Rockin' The 80s

A belated third installment to the My Concerts series.  Better do this before I forget more.

Concert going dropped off in the 80s, due to the intensity of work and the birth of our two children.  What started me back was when my dad moved to Massachusetts in 1985 and during the summers worked at the ticket office at Great Woods in Mansfield, Ma where he got us some pretty good tickets for shows.  I've probably forgotten a couple of others.

February 5, 1981

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

Squeeze

Orpheum Theater

Boston MA

 

Elvis' 4th U.S. tour and the 4th time I'd seen him.  Our tickets were in the balcony and the sound was very bad when the opening act, Squeeze, was playing.  We moved downstairs before Elvis started and stood behind the last row of seats. The stage was completely dark when Elvis began to sing unaccompanied the ballad, Just A Memory, with Steve Nieve's piano joining in midway. A captivating start to an absolutely stunning show.  Elvis played 29 songs.

 

July 1986

Bob Dylan

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

Great Woods

Mansfield MA

 

Went to this show because of Dylan, who turned out to be terrible.  Went in not a big fan of Petty but came out one.  This was a very long show with five sets.  First Petty, then Dylan, then Petty, then Dylan and then all together.  Dylan sang everything in a rush and half the time you couldn't even figure out what he was singing.  Petty and the Heartbreakers were terrific.  A high point was The Waiting.

 

August 1986

The Eurythmics

Great Woods

Mansfield MA

 

I liked the catchy pop music of The Eurythmics along with Annie Lennox's voice.  But their music videos left me thinking the band was very weird and Lennox seemed a cold and remote personality.  What a difference seeing them live!  Annie Lennox projected warmth and friendliness and her voice was lush and expressive.

 

September 1986

Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Great Woods

Mansfield, MA

 

Had always wanted to see Young and he did not disappoint.  I closed my eyes and listened to his guitar soaring over everything.   

 

July 1987

Peter Gabriel

Great Woods

Mansfield MA

 

Gabriel came across as pompous.  Didn't like the show.

August 1987

Los Lobos

The Smithereens

Great Woods

Mansfield MA

The Smithereens had recently had a couple of hits I enjoyed, particularly Blood and Roses and were really solid.  Then Los Lobos came on and were simply outstanding. 

I Was So Much Older Then, I'm Younger Than That Now

My Back Pages was the last song recorded by Bob Dylan for his album Another Side of Bob Dylan released in August 1964.  Signaling the end of his "protest" song period, it is an acknowledgement that issues and life are more complicated than he had previously portrayed.  His next album, Bringing It All Back Home in March 1965, included no protest songs and began his move into a new electric sound to the outrage of many of his earliest folk music fans.

Dylan never performed the song in concert until 1988.  The version below is from a 1992 show at Madison Square Garden celebrating the 30th anniversary of the release of his first album (59 years have now passed!).  You will notice many familiar faces; Neil Young, Tom Petty, George Harrison, Eric Clapton and Roger McGuinn of The Byrds who had a hit with the song in 1967.  The back up band assembled for the concert is also outstanding, including 3/4 of the original Booker T & The MGs - Booker T Jones (keyboards), Donald "Duck" Dunn on bass and Steve Cropper on guitar.  Cropper also composed Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay with Otis Redding and In The Midnight Hour with Wilson Pickett.  On drums is Jim Keltner who played with John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Joe Cocker, Dylan, The Traveling Wilburys and a host of others.  Musical director for the show was guitarist G.E. Smith (in the green suit), leader of the Saturday Night Live house band for many years.

 

 

Crimson flames tied through my ears
Rolling high and mighty traps
Pounced with fire on flaming roads
Using ideas as my maps
"We'll meet on edges, soon, " said I
Proud 'neath heated brow
Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now

Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth
"Rip down all hate, " I screamed
Lies that life is black and white
Spoke from my skull, I dreamed
Romantic facts of musketeers
Foundationed deep, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now

 

Girl's faces formed the forward path
From phony jealousy
To memorizing politics of ancient history
Flung down by corpse evangelists
Unthought of, though, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now

 

A self-ordained professor's tongue
Too serious to fool
Spouted out that liberty is just equality in school
"Equality, " I spoke the word
As if a wedding vow
Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now

 

In a soldier's stance, I aimed my hand
At the mongrel dogs who teach
Fearing not I'd become my enemy
In the instant that I preach
My existence led by confusion boats
Mutiny from stern to bow
Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now

 

Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats
Too noble to neglect
Deceived me into thinking I had something to protect
Good and bad, I define these terms
Quite clear, no doubt, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now

Tom Petty: The Don Sutton Of Rock

Don Sutton is in the Baseball Hall of Fame.  He won 324 games in a career that stretched from 1966 to 1988 and was always regarded as a very good pitcher but never a great pitcher.  Don won 20 or more games only once in his career (21 in 1976) but won between 15 and 19 games in eleven season.  He won 12 games in his rookie year and 15 games in his 21st season (1986).  Don never led the league in most games won.  He won the ERA title once in a season in which he won only 13 games (1980) and did not lead the league in any other major category.  Don played with five different teams during his career, Dodgers, Astros, Brewers, A's and Angels.  He was respected.  He was not an overpowering pitcher but had good stuff, good control and could always be counted upon to be steady and reliable.  Don was born in 1945 in Clio, Alabama, moved to Los Angeles when he joined the Dodgers as a rookie and maintained it as his residence.  When he joined the Dodgers his teammates in the starting rotation were Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale.

