Today's a day for a little bit of Retro Spins cleanup. Back in May, I ran through the albums of Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers, but in doing so, I skipped right over Petty's 1989 solo debut effort, Full Moon Fever. That's pretty ironic, considering that it touts some of his greatest hits of all time, including the overplayed, very tried and true...and boring, Free Falling. Admittedly, I'm diving in today more so out of necessity to check a box than an actual desire to hear this one.
The album was spawned from a desire to do something without his backing band, a decision which didn't sit well with most of the members. However, this would be odd unto itself, as all but Stan Lynch would contribute to the album. It was more so an opportunity for Petty to work with his friends, such as members of the Travelling Wilbury's; Roy Orbison, George Harrison, and Jeff Lynne, the latter who would write most of the songs with Petty, as well as play multiple instruments, and provide backing vocals on the record.
Full Moon Fever would become his biggest selling album in his career, including among those with the Heartbreakers. As a whole, it would peak at number three in the USA, as well as rank in the top ten in four other countries, while also charting in three others. With it came the 1989 Billboard Hot 100 hit single, Free Falling (of course), which peaked at number three, and was followed by I Won't Back Down, which stalled out at number forty-one. A final single, A Face In The Crowd would chart in 1990, and finish out at number forty-six.
If you picked up the CD version of the album, you'd get a little hidden treat not provided on the original vinyl and cassette releases. That would be the hidden track, Feel A Whole Lot Better, tucked in between songs six and seven. Not a song per se, but rather a monologue from Petty, laid over animal sounds. The liner notes for the disc refer to it as, "Attention CD Listeners"., and the monologue itself states:
"Hello, CD listeners. We've come to the point in this album where those listening on cassette, or records, will have to stand up, or sit down, and turn over the record, or tape. In fairness to those listeners, we'll now take a few seconds before we begin Side Two. Thank you. Here's Side Two."
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Free Falling kicks the album off, and admittedly, I had zero interest in hearing this. It's a song which made my Dirty Dozen's list of most overplayed songs of all time, and is one I really don't enjoy at this point as a result of its overexposure. This was followed by; I Won't Back Down, another hit which has relatively run its course with me at this point in my life.
Finally, with track three, I was into new territory. You can hear the sound shift with Love Is A Long Road, and this is most likely because of Lynne not being involved with it. Instead, it's penned by Petty, and longtime Heartbreakers member, Mike Campbell. It was here that things started to get into better territory for me, albeit because it was relatively all new to me.
I won't shun the hits, the two aforementioned, along with Runnin' Down A Dream are definitely solid. I just find them to have run their course at this point. Resulting from that were other standout tracks for me, such as the above noted Love Is A Long Road, A Face In The Crowd, and Yer So Bad.
As a whole, it's a decent album, but more importantly, I'm just kind of glad to be done with Tom Petty in my CD collection. Unfortunately, there's not much more to say. While I'd normally go into further history, I pretty much covered all of that ground in my post on the album, Let Me Up (I've Had Enough). So, instead, I'm off to find something "new" for tomorrow.
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