Just wondering.

Question:
What % of the Live Anthology should be covers?

Choices:
0%
5%
10%
20%
25%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
75%
80%
90%
100%
This thread needs more Tom Petty.

 

Hopefully, this doesn't come across as bitter... I'm really looking forward to hearing this stuff (I chose not to purchase the Superhighway thing).

I give the band an "A+" for performance, effort and thinking outside the box.

However, I give them a "D" for their song selection and execution. This poll is exactly why.

By my count (and I could be wrong)

Regular versions - 48 songs/13 covers = 27%
Deluxe versions - 62 songs/17 covers = 27%

Over 1 cover every 4 songs.

How many albums does this band have? How many tours have they done? How many different original songs have they done?

I love hearing the covers. They kick ass on pretty much everything (even the songs I don't care for), but the amount of covers they have included here is way too much.

Putting it into a one show perspective, if TP played 22 songs in a show, 6 of them would be covers. SIX.

Also - its obvious the deluxe set is geared towards the loyal, dedicated fans. That 5th disk should be nothing but TPHB originals. Ballad of Easy Rider sounds great, I'm sure. Sorry, I'd rather have an original. One Story Town, Change of Heart, Dog on the Run, YDKHIF... insert left out single here.

Its a fine line between selecting what a band wants to put out, and what the fans want to hear. I'm sure its not easy on their end. I'd bet the ranch that any of us buying this (or at least 90% of us) and spending $100+, would rather hear originals. 3 out of 4 isn't too impressive, given their catalog....

Steve

Well stated, Steve. I've attended 10 Tom Petty concerts, and I'm fairly sure I've never left my seat for any song during his concerts, but if I did so or thought about it, I would only do so in a cover song. If I'm only going to listen to 75% of the music as a loyal TP fan, then the price is not worth it to me. I'll save my money for the next tour and listen to some Petty tunes.

Yes, well stated Steve, and Josh too. And if I can excerpt something from a post of mine from September:

quote:

Consider that the "Pack up the Plantation" CD has only 64% (9/14) Petty authored songs, the rest covers.

Playback has only 14% (1/7) Petty authored songs among the live songs, the rest covers.

The Soundstage (2003) DVD has only 59% (13/22) Petty authored songs, the rest covers.

And consider that Bruce Springsteen's 3CD live anthology 1975-85 has 40 songs, ALL of them written or co-written by Springsteen. Even though Springsteen/E-Street usually play 2 or 3 cover songs per tour concert, which is about the same as TPATH (though a somewhat lower ratio of covers to non-covers, since Springsteen/E-Street generally play longer concerts with more songs than TPATH).

Sure TPATH sounds great on most covers, fine. But so do a lot of bar bands I've heard. TPATH is NOT a cover band, despite the special shows done at the Fillmore/San Francisco in 1997 and at the Vic/Chicago in 2003. They do their own great songs, and that's what the vast majority of people want to hear at the concerts. That's also what most people (by far) want to hear on the live recordings.

Maybe part of the problem is that their first, and for a long time only, live album (PUTP) was covers heavy (36% covers on the CD version). But that was not representative of the actual live shows, percentage-wise on the covers. Nor were the live songs on "Playback", etc. The new release just extends that trend; I don't like it but I expected it, based on past history. Actually I felt the selections were better than I expected, though I did go in with rather low expectations for the selected songs.

Weird thing is, if you never attended a TPATH tour concert (I'm not counting SF 1997 or Chicago 2003 as "tours" because they were not tours) and only listened to the official live releases, then you might think that a 25-40% level of covers was normal for a TPATH tour show. And if you didn't know the TPATH studio albums, you might think that Tom Petty and TPATH hadn't written/created all that many great original songs in their 30+ years together. Oh well, preaching to the choir (except of course the minority that wants huge numbers of covers). What's done is done. However, we can always hope that some day they'll release a good number of full concert recordings.

As far as the cover songs go - It doesn't help that four of the band's best covers ("So You Want To Be A RNR Star", "Don't Bring Me Down", "Shout!" & "The Stories We Could Tell") were already released on PUTP.

Seriously that is the creme of the crop when it comes to the covers they did in the eighties.

I agree with all the above posters. Thing is, part of the problem is that Thomas Earl Petty is the guy selecting the songs, and he happens to be a big fan of cover songs. As long as Tom is in control of any project (HBs, Mudcrutch or otherwise), it is going to be loaded with covers, like it or not.

If an outsider was able to pick a track list, you might see an entirely different assortment of songs. That would be an interesting project.

I like the covers. Always have. I think what would probably please everyone is just to have a longer show - add 6 or 7 more songs that go deeper into his catalog.

If the shows were say 25 songs long or so, nobody would be complaining about the 3 or 4 cover tunes.

quote:

Originally posted by TomFest2002:
I like the covers. Always have. I think what would probably please everyone is just to have a longer show - add 6 or 7 more songs that go deeper into his catalog.

If the shows were say 25 songs long or so, nobody would be complaining about the 3 or 4 cover tunes.

I agree. Certainly, we can never have enough original songs unless they released every song ever performed live. I happen to love their covers. I'm really enjoying Something In The Air, Oh Well, I'm in Love, and Goldfinger. The only one I had heard live is Oh Well.

quote:

Originally posted by TomFest2002:
I like the covers. Always have. I think what would probably please everyone is just to have a longer show - add 6 or 7 more songs that go deeper into his catalog.

If the shows were say 25 songs long or so, nobody would be complaining about the 3 or 4 cover tunes.

True. And no one (few people anyway) would be complaining about TPATH playing so many of the same "hits" at virtually every show of virtually every tour in the past 15 years. The "problem" (IMO) is when they only play 18-20 or so total songs, with 3-4 covers and about 11-12 "hits" ("hit" being either something from the 1 CD "greatest hits", or Wildflowers album tracks such as "Honey Bee", "You Wreck Me", "You Don't Know How It Feels", "It's Good To Be King", "Cabin Down Below", etc.) there's not much room for the rest of their own great song catalog, whether its their own new songs or their older neglected tracks. Though I think this has been discussed previously on these boards. At least the upcoming live anthology, having many more songs than a single concert, DOES reach deeper to a much higher degree into the band's own songs, than would a typical concert from a recent tour.

We also should remember though that the deluxe set will also include the 1978 New Year's Eve DVD and the 1976 "Live Leg" LP. Which will add to the self-authored "deep cuts" (including I presume "Casa Dega", "Mystery Man", "You're Gonna Get It", "Luna", "Dog on the Run") and "covers" (including "Runaway" with Del Shannon, "Jaguar & Thunderbird") totals, as well padding the "hits" a bit.