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Let's get to the point, let's roll another joint: the late, great Tom Petty's solo masterpiece Wildflowers will be revisited in a series of reissues out October 16.
Wildflowers & All The Rest rounds up the original 1994 album alongside several bonus discs of outtakes and rarities. A standard 2CD/3LP edition adds 10 unheard tracks - intended for a much longer edition of the album at the time - while a 4CD/7LP deluxe box adds two volumes of solo home recordings and live cuts. A super deluxe edition adds an additional CD or 2 LPs of alternate recordings, labeled "Finding Wildflowers"; a limited "ultra deluxe" vinyl box includes all 9 LPs plus "an exclusive unique unisex necklace--hand-made by Maria Sarno in a faux suede pouch, an exclusive lyric book with the illustrations by Blaze Ben Brooks, an exclusive 7" of 'You Don't Know How It Feels,' packaged in a custom fabric bag with a metal Wildflowers logo as the closure--designed and made by Los Angeles-based Made Worn." (It's limited to 475 copies and available exclusively at Petty's website. The super deluxe vinyl will also only be sold there as well.)
The sessions to Wildflowers found Petty collaborating for the first of three albums with producer Rick Rubin. Recorded with many of the members of The Heartbreakers (including drummer Steve Ferrone, who'd replace Stan Lynch the following year) as well as several big-name contributors (Ringo Starr sat behind the drum kit for "To Find a Friend," while "Honey Bee" featured vocals by Carl Wilson of The Beach Boys, the album was nonetheless credited to Petty alone. "Rick and I both wanted more freedom than to be strapped into five guys," he later said.
Despite a barrage of personal trials at the time - including the collapse of his first marriage and a subsequent struggle with drug addiction - and a late decision to pare down the running time of the album into a still-respectable 62 minutes, fans and critics felt the material was some of his best. It became Petty's seventh Top 10 album in the U.S., and lead single "You Don't Know How It Feels" reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. (The track also took home a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance.)
Most significantly, revisiting Wildflowers became one of Petty's most personal, final projects. In 2014, three years before his passing and as he finalized his last album, Hypnotic Eye, Petty described some of the outtakes he found to Rolling Stone including "Somewhere Under Heaven," released as a single in 2015. Gradually, additional songs were released from the vault, including "Lonesome Dave" off the An American Treasure box set - though plans were put on hold until a lawsuit between Petty's daughters, Adria and Annakim, and his widow Dana, was settled in 2019. A demo of "You Don't Know How It Feels" was issued in June.
Wildflowers & All The Rest was curated by Adria, Annakim and Dana Petty in collaboration with Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench of The Heartbreakers and longtime engineer Ryan Ulyate. The deluxe editions feature a new introduction by Rubin, liner notes by David Fricke and track-by-track notes by Jaan Uhelszki, featuring input from Rubin, Ulyate, Campbell, Tench, Ferrone, album engineer Jim Scott and live mixing engineer Robert Scovill. Each format will be available October 16, with pre-order links to both Amazon (and the Petty store-exclusive editions) live now.
Wildflowers & All The Rest (Warner Records, 2020)
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
4CD Deluxe Edition (above plus Home Recordings & Wildflowers Live): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
7LP Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
5CD Super Deluxe Edition (above plus Finding Wildflowers): TomPetty.com
9LP Super Deluxe Edition: TomPetty.com
9LP Ultra Deluxe Edition: TomPetty.com
CD 1/LP 1-2: Wildflowers - The Original Album (Warner Bros. Records 45759, 1994)
- Wildflowers
- You Don't Know How It Feels
- Time to Move On
- You Wreck Me
- It's Good to Be King
- Only a Broken Heart
- Honey Bee
- Don't Fade on Me
- Hard on Me
- Cabin Down Below
- To Find a Friend
- A Higher Place
- House in the Woods
- Crawling Back to You
- Wake Up Time
CD 2/LP 3: All The Rest
- Something Could Happen
- Leaving Virginia Alone
- Climb That Hill Blues
- Confusion Wheel
- California
- Harry Green
- Hope You Never
- Somewhere Under Heaven
- Climb That Hill
- Hung Up and Overdue
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CD 3/LP 4-5: Home Recordings
- There Goes Angela (Dream Away)
- You Don't Know How It Feels
- California
- A Feeling of Peace
- Leave Virginia Alone
- Crawling Back to You
- Don't Fade on Me
- Confusion Wheel
- A Higher Place
- There's a Break in the Rain (Have Love Will Travel)
- To Find a Friend
- Only a Broken Heart
- Wake Up Time
- Hung Up and Overdue
- Wildflowers
CD 4/LP 6-7: Wildflowers Live
- You Don't Know How It Feels
- Honey Bee
- To Find a Friend
- Walls
- Crawling Back to You
- Cabin Down Below
- Drivin' Down to Georgia
- House in the Woods
- Girls on LSD
- Time to Move On
- Wake Up Time
- It's Good to Be King
- You Wreck Me
- Wildflowers
CD 5/LP 8-9: Alternate Versions (Finding Wildflowers)
- A Higher Place
- Hard on Me
- Cabin Down Below
- Crawling Back to You
- Only a Broken Heart
- Drivin' Down to Georgia
- You Wreck Me
- It's Good to Be King
- House in the Woods
- Honey Bee
- Girl on LSD
- Cabin Down Below (Acoustic Version)
- Wildflowers
- Wake Up Time
- You Saw Me Comin'
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It's Good To Be King: Tom Petty Rarities Get Standalone Release on "Finding Wildflowers (Alternate Versions)" Due April 16
Finally!
So basically, $100 for "Girl On LSD". McCartney-level marketing.
Yeah, exactly what I thought. I’m starting buy less and stream more because of this BS but Petty is a priority.
Great news! The 4-Disc Deluxe seems reasonably priced. At least you get “Girl On LSD” as a live track.
Maybe they can turn their attention to upgrading the earliest Tom Petty albums. They are due.
That's what I'm waiting for.
And will the CDs continue to be mastered loud (unlike their vinyl counterparts), per Tom’s instructions? If so I’ll only spring for the two disc version, just for some of the extra material. With respect to the artist, I find it frustrating when sound quality is intentionally dumbed down.
Wasn’t “Dreams of Flying” from Mudcrutch 2 supposedly a Wildflowers leftover?
I’ve been waiting for this forever...but that $149 price tag for the 5 CD edition is putting me way off. And Disc 5 (along with Disc 2) is really all I want.
Grrrr...
Tom Petty's best album and one of my favorites. At first I was thinking that I could be happy with the 2CD set, but since An American Treasure and Playback had such great outtakes, demos, etc., I will splurge on the 4CD set.
Ordered the four disc. $100 more for a fifth disc (production of which is like $1) seems like a ridiculous stretch. Now waiting for the announcement of the much-rumored Beach Boys set that starts diving into the 70’s vault material.