#214 Tom Petty, 'Wildflowers' (1994)

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This album holds a special place in my heart; the title track was my wife and my wedding song. Strictly speaking, the second solo record by Tom Petty, although, his backing band is, in fact, The Heartbreakers. Petty decided not to credit it as a Heartbreakers record, as he wanted the freedom to work outside the confines of the band’s sound. The album was produced by Rick Rubin, who managed to give Perry’s vocals less of a “Dylan but in tune” quality, and more of a Californian George Harrison type sound. To be honest, his vocals on this record are amongst my favourite vocal performances on record by him.

‘You Don’t Know How It Feels,’ ‘You Wreck Me,’ ‘It’s Good To Be King’ and ‘A Higher Place’ were the four singles released from the album, and while these are the obvious choices, I guess, I really love songs like ‘Time To Move On,’ ‘Only A Broken Heart,’ ‘Don’t Fade On Me,’ and the dirty, grungy sound of ‘Honey Bee.’ To be honest, it’s another record that I can listen start to finish and then immediately repeat. In comparison to his preceding records, it was such a different sound for him at the time. Later on in the record, ‘Crawling Back To You,’ could be Fleetwood Mac. It’s such a diverse record which illustrates how varied Petty was as a musician.

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