It was announced late Monday night UK time, that Tom Petty, one of America's greatest songwriters and singers had died on what had been a pretty dark day for the Las Vegas shooting with its 59+ dead and the violence in Catalonia by Spanish Police in response to an illegal poll.
This was the formal announcement as issued on the day:
On this blog we have reviewed some of his albums not least his final one, 2016's Mudcrutch2 that surprised and enthralled us as someone who was sixty-six years still had the vitality to pull off as much as 2014's Hypnotic Eye did with its social and political observations did two years before.
Tom goes way back to '76/7 with me with the release of "Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers" a 30 odd minute much needed straightahead roots rock that garnered attention in New Wave's spiritual home, Great Britain, which presented the opportunity to develop the live act and then 'sell back' to the States that bought You're Gonna Get it and its 45's I Need To Know and Listen To Her Heart.
If I was to pick just one of his albums outside of 1994's Greatest Hits, I'd pick Damn The Torpedos, his 1979 release which in so many ways encapsulated his simple but effective way of reducing down complex ideas to the most commercial while not losing the 'message'.
The best known examples from that album are "Refugee", "Don't Do Me Like That" and "Here Comes My Girl", all hit 45's.
Tom was a member of the Travelin' Wilbury's a 'super group' with former beatle George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan and Jeff Lynne of England's Electric Light Orchestra that blended the talents into a very much 'Americana' feel best exemplified by the mainly Canadian band, The Band but being contemporary too selling well beyond each members own audience.
It is hard to put across what Tom meant to us: At a human level he was very genuine, reflective, free from the ego grabbing "me,me,me" that the so many in the music business have.
Musically he straddled that gap between so-called 'Classic Rock' and 'Indie Alternative' in a way another of my music loves, Bruce Springsteen never quite pulled off even if he did do the long epic song well.
'Refugee' was a song whose theme spoke to me as a disabled person battling not be defined by events, unable or unwilling to move on.
Writing this has been emotionally exhausting cos Tom meant so much almost on a par with David Bowie.
Rest In Peace, Tom.
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