Retro Spins: Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers - Southern Accents

 

Led by its lead single, and quickly Alice in Wonderland homage music video, Don't Come Around Here No More would catapult the band into the MTV era. However, the album would be far from what it was initially planned out to be.

When Petty conceived Southern Accents, it was intended to be a concept album. However, this would quickly turn murky when Eurythmics alum Dave Stewart stepped in to co-write tracks. With him also came a shift in musical style. While it would still ultimately be labeled a Southern rock album, the truth was that the boys were dabbling into a more synth pop sound.

Some critics would call it ambitious, while others would say it got lost in its own ambition. Then there would be those who would rank it among the best from the band. In the end, the opinions didn't hinder the albums momentum up the charts, where it peaked at number seven on the Billboard 200. Further, it would once again return them to platinum selling artist status.

For me, Southern Accents includes my favorite tune from them, and that of course is the aforementioned Don't Come Around Here No More. I remember when I first saw the video on MTV, though not the timeframe it was. I couldn't take my eyes off of it. Visually, it was amazing, and the song itself resonated in my mind. Ironically, as I got older, I actually thought it was a tune from the 90's. I was ecstatic to learn it could be added to my 80's collection.

As for the rest of the album, you can definitely hear the influence of Stewart, not only in his three contributions, but across others. However, with that said, it's definitely a departure from Petty's previous work, and candidly, it kind of threw me off. With his previous album, Long After Dark, I had finally embraced the band's sound, and it made me eager to hear more. So, going from that to this, was a bit of a shock.

It's a decent album, and there's standout tracks in It Ain't Nothing To Me, and Mary's New Car. However, as a whole, it was really unexpected. I suppose it was also not what I really wanted. Like I said, I'd come around to the sound of the band, and my ears were ready, and maybe even anticipating hearing more of that.

The next stop for Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers was Live Aid, where they took the stage in Philadelphia to perform American Girl, The Waiting, Rebels, and Refugee. From there, they embarked on a massive world tour, which led to the live album Pack Up the Plantation: Live!, released that same year. Rather than return to the studio, the band would instead take Bob Dylan up on his invitation, and head out with him for his True Confessions Tour. Finally, in 1987, the world would receive their next album, Let Me Up (I've Had Enough), and that's where we go tomorrow.

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution.

Comics Corner: The Spectacular Spider-Man 136

     

Title: The Spectacular Spider-Man
Issue Number: 136
Release Date: March 1988

Highlights

• Death Of Sin-Eater, AKA Stan Carter
• First appearance of the little boy, Skip
• Mary Jane buys Peter a copy of the Daily Globe, but cuts out all the portions about Spider-Man's failure against Electro
• Peter once again confides in her, saying he feels guilty for crippling Stan Carter, AKA Sin-Eater
• Mary Jane tells him that he needs to go speak with Carter, and then uses Rocky III as an analogy
• Peter replies that using Rocky as a life lesson is like taking opera lessons from Twisted Sister
• A citywide blackout occurs, and Spider-Man heads out to get some photographs of the impact
• Stan Carter hits record on a tape recorder, and beings narrating his memoire
• The ongoing visions of Sin-Eater continue to haunt him
• Reference is made to Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man 5
• Through his visions of Sin-Eater and Jean DeWolff, we learn that Stan had to kill her first to fully commit himself to his holy mission
• Spider-Man comes across a woman in labor, trapped in the gridlocked traffic
• He convinces the man driving her to allow him to take her to the hospital
• And then learns that the man isn't her husband
• The woman tells Spider-Man she wants to name the child after him, and asks for his real first name
• Spider-Man responds that it's Poindexter
• While at the hospital, an officer tells Spider-Man that Electro is the cause of the outage, and that he's at the Con Ed Station
• Spider-Man actually doesn't want to go and confront him, instead stating the police can handle one guy
• Electro tells Sergeant Tork that he can overload every television in the city, turning them into bombs in everyone's home, or short out all critical hospital equipment, and will start doing so in one hour if he doesn't receive ten million dollars
• Spider sees some kids robbing a store, and webs them to a wall
• The kids clap back that he'll face off against children, but not against a real threat
• Spider-Man goes to Carter's apartment, and is told by the man that everyone has to face their demons on their own
• Carter also tells him that his doctor's say his injuries are psychosomatic
• Spider-Man tells him he's headed to Con Ed to exercise his demon, and when he leaves, Stan says that he is too, and puts on his Sin-Eater mask
• Spider-Man confronts Electro, and tells him that if he thinks he's so tough, then come fight him knuckle to knuckle, and not using electricity
• A child named Skip, who was outside the power station with his mother, wants to see the fight up close, and sneaks off to get a closer look only to be confronted by Sin-Eater
• Sin-Eater takes him hostage, putting a gun to his head
• The cops surround him, pleading with him to put the gun down, but he tells them that Sin-Eater has to have his moment, that he won't leave him alone until he does
• Inside, Spider-Man mops the floor with Electro
• Outside, Stan tells the cops that Sin-Eater thinks he can take them, he doesn't think he can, and tosses the kid aside, baring his gun on the officers
• They open fire, filling him with lead
• As Spider-Man exits the building with a webbed up Electro in arms, he sees the slumped over body of Stan
• Spider-Man rushes over to him, asking him what he's done
• In his final breaths, Stan says that he's won - With Sin-Eater dead, he can finally live
• Stan, and Sin-Eater, die
• Spider-Man tells Tork that Stan was so far gone that he really thought he and Sin-Eater were two different people
• Tork informs him that he, Stan, got the last laugh against the villain then because the gun wasn't even loaded

Low Points

• None

Oddities

• The opening page of the issue, which is laid out like the front page of a newspaper, retells the ending of the previous issue, where Electro, AKA Max Dillon, challenged Spider-Man to a fight live on camera, but the hero didn't engage
• The odd part is that it then goes into detail on how Dillon robbed a jewelry store the previous day, but yet no cops bothered to try and arrest him at the studio?

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

Christmas Catalogs - JCPenny 1974

Hey! You want to spend the next two years looking at the fantastic Christmas catalogs produced by Sears, JCPenny, and Montgomery Ward? Cause I do! Yeah, I said two years, cause that's a lot of catalogs! Join me on most Monday's each month as I post up one of those fabulous books starting with 1970, and ending with 1989.

Look through every page, feeling every bit of nostalgia. Chuckle at the look and style of the wardrobes those zanny past decade people wore. Gawk at the toys you used to have, but long since parted ways with. Bring back all those memories of hours spent laying on the floor, combing every inch as your young mind pined over everything you wanted. Reminisce over the Christmas that followed as you unwrapped those lucky few that you got.

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.