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Tom Petty
Into The Great Wide Open
Tom Petty:  Into The Great Wide Open

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Album Review

Released: 1991
Label: MCA
Selection #: 135409
Makin' Some Noise, King's Highway, Learning To Fly, Two Gun Slingers, All The Wrong Reasons, title song, etc.
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1 Learning to Fly
2 Kings Highway
3 Into the Great Wide Open
4 Two Gunslingers
5 The Dark of the Sun
6 All or Nothin'
7 All the Wrong Reasons
8 Too Good to Be True
9 Out in the Cold
10 You and I Will Meet Again
11 Makin' Some Noise
12 Built to Last
  
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Album Review

Since "Full Moon Fever" was an unqualified commercial and critical sense, perhaps it made sense that Tom Petty chose to follow its shiny formula when he reunited with the Heartbreakers for its follow-up, "Into the Great Wide Open". Nevertheless, the familiarity of "Into the Great Wide Open" is something of a disappointment. The Heartbreakers' sound has remained similar throughout their career, but they had never quite repeated themselves until here. Technically, it isn't a repeat, since they weren't credited on "Full Moon", but "Wide Open" sounds exactly like "Fever", thanks to Jeff Lynne's overly stylized production. Again, it sounds like a cross between latter-day ELO and roots-rock (much like the Traveling Wilburys, in that sense), but the production has become a touch too careful and precise, bordering on the sterile at times. And, unfortunately, the quality of the songwriting doesn't match "Fever" or "Let Me Up (I've Had Enough)". That's not to say that it rivals the uninspired "Long After Dark", since Petty is a better craftsman in 1991 than he was in 1983. There are a number of minor gems -- "Learning To Fly," "Kings Highway," "Into the Great Wide Open" -- but there are no knock-outs, either; it's like "Full Moon Fever" if there were only "Apartment Song"s and no "Free Fallin'"s. In other words, enough for a pleasant listen, but not enough to resonate like his best work. (And considering this, perhaps it wasn't surprising that Petty chose to change producers and styles on his next effort, the solo "Wildflowers".) ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

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