Highway Companion Review

iFmagazineBy: CARL CORTEZ

TOM PETTY - HIGHWAY COMPANION
Suggested Retail Price: $18.98
Album Release Date: July 25, 2006

If there is a rock and roll savior out there, you have to look no further than Tom Petty. For thirty years, Petty and his band the Heartbreakers have defied convention, trumped trends and continued to produce albums that never age and still sound as vital as the day they were recorded.

And as Petty has continued to prove, album after album, his knack for hooks is a gift few artists know how to sustain. Not to sound cheesy, but he is an American original. With HIGHWAY COMPANION (due in stores next week), his third solo album away from the Heartbreakers, Petty has hit another home run out of the park and delivered one of the best album's of the year, if not his greatest release this decade.

A collection of 12 songs that run the gamut of rock, blues, surf guitar and folk, it’s the kind of album that rarely finds its way on record shelves these days in that each song is its own story and contains its own unique musical tapestry. It doesn’t grow dull with each repeated listening, it actually grows on you as the nuances and subtitles Petty has layered into the disc (with assist from producer Jeff Lynne and Heartbreaker guitarist Mike Campbell) come to the fore.

Kicking the album off to a rousing start is "Saving Grace," a swamp boogie that grows in intensity as it progresses. Song two, "Square One," shifts gears quickly to a heartfelt ballad, one of Petty’s sweetest in years. From there, it’s one great track after another including "Flirting with Time" (a solid rock single with a killer hook), "Down South" (which hearkens back to "Southern Accents") and "Turn This Car Around" (which builds to an intense crescendo by song's end).

The title HIGHWAY COMPANION does feel conceptual in feel, style and scope and it couldn’t be more appropriate since these songs sound great piping through your car stereo as you speed down the highway. While Petty’s last disc THE LAST D.J. was a bit more forthcoming in its overall "concept," wisely Petty hasn't said "concept album" in the press and has left it to the listener to decipher the complete whole.

The "highway" and "road" is no stranger to Petty’s repertoire either, from "Love is a Long Road," to "King’s Highway," his music has always felt like heartland rock for the lonesome driver needing some comfort music and it’s nice to have an album that goes gung-ho with that vibe.
While it’s still unclear why HIGHWAY COMPANION is a Petty solo album (except for the fact that he plays a bulk of the instruments), the album is a bit more introspective and softer than his previous efforts. Aside from the foot-stoppin’ beat of the opening track, the rest of the album consists of mid-tempo tunes and ballads, so the rocker Petty unleashes when he’s with the Heartbreakers is not as prevalent this time around.

By that same token, when artists go solo, there usually is a different muse at work, or it affords a chance at experimentation. But both 1989's FULL MOON FEVER (also produced by Lynne) and 1994's WILDFLOWERS never really seemed like standalone efforts, but a continuation of Petty’s overall work. FULL MOON FEVER still remains one of Petty’s crowning achievements both commercially and creatively, but a true solo effort is stretching things when Petty is Petty whether he’s backed by himself or his group.

While Petty’s relevancy in a world filled with American Idol’s is still to be determined, but when he can create an album as vibrant and exciting as HIGHWAY COMPANION, audiences will discover it, in spite of current trends and radio’s one-hit wonder mentality. After all, Johnny Cash managed to have a number 1 album with AMERICAN V: A HUNDRED HIGHWAYS two weeks ago, which proves there is an audience for intelligent, catchy and original music. Petty may still not get the credit he so rightfully deserves, but when you have a body of music as rich and timeless as his, all you have to do is keep on rockin.’ After all, as that famous line from FIELD OF DREAMS goes, "If you build it, they will come."