Tom Petty is in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. His recording career started in 1977 and is still going today but in Don Sutton terms the core of his career is from 1977 to 1995.  THC always considered him a solid, reliable rocker and doesn't think that anyone else ever considered him one of the all time greats of rock.  Never in my top five rockers at any point but always producing good rock n roll.  He never had a #1 album or single until his most recent album, Hypnotic Eye, released on July 29, 2014, reached the top spot.  He's played in five different recording configurations during his career, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Traveling Wilburys, Mudcrutch, in collaboration with Stevie Nicks and as a solo artist.  Tom was born in 1950 in Gainesville, Florida and moved to Los Angeles when his career took off and where he still lives.  In the Traveling Wilburys his bandmates included George Harrison, Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison.

Let's take a deeper look at the highlights of Petty's long career:

1977
Breakdown becomes the first hit for Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.  Simple and with a catchy guitar hook.

American Girl.  Catch the reference to Florida Route 441 which runs the length of the state.

1978
Listen To Her Heart with the band channeling The Byrds.

1979
Don't Do Me Like That with the Heartbreakers sounding like The Band.

1980
Refugee, which remains a standard on Classic Rock stations.

1981
Stop Draggin' My Heart Around with Stevie Nicks.  Released on her solo album and written by Petty and Heartbreaker guitarist Mike Campbell.

The Waiting.  One of my personal favorites with a title inspired by a conversation with Roger McGuinn, one of Petty's biggest influences (via The Byrds).  THC saw Petty & The Heartbreakers play this live in July 1986 while on tour with Bob Dylan.  The show had five segments; Petty opening, Dylan doing a set, Petty back for another set, Dylan returning and then Dylan and Petty closing together.  Petty turned in a solid, enjoyable performance; Dylan was terrible. Found this live clip from the prior year of The Waiting and it is a much more dynamic version than the studio recording.  Skip the first 1:30 of the video as Petty is just talking about nothing.

1982
You Got Lucky featuring an epically bad video from the early days of MTV.  Good lyric with attitude though.

1985
Don't Come Around Here No More with its weird and unsettling video.

1988
As part of the Traveling Wilburys, Handle With Care (written by George Harrison) becomes a hit.

1989
End Of The Line by the Traveling Wilburys.

Petty releases his first solo album (Full Moon Fever) filled with strong tunes like Runnin' Down A Dream (which ends with a searing guitar solo by Mike Campbell), I Won't Back Down (with video featuring Ringo Starr and George Harrison; Harrison played on the recording, Starr did not), Free Fallin', A Face In The Crowd and an almost note for note recreation of I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better by The Byrds (to compare with the original click here).  It's Tom Petty's 20-win season. 

1991
Learning To Fly and Into The Great Wide Open.with Johnny Depp and Faye Dunaway appearing in ths video.

1993
A new goodie on the Heartbreaker's Greatest Hits CD, Mary Jane's Last Dance with a video that has nothing to do with the lyrics but features Kim Basinger.  Smart lyrics and crunching guitar.
1994
You Don't Know How It Feels with Tom doing his Neil Young thing. From Petty's second solo album.

1995
You Wreck Me.  Yes, you do.

2008
Scare Easy with his reunited first band, Mudcrutch, played over the closing credits of the movie Appaloosa.  For more on the song and movie see the post Scare Easy.

Don't Scare Easy

Sun going down on a canyon wall
I got a soul that ain't never been blessed
Yeah, and I'm a shadow at the back of the hall
I got a sin I ain't never confessed

I don't scare easy
Don't fall apart when I'm under the gun
You can break my heart and I ain't gonna run
I don't scare easy
For no one
- Mudcrutch (2008)

If you don't recognize the name of the band, this may help.  Mudcrutch was founded in Gainesville, Florida in 1970 and broke up in 1975.  Three of the band members went on to found another group - The Heartbreakers - Tom Petty, Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench.  You've probably heard of them.

In 2008, Petty invited two of the other original band members, Tom Leadon (a guitarist and, along with Petty, a co-founder of Mudcrutch) and Randall Marsh (drums) to reunite and record a Mudcrutch album.  One of the songs, I Don't Scare Easy, can be heard over the closing credits of the 2008 film, Appaloosa.  The tune has a distinctive Tom Petty sound, driven by his vocals and lyrics and Mike Campbell's Roger McGuinn (The Byrds) inspired guitar sound.
Appaloosa is a Western, based on the novel by Robert Parker, better known for the Spenser series of detective novels set in Boston.  Appaloosa has the same sparse dialogue of a Spenser novel but without the wisecracks.  The films is worth seeing and features Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen as the (mostly) lawmen, Jeremy Irons as the bad guy and Rene Zellweger as the woman.  Yes, they are all archetypes.THC was a big fan of Robert Parker, since his first Spenser novel, The Godwulf Manuscript, when it was published in 1973.  For those who've only read the later Spenser novels or seen the TV series, The Godwulf Manuscript can be startling, as Spenser is rougher and more morally ambiguous than in the later novels.  Parker went on to write 40 Spenser novels (the first ten remain the best) and create memorable recurring characters like Hawk and Susan Silverman, Spenser's long-time love (Susan was memorably detested as a character by many Spenser fans, including THC).
(Robert Parker)