Label – MCA
Produced by Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne & Mike Campbell
Recording a solo album was of course the correct course for Tom Petty. Tired of touring with the Heartbreakers and busting a gut to get the quality recording that had evaded him since 1982’s “Damn The Torpedoes”, he needed a fresh approach, some new goals and an ally who could harness his mainstream Rock into something that would invigorate as much as his early works. And yet, “Full Moon Fever” isn’t a diverse U-Turn, and members of the Heartbreakers still play a vital role in the creativity of the album. Mike Campbell co produces and plays lead Guitar and Benmont Tench and Howie Epstein all perform on many of the songs. What sharpens the sound and provides a definitive mainstream sensibility is the deployment of E.L.O. and fellow Wilbury Jeff Lynne, who co-writes five of the songs and co-produces this collection. Lynne takes the down to earth heartland Rock, and adds bright vocal harmonies, filling the sound to more than just the perfunctory chug that had been part and parcel of Petty’s more recent recordings, and the result is one of the best recordings of his career.
Saying that the success of “Full Moon Fever” is down to the supporting cast is unfair, as Petty is on top form, pushing through some of the strongest songs he’d written for several years. He’s confident too, taking on a difficult and potentially critically damaging cover of The Byrds “Feel A Whole Lot Better”, and treating it to a fresh vitality that confirms the fact that he still looks on them as his Icons, and respects their songs with an almost youthful vigour. Petty’s own songwriting skill is to the fore on the soaring “Free Falling”, the rumbling Guitars pummel the listener like rolling thunder on the outstanding “Runnin’ Down A Dream” which fades with a glorious Mike Campbell Guitar solo. “Face In The Crowd” and “I Won’t Back Down” show a genuinely refreshed Petty, suddenly comfortable with a release from the constraints of the annual album/promo/tour Rock band syndrome. It is undoubtedly very retro, and errs on the side of musical caution as the quality starts to blip towards the end, but “Full Moon Fever” is a terrific return from an artist who’d suffered a severe case of “The drabs” for a number of years.
“Full Moon Fever” reveals Tom Petty as a man reborn, with songs that Roger McGuinn and Gene Clark would have been proud of.
8/10
1 Free Fallin’ 4:14
2 I Won’t Back Down 2:56
3 Love Is a Long Road 4:06
4 A Face in the Crowd 3:58
5 Runnin’ Down a Dream 4:23
6 Feel a Whole Lot Better 2:47
7 Yer So Bad 3:05
8 Depending on You 2:47
9 The Apartment Song 2:31
10 Alright for Now 2:00
11 A Mind With a Heart of Its Own 3:29
12 Zombie Zoo 2:56
Free Fallin’
Running Down A Dream
