Tom Petty Archives - Various Small Flames https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/tom-petty/ New and independent music Sat, 06 Aug 2016 13:20:33 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://i0.wp.com/varioussmallflames.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/cropped-finalwhite-e1490809629909-1.jpg?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Tom Petty Archives - Various Small Flames https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/tom-petty/ 32 32 88787050 John Moreland – In The Throes https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2013/07/15/john-moreland-in-the-throes/ Mon, 15 Jul 2013 16:03:00 +0000 http://www.wakethedeaf.co.uk/?p=378 I read an interesting thought about In The Throes, the new album from John Moreland, that made complete sense even on my first few plays through. “John Moreland is a songwriter’s songwriter” said Nine Bullets, “So what makes these ten songs so great? I’ve had the record over a month, listened to it dozens and dozens of times and I don’t have an answer. There are incredible lines throughout.” I am paraphrasing here but the sentences above capture exactly what […]

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]]> I read an interesting thought about In The Throes, the new album from John Moreland, that made complete sense even on my first few plays through. “John Moreland is a songwriter’s songwriter” said Nine Bullets, “So what makes these ten songs so great? I’ve had the record over a month, listened to it dozens and dozens of times and I don’t have an answer. There are incredible lines throughout.”

I am paraphrasing here but the sentences above capture exactly what makes the record so great. In The Throes is a collection of songs that play like perfect short stories, writing that has been mercilessly editted and revised so that each and every word has been forced to justify its existence. Each song feels distilled, reduced to its purest and most brilliant form.

The real masterstroke is putting together all of these killer lines and making them fit together into something that sounds like a stream of conciousness, as if they are the words of a man spilling his inner self for the first and only time. The songs are simultaneously highly polished and roughed up, carefully crafted and organic.

As for comparisons, I guess you can take your pick from your favourite songwriters. The slower finger picked songs such as ‘3:59AM’ bring to mind Joe Pug, and Nine Bullets suggested Townes Van Zandt (with which I concur), but there are plenty of others you could name too. Nebraska-era Springsteen, Jason Isbell, Steve Earle, Tom Petty…  Moreland is in no way out of place among any of the gravely poets that make up the big names of songwriting.

The whole gamut of emotions are covered on In The Throes, from sadness and desperation (I swore the days were over, courting empty dreams / I worshiped at the altar of losing everything) to earnest joy (I got the guiltiest conscience / Listening for a savior on a Saturday night / I got my ear to the ground / You got Easter Sunday in your eyes) and even humour (I guess by now, I’m supposed to be a man // But my grandmother still gives me ten bucks on my birthday). Some artists make songs that are made memorable by just one masterful line, John Moreland produces songs with masterful lines as his only ingredient.

You can buy the album from Last Chance Records.

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]]> 378 The Covers Mix: Volume #5 https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2012/11/21/the-covers-mix-volume-5/ Wed, 21 Nov 2012 15:15:00 +0000 http://www.wakethedeaf.co.uk/?p=493 Here is the fifth volume of our covers mix series, taking us up to song number 100. Again we’ve tried to add a bit of variety to the list so hopefully there is something for everyone. Enjoy! Tracklisting: 1. On A Good Day (Joanna Newsom Cover) – Jordan Klassen & Brian Chan 2. Storm Windows (John Prine Cover) – Jeffrey Foucault 3. I’m Going Home (Hank Williams Cover) – Teen Suicide 4. You Are the Everything (R.E.M. Cover) – Redbird […]

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]]> Here is the fifth volume of our covers mix series, taking us up to song number 100. Again we’ve tried to add a bit of variety to the list so hopefully there is something for everyone. Enjoy!

Tracklisting:

1. On A Good Day (Joanna Newsom Cover) – Jordan Klassen & Brian Chan
2. Storm Windows (John Prine Cover) – Jeffrey Foucault
3. I’m Going Home (Hank Williams Cover) – Teen Suicide
4. You Are the Everything (R.E.M. Cover) – Redbird
5. You and I Are a Gang of Losers (The Dears Cover) – Admiral Fallow
6. Won’t Back Down (Tom Petty Cover) – Benjamin Francis Leftwich
7. I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine (Bob Dylan Cover) – Dirty Projectors
8. Storms (Fleetwood Mac Cover) – Matt Sweeney & Bonnie Prince Billy
9. It’s Not Happening (Be Good Tanyas Cover) – Lowpines
10. Two Headed Boy (Neutral Milk Hotel) – My Latest Novel
11. Cruel Summer (Bananarama Cover) – Superchunk
12. Southern Girls (Cheap Trick Cover) – Cold Warps
13. Tambourine Man (Bob Dylan Cover) – Cloud Cult
14. Black Cat (Donkeys Cover) – Advance Base
15. Save Yourself (Sharon Van Etten Cover) – Brendan Losch
16. Learning (Perfume Genius Cover) – The Bearcat
17. