She's the One

by

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers

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What an album! This is an underrated masterpiece that no one would call one of Petty's best albums when compared to hit-laden fare like "Damn the Torpedoes" and "Full Moon Fever," but that's only because it never got the attention it deserved. In a perfect world this album would have been embraced as every other previous Heartbreaker's record was; but thanks to a relative lack of anthums, as well as radio and record companies moving away from pushing new music from classic artists, this artistic firecracker was virtually ignored.

Seriously, some 30-plus-year-old acts have put out some of their best, most critically albums in the twilight of their careers, but radio and their record companies would rather push the latest pseudo-rock trend band or slut-turned-singer than give this music a chance. You can't blame them when even their own fans constantly say stupid stuff like, "I like their old stuff," but never give the new stuff a chance. Why? Cuz they didn't hear the latest hit on the radio. A vicious cycle. If their was any justice Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising" would have had as many radio singles and sold as many copies now as "Born In the USA" did in 1984. And that's just one, big example. But I digress. It didn't help Petty that, like a lot of great soundtracks, this album was attached to a little seen and not very good movie. But the music certainly stands on its own. "Walls" and "Climb That Hill," the two, albeit minor, singles are great mid-tempo rockers that were probably as good a choice as any to represent this album to the fans. Again, it would have been great if the record company and radio pushed them enough to allow them to be heard.

As good - and Heartbreaker-ish - as these two songs are, there are deeper cuts. "Grew Up Fast" is a terrific song about just that. The song should resonate in time when the country's divorce rate is at 50-plus%. The song is alternately about lovers and siblings, and is brilliant. Even on tracks like this that are meant to be contemplative, the boys don't forget to rock. Electric guitars are all over the place here and the band has never sounded tighter. In fact, "tight" is a perfect word to describe this album. It moves at a fast clip through various topics, emotions and arrangements; each song doing its job expertly. "Supernatural Radio," with its ominous, jazzy, "Bad Moon Rising" kind of vibe, the Brian Wilson-ish tribute to home "California," and a pair of break-up songs that, if played for the one who scorned you, would say everything perfectly so you don't have to: the hard driving cover "Change the Locks" and the calm I'm-so-over-you-I-don't-need-to-break-a-sweat-saying-goodbye "Hope You Never." Each is a giddy, musical middle finger (which given Petty tunes like "Don't Come Around Here No More," "You Got Lucky" and "Change of Heart," among many, is as much Petty's forte as his rebel-rock anthems). And there is "Angel Dream," which is as simple and beautiful a love song as Petty has ever done.

The same can be said for this album.

Combining Rick Rubin's expert production and Petty's more experimental material, this album plays like a pseudo-sequel to "Wildflowers" from two-years earlier. It even has similar packaging and both CD faces mimic a record label. What this album has that "Wildflowers" didn't is the Heartbreakers. "She's the One" is not as ambitious in its arrangements and determination to cover new, different territory as "Wildflowers" was, but it's tighter, looser, and more fun.

This is an album that slips into the back of mind for a while and then one day I'm scanning my collection for something great I haven't heard in a while and it always jumps out at me. Then it fades back into my collection to wait until it is needed again (it's the Batman of my CD collection). Every time I put it in again it's like discovering it for the first time. In a way, maybe that is reason enough to be okay with the fact this album was not over exposed.

Maybe.