise you when the time is right. --Tom Lanham

Rolling Stone

Echo puts the Heartbreakers back where they belong: in the garage and in front of the amplifier stacks

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars -, November 23, 2005

By	J. Merritt (Washington-Baltimore Corridor) - See all my reviews

You know how you put a variety of stuff on your iPOD, or you make a mix CD or tape (yes, some of us still make tapes) so that you can pop it in while you're driving and have the perfect radio station? The "starter" is the big thing; you have to start the mix with just the right song. All the songs are important, obviously, but "starters" set the mood. Whether it's a jam-out mix or a chill-out, 'mood' mix, it has to be just the right song by just the right artist.

Some of my favorite artists don't have any "starters." They have a lot of songs I like, but none I'd kick off a driving mix with. Tom Petty has whole albums of "starters." When his new stuff comes out I don't think, I just buy. And then I know it's time to make a new driving mix, cuz I've got a whole bunch of new "starters." Whatever your mood is, if rock `n' roll can set that mood, then this guy's got the perfect song. Apply this review to any one of his albums; I attach it to "Echo" just because I think it's underrated, but it really doesn't matter. If you like any one of `em, just buy `em all. Then fire up the mix machine and get behind the wheel.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Echo" is a pretty good choice, May 17, 2001

By	Brian D. Rubendall (Oakton, VA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers album "Echo" is about what you'd come to expect from this band. Workmanlike and with a few standout songs, there is not a single moment that is either truly great or truly awful. "Free Girl Now" is a single the band might have recorded in 1981 or so, while the opening cut "Room at the Top" is the kind of slow song Tom perfected on his solo album "Full Moon Fever." By this point in his career, Petty has worn a groove for himself that he rarely strays from. He may get a little adventurous sonically with songs like the title track or "Billy the Kid," but he'll never stray far from home. If you're a fan of the Heartbreakers, this album will not disappoint you.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How could it be better...it can't!!!, April 20, 1999

By A Customer

As a long time (20 years) Petty fan who owns every album including his box set, I can't understand how Echo can be considered inferior to any of his other works. Yes, the sound is still the same - you've heard these tunes before - but isn't that what we love about Tom and the Heartbreakers in the first place. Echo is long overdue with a few classics that are among his best. The album flow follows the same patterns of the past, but once you play it through, you'll repeat the disc over and over until sooner or later you won't be able to get the damn songs out of your head. Not being able to put another disc in the player sums it up best. If that's not a sign of a 5-Star disc, I don't know what is. Lastly, just caught Tom and the Heartbreakers in NYC at Irving Plaza. Best show I've ever seen and they still forgot to play almost everyone of their greatest tunes including some from Echo!!! Bottom line: It's as good as it gets.