The Artist - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
The Song - The Last DJ
Tom Petty's latest title track opens with the statement as reminder that essentially everything we hear over the waves is programmed. It's official: Its time for all of us to be good listeners who don't ask questions. For you see, the people who make decisions in meetings already know what's best.
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In "Money Becomes King", Petty illustrates something only the devout can comprehend, in a lyric that jumped at me "...And talked through all the music." If you've lived through the empty feeling of having some fortune to be taking in a splendiferous live Rock n Roll show only to begin to note that its altogether lost on any of its audience, and your sincerest thought of, "How can they not cherish this?" Exceeds the wish they were sitting ten rows over, likely you'll see just how perfectly constructed the rest of this song is.
"Dreamville" is mild, though the subtle effect of moderate nostalgia induced I doubt was a compositional accidnet. Tom is bieing kind in nudging us to think we're not alone in our revelations. In "Joe" I searched frantically through the song booklet finding no mention, but you cant help but hear eagle co-axeman Mr. Walsh. Killer song, Tom.
"When a Kid Goes Bad" is painful. I heard a touch of the stones, even more skynyrd, and even some Lennon-heavy Beatles comin' through. I thought "Like a Diamond" touched on Lennon too, with a pleasant tip, kind of, to Alan Parsons. And it has this less than minimalist guitar piece where we're set up to think a solos gonna happen. But tremendous restraint instead invokes us to nibble ravenously on the merest morsels of string bends. We're teased by the feel of guitar's timeless tears.
"Lost Children" is Southern-American, straight-forward Rock 'n Roll, mixing a meditation softness with a Rocker Rockin' in a moderately slow backbeat. "You and Me" is infectious. I gotta Believe it was influenced in its melody by a certain someone who is credited with vocal contributions in another song on the disc. "Blue Sunday" is pure Tom delivering his frighteningly adept skill at creating a scenic storytell: Never let his illusion of simplicity fool you. Petty's magic is found therin. "The Man Who Loves Women" Has to be the Heartbreakers' answer to "just a giglo", and for persuasive effect, it's done oldschool. Upon closing, Queen is presnet both in Antic, and Carry.
"Have Love Will Travel" has to be the most remarkable tune on the disc. Is Maggie a nod to Rod's older woman of every college boys eager plight? Is Joe in the backyard referential again to Mr. Walsh's Ordinary Average Guy? Is the lonely DJ also the last? Is keepin the flames from the temple a somber look at the labors of the pure in heart who try to Quell the results of the festival of sellouts? The repeated guitar piece reminds of "Brand on the Run" and we wonder just how concidental it is in being within a title with the word "travel" in it. In "Cant Stop The Sun", Petty Revitalizes the human spirit, comparing ironies, in that the soul of the artist is everlasting, whereas the concrete-minded numbers people only serve to remind that thier short gains are just that. Ill stop here because I don't want to be tardy for an appointment with my music tutor who's going to explain how to learn this song's guitar solo.
-Moragn Field