Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
August 6, 1985
Wiltern Theater, Los Angeles, CA
FM Broadcast recording, very good quality
Available in both Lossless (FLAC) and Mp3 (320 kbps) versions
After the breakthrough success of Damn the Torpedoes (1979), there was much anticipation for what Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers would do next, with fans eagerly awaiting their next album. And this inadvertently lead to another battle between Petty and his record label, as MCA planned to invoke what they referred to as "Superstar pricing", meaning they were going to charge a dollar more for Petty's next album than all other albums ($9.98 vs. $8.98), a practice which they had just implemented, with Steely Dan's Gaucho being the 1st to carry the increased price. Well, of course, Petty would not stand for this, which he considered gouging the public with his own album because MCA knew it would be popular. So, when the record company would not honor his request to stop this, he went to the press and public, raising the issue and asking for their voices and support in opposing this before agreeing to release the album. Once again, MCA backed down and released the album at regular price, another victory for Petty on behalf of his fans (Petty has also fought to keep ticket prices down for his shows, amid other stands). That album, Hard Promises (1981), went platinum and peaked at #5 on the Billboard charts, with the biggest hit from it being 'The Waiting'. The album also featured Tom's first collaboration with Stevie Nicks, who contributed harmony vocals on 'Insider'.
In 1982, bassist Ron Blair quit the group, and he was replaced by Howie Epstein. Howie's distinctive harmony vocals would become an integral part of The Heartbreakers sound and were quite evident on their next album, Long After Dark (1982), another success, which featured the hits 'You Got Lucky' and 'Change of Heart'. But tensions flaired within the band in preparing their next album, which initially was planned to be a concept album exploring living and growing up in the South. But, partway through the making of the album, Tom started collaborating and hanging out with Dave Stewart (of the Eurythmics), writing and producing some new songs, with a very different sound and feel. The rest of the band was somewhat resentful of this, as they were left out of the creative process for these new tracks and didn't like the more studio-oriented effects direction it was going. It was also during the making of this album that Petty, after a frustrating mixing session, punched the wall, severely breaking his left hand, and sidelining him for months. In the end, the album that was released, Southern Accents (1985) contained 3 songs from the Petty-Stewart sessions, and only some of the 'South'-themed tracks originally intended for the album (Several discarded tracks, including 'Trailer', 'Big Boss Man', 'Cracking Up', 'Image of Me', and 'Apartment Song', were eventually released in the box set retrospective collection Playback in 1995). But the album, although a bit disjointed with the different styles and themed tracks, was again a major success, with 'Rebels' and the Petty-Stewart track 'Don't Come Around Here No More' becoming major hits. Also, this was at the time when MTV was at its peak and videos were not only important marketing tools but also artistic creations, and the innovative and creative video for 'Don't Come Around Here No More' which featured Petty as a MadHatter-type character calmly tormenting 'Alice' in a Wonderland setting, became one of the more memorable MTV videos of all time. So, by the time of the 1985 Southern Accents Tour the band was at an all-time high in popularity, and the tour was quite memorable, and would result in the band's first live album, Pack Up the Plantation: Live! (1986), originally released as a double LP album, but later condensed (with the removal of 2 songs) to a single CD. The bulk of the songs featured on that live album were recorded at the Wiltern Theater in L.A. on 8/7/85 (although only a part of the show was included). That summer the band also performed at Live Aid, the huge all-day international benefit concert for famine relief that was brodcast in its entirety on MTV (picture above is from Live Aid). But, here today, we have the full show from the first night of the Wiltern theater dates (8/6/17), which was broadcast live on the radio. The setlist features several new songs from Southern Accents, some from each of Hard Promises and Long After Dark, as well as some older gems. I have also added (as bonus tracks) some songs from an excellent recording of an earlier show (1982-12-04 - Utrecht) to feature a few more songs specifically from Hard Promises and Long After Dark to catch us up on those.
Tracklist:
01 American Girl
02 You Got Lucky
03 It Ain't Nothin' To Me
04 Don't Do Me Like That
05 The Waiting
06 I Need To Know
07 Don't Come Around Here No More
08 Spike
09 Southern Accents
10 Rebels
11 Breakdown
12 Refugee
13 A Little Bit O' Soul
14 So You Want To Be A Rock & Roll Star
15 Make It Better (Forget About Me)
16 Route 66
Bonus Tracks (1982-12-04 - Utrecht, Netherlands SBD)
17 A Thing About You
18 Straight Into Darkness
19 A Woman in Love
20 Kings Road
21 Change of Heart
Tom Petty - lead vocals, rhythm guitar, harmonica
Mike Campbell - lead guitar
Benmont Tench - keyboards, backing vocals
Howie Epstein - bass, backing vocals
Stan Lynch - drums, backing vocals
with
Soul Lips Horns:
Jimmy Zavala - saxes, harmonica
Lee Thornburg - trumpets, flugelhorn
Nick Lane - trombones, euphonium
and
The Rebelettes:
Pat Peterson - backing vocals, percussion
Caroll Sue Hill - backing vocals, percussion
FLAC - Tom Petty_1985-08-06_Wiltern-L.A._FLAC.rar
Tom Petty_1985-08-06_Wiltern-L.A._mp3.part2.rar
2 comments:
Thanks for the TP shows !
Thankx for this and the added bonus tracks
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