![]() But perhaps of all the additional performers, the most impactful contribution came from composer Michael Kamen, a prolific Oscar- and Emmy-Award nominated film and television composer who provided the orchestrations heard on “Wildflowers,” “Time To Move On,” “It’s Good To Be King,” and “Wake Up Time.” Rick Rubin, then the most sought-after producer in the industry, co-produced the album with Petty and Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell, and amassed a vast collection of material. While the Heartbreakers appeared as performers on most of the album (minus drummer Stan Lynch, who would leave the band shortly before the release of Wildflowers), the album’s contributors include Ringo Starr, Carl Wilson, and future Heartbreakers drummer Steve Ferrone. Famously, after hearing Wildflowers, Petty’s then-teenage daughter Adria asked her father, “So, are you getting divorced or what?” Wildflowers is Petty’s most personal work by a mile, with even the lyrics of the good-time rockers filled with darker lyrical turns (for example, Petty decided to turn the generic “You Rock Me” into the much harsher “You Wreck Me”).Īlso uncharacteristic of a typical Heartbreakers album is that Wildflowers features a trove of notable guest musicians. The rest of the songs are Petty solo compositions, most of them borne out of the emotional turmoil he felt as his marriage to his first wife unraveled (after a period of separation they would divorce in 1996). In contrast, of the 15 songs on the original release of Wildflowers only two - “You Wreck Me” and “Don’t Fade On Me” - were co-written with Campbell. The majority of songs on both Full Moon Fever and the Heartbreakers’ subsequent album, 1991’s Into The Great Wide Open, were co-written by Petty with Mike Campbell, Jeff Lynne, or both. Though 1989’s Full Moon Fever was officially Petty’s first solo album, the nature of the writing and recording of Wildflowers make it more of a solo project than anything else Petty released in his career. ![]() Of the various reissues of Petty’s material that have come after his unfortunate death three years ago, Wildflowers & All The Rest has been the most anticipated by fans… and, not incidentally, by Petty himself, who worked on the reissue in the final years of his life. Finally, one year after the album’s 25th anniversary, the long-promised expanded edition of the landmark album is available. Tom Petty was not a typical songwriter, and nor is his 1994 release Wildflowers a typical album. Even the best songwriters have typically run out of creative juices by that point and resort to trying to recapture the sound of their earlier, most commercially popular work. Few musicians can claim that their 10th album that was released nearly 20 years into their career as their creative peak as a musician.
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