echolalia wrote:RIP Tom. You were quietly great and I quietly loved you.
Well spoken.
echolalia wrote:RIP Tom. You were quietly great and I quietly loved you.
kath wrote:i do not wanna buy the world a fucquin gotdamn coke.
Footy wrote:
The Who / Jimi Hendrix Experience Saville Theatre, London Jan '67
. Got Jimi's autograph after the show and went on to see him several times that year
Thang-y wrote:Oooof, I forgot about 'Breakdown'. I *loooove* that song.
RIP
Bent Fabric wrote:I'd seen him twice over he years (nowhere near as early in his career as some of my elders here and elsewhere, but he and the Heartbreakers certainly delivered a hell of a lot even in the "mostly stuff we HAVE to play" phase of their live career - former Stooge Scott Thurston taking the Orbison part on "Handle With Care" was an unforgettable highlight of the last time I saw them). Things like "The Waiting" and "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" have always seemed fairly irresistible, and his sort of classic period of "Quirky Modern Byrds" yielded a number of minor classics that have mostly been mentioned upthread (the sort of "talking blues over moody chords" of "Here Comes My Girl", or the sheer "beautiful in its simplicity" magic of "Listen To Her Heart" are undeniably special in some "modest but ultimately not" way with which he really managed to work small wonders).
A lot of the language I use to celebrate him is diminutive, moderate, measured and perhaps even belittling - he may be one of the few people I to whom I can ascribe such faint praise with such genuine affection. I'm trying to think of other people who work in this particular area and I'm generally coming up short (that sort of "leagues better than Bryan Adams/less striking than virtually anyone I can name" territory) - I now see that this very aspect of his whole thing is being discussed by a number of folks. A collaborator friend of mine once said of him: "He is as great as you can possibly be without anyone once ever mistaking you for a genius."
One of the things that always grabbed me about him was his deep and abiding British Invasion fetish - I never saw him without getting a generous helping of Yardbirds, Them, Zombies, Thunderclap Newman, Animals, etc. in the act. It wasn't campy or slavish like, I dunno, Sha Na Na - it just seemed like a real "paying it forward" kind of thing, someone keeping this stuff on big stages well into the 21st Century cause it mattered in some way. HIt was inevitable that he would become increasingly immodest as time went on, but he seemed to take his general "I'm the fan who got lucky" perspective on his heroes/collaborators (Dylan, Harrison, etc.) pretty far into a celebrated and mega-successful career. I'll always remember him that way.
R.I.P.
take5_d_shorterer wrote:If John Bonham simply didn't listen to enough Tommy Johnson or Blind Willie Mctell, that's his doing.
Neige wrote:Thang-y wrote:Oooof, I forgot about 'Breakdown'. I *loooove* that song.
RIP
Me too!!!
Jonny Spencer wrote:fange wrote:I've got my quad pants on and i'm ready for some Cock.
By CHRIST you're a man after my own sideways sausage, Ange!
zoomboogity wrote:
Ranking Ted wrote:Tom Petty has taken some BCB flack over the years, seen as shorthand for unprepossessing MOR. And that criticism was not exactly rebuffed by his surfacely amiable Everyman rock - and indeed, while never distasteful, some records could tend to bland - I remember Highway Companion, his second solo record, being a huge decline in quality from his first, the AOR pop aceness that is Full Moon Fever.
However, his lack of flash had clear roots in a lineage of American rock that favoured brevity, economy and a sly form of wit - Byrds, CCR, R.E.M. through to Wilco, Spoon, etc. It's no surprise he was lumped in with new wave acts as he broke through rather than being seen as a hangover of the old guard. That's company way beyond the staples of your garage forecourt American Drive Time compilation album.
My views have been amply covered already - his legacy isn't that of a genius like Bowie, a sage like Cohen or a force of nature like Prince. It's that of a surefooted artisan who achieved moments of pop rock elevation on a surprisingly consistent basis. Even if you don't go that far, if you can't get the buzz of American Girl or the sublime yearning of Free Fallin', for two, I'm calling it your loss.
I like Echolalia's description a lot, it works for me.