Tom Petty Anthology: Through The Years CD

2 Cds. 1976-1993.Incl.1 Newly Recorded Song "Surrender"

ANTHOLOGY: THROUGH THE YEARS includes the previously unreleased "Surrender" and "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" (with Stevie Nicks).
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Tom Petty (vocals, guitar, harmonica, keyboards); Mike Campbell (guitar, bass); Benmont Tench (keyboards, background vocals); Howie Epstein (bass, background vocals); Ron Blair (bass); Stan Lynch (drums, background vocals).
Additional personnel: Stevie Nicks (vocals); Scott Thurston (guitar); David A. Stewart (Coral sitar); Donald "Duck" Dunn (bass); Steve Ferrone, Jim Keltner (drums); Jeff Lynne, George Harrison, The Bangles (background vocals).
Producers include: Denny Cordell, Rick Rubin, Jeff Lynne, Jimmy Iovine, Noah Shark.
Recorded between 1976 and August 2000. Includes liner notes by Cameron Crowe.
Digitally remastered by Joe Gaswirt (OceanView Mastering, Los Angeles, California).
Personnel: Tom Petty (vocals, guitar, harmonica, keyboards); Benmont Tench (vocals, keyboards); Stan Lynch (vocals, drums); Howie Epstein, George Harrison (vocals); Mike Campbell , Scott Thurston (guitar); Dave Stewart (coral sitar); Jim Keltner, Steve Ferrone (drums); Phil Seymour (background vocals).
Audio Mixers: George Drakoulias; Jim Scott.
For the fan that wants more than the superb single-disc Greatest Hits yet doesn't want to delve into actual albums or the exhaustive, rarities-heavy box set Playback, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers and MCA Records offered the double-disc Anthology: Through the Years in the fall of 2000. This set basically offers all the singles and album rock radio favorites, with a couple of odd selections here and there and one new song, "Surrender." There are a few omissions -- "Make It Better (Forget About Me)" isn't here, for instance -- but not enough to really be noticeable, especially since this consolidates the bulk of Petty's great songs and plays very, very well. Greatest Hits might have a slight edge to Anthology because of its conciseness, but this double-disc set illustrates that Petty's catalog was deeper than just the hits. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Neatly fitting in between 1993's GREATEST HITS and the 5-CD PLAYBACK box set that came out two years later, this 34-track collection is a chronological tour of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' MCA Records material. The consistent quality found throughout this two-CD set that's bookended by the sinister-sounding "Breakdown" and chiming "Surrender"(a song Petty wrote in the '70s but didn't get around to recording until August 2000) boggles the mind.
Tight playing and a palpable sense of passion from the four-piece Heartbreakers transform songs like "Even the Losers", "Rebels" and "Mary Jane's Last Dance" into rock & roll manna. Elsewhere, this Floridian singer-songwriter's sharp eye for pop culture ("Jammin' Me") and storytelling mastery ("Into the Great Wide Open," "Two Gunslingers") become pleasantly recurring characteristics. The inclusion of a scorching live version of the Byrds' "So You Wanna Be a Rock 'N' Roll Star" show Petty and company to be as potent on stage as in the studio. By the end of this musical tour it's hard to argue with the lofty statement Cameron Crowe makes in his liner notes calling Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers "...the greatest and most consistent American band of the last twenty-five years..."

Entertainment Weekly (12/1/00, p.102) - "...It's hard to imagine a better summary of the Heartbreakers' 25-year career." - Rating: A
Q (8/01, p.154) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Conatins most [of his essential tracks], and more, including '81s Stevie Nicks duet..."
Uncut (2/01, p.80) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...A century of great American music from a great American institution..."