Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - The Last DJ
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Free Music Notes for The Last DJ
Free Music Review: Tom Petty's beautiful venting
Hit: 5 Stars
Tom Petty's best record since 'Wildflowers' finds the performer moredisenchanted with the recording industry than ever. About half the tracks on "Last DJ" are sarcastic jabs at record company executives. They are
effective and funny.
Interestingly, wedged in between the scathing 'Money Becomes King' and 'Joe' (attacking record company CEOs) is Petty's best pop song in years, 'Dreamville.' The song's placement is interesting because it seems to target the execs in a different way. It's like Petty is saying, 'I can say anything I want about you because I can write songs this good.' He dares them to defy him. Even if his label, Warner Brothers (there is no indication he is talking about WB specifically), dropped him, do you really think he'd care?
Petty has been in the business long enough and certainly is speaking from experience.
As for the music, Petty's songcraft is back on track, having shown only
hints of his true capabilities on 1999's "Echo." The lightheartedness not
seen since "Wildflowers" and "She's the One" is back, too.
Mr. Petty isn't complaining about the whole industry, just some of its
practices. The opening title track attacks the recording industry's hold over radio stations. Petty sings, "There goes your freedom of choice, there goes the last human voice." I'd be angry were I him too. Tom Petty records haven't seen regular airplay on pop radio since 1994's "You Don't Know How It Feels" (and that was only because it contained the line, 'let's roll another joint.') Now you only find him on VH1, adult contemporary or classic formats.
Petty's music only gets better. It's radio that's getting worse.
Free Music Review: "...to everyone who loves music just a bit more than money"
Hit: 5 Stars
Petty's first album since 'Echo' in 1999, is musically at least, another good Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers album. Not too much of a musical departure for Petty & The Heartbreakers. 'The Last DJ' opens up with a jangly guitar riff, as do a few other songs, 'You And Me', 'The Man Who Loves Women.' Petty's band doesn't try any contemporary production tricks such as say, turntables or electronic programming (a few samples in-between songs, but hey Pink Floyd did that 30 years ago). So why is this a 5 star album, you might ask? For one, the music is right on target. Mike Campbell provides some of his most rockin' lead work on 'When A Kid Goes Bad' and 'Can't Stop The Sun'. Benmont Tench's keyboards are all over 'Money Becomes King' and 'Like A Diamond'. However, this album is all about the message and the lyrics folks.'The Last DJ' speaks of the only DJ who "can't turn (him) into a company man" and who "plays what he wants to play." 'Joe' is about a crooked music CEO whose motto is "you get to be famous, I get to be rich." 'Joe' also seems to be a direct reference to produced boy bands and Britney. With all the anger and resentment present, Petty also inserts some of his wry humor into 'Money Becomes King' and 'The Man Who Loves Women' but the humor is very biting and cynical, not laugh out loud or light-hearted. The musicianship is top-notch; however though, the music takes a backseat to Petty's lyrical cynicism. A cynicism that a lot of us feel when we hear a Led Zeppelin song in a car commercial, or The Who on CSI, Moby in just about every other commercial, and anytime we see just about anything on MTV. It's about time somebody stood up and said something, and who better than Tom Petty?
Free Music Review: "How much you'll pay for what you used to get for free"
Hit: 5 Stars
It's been a while since there's been an album of new material that sounds legendary, but somehow Tom Petty has succeeded. Thank you, Tom!The Last DJ is one of the 1st concept albums in a long time. Remember stories about rock being outlawed (The Who's original Lifehouse project, Rush's "2112" and Styx's "Kilroy Was Here")? Well, wake up, people! This is no fantasy, folks! "The Last DJ" talks about how radio has become corporate (I think we all have in our neighborhood a "classic rock" station that plays the same 8 songs every day). "Money Becomes King" tells a similar story about how Tom pays big bucks to see his hero Johnny go through the motions onstage and leaves Tom with "a craving for Lite Beer!" "Lost Children" and "When a Kid Goes Bad" are rockin' and socially conscious (Call it preachy, but when was the last time you heard songs like this? Not since the 1980's probably, right?). "Dreamville" is tongue-in-cheek like "Last DJ" and "$ Becomes King" with an edge of hope to it (our hero plans to buy a guitar and make it sing just like in the old days). "Blue Sunday" is a charming ballad about a woman we'd all like to meet. "The Man Who Loves Women" sounds like something the Beatles would have come up with (a funny little ditty about a married man who flirts around)! "Can't Stop the Sun" ends this CD with a glimpse of hope and exhorts all of us not to give up on our dreams or values. Again, thank you, Tom, for bearing your heart just like the classic rock and roller and giving us a quality CD! I hope to see you on the 2003 Grammy Awards!
Free Music Review: Can't stop the sun...here it comes..oh yeah!
Hit: 5 Stars
beautiful album filled up from everything from Beatles (of course) to Dylan, to The Band, to Neil Young, to The Byrds (at their very best!), but also to foregin territories (until now) for petty and his colleagues... listen for example to "Lost children" and you will catch glimpses of Cream or Blind Faith with roaring, inventive guitar work that make Mike Campbell (he is at its absolute peak on this album!!!) sound like a true rock'n'roll guitar hero! exquisite playing, to say the least! His guitar work is terrific in acoustic or electric and you find examples everywhere on this cd. "can't stop the sun" is my absolute favorite (what a finale!), a mix of Lennon in the "Abbey road" period with even touches of David Gilmour stepping in. what a revelation...
the band sounds super tight, in synch, and a word must be said about Ferrone's drumming, so tuned (listen for those toms and let your soul pulse..), accurate, deep.
the whole experience is revealing and even if so many references are made along the way (even, an ukelele ala George Harrison in"the man who loves women" or the title "can't stop the sun" which echoes our dear missed friend...), this is pure Tom petty at its very very best. Excellent keyboards from Benmont Tench with just the right amount of feeling, and wonderful backing vocals by Scott thurston (who by the way, seems to play quite an array of different plucked strings on this album). forget the crap of the music business that everybody seems to comment about, and "dig" this music in its "body and soul". the album feels like a "thousand light years from home" from the early 80's stuff that petty was doing then. Highly Recommended!
Free Music Review: Tom Petty, doing what he does best....
Hit: 5 Stars
If you are looking for a collection of catchy 4-chord rockers, better pass this one over. This is a much deeper album than any previous TPATH offering and is best listened to from start to finish (I have already done it a few times!). It's a concept album folks. The tracks are all done in a variety of musical styles, which makes for some very interesting listening. Tom Petty has long been an advocate of lower ticket/CD prices and this album clearly puts that point into music. Early tracks like "The Last DJ", "When Money Wasn't King", and "Joe" are obviously poking fun at the music business. The album makes a clear progression from start to finish... even with the earlier anger and negativity, Tom manages to end on a high note with "Can't Stop The Sun". While the relatively low energy of many of the tracks might lead one to believe that Tom has mellowed out in his old (married) age, it certainly doesn't mean he can't rock anymore. It is my impression that these songs are more mature... you can hear and feel the sincerity of their message.
Tom Petty fans, buy this album. If you are new to Tom Petty then you may not quite understand what is going on here. Check out some older material first and maybe look into his past battles with the music industry. I think that will give you an excellent perspective for the full enjoyment of this material.
Track Highlights: The Last DJ, When Money Wasn't King, Can't Stop The Sun, Have Love Will Travel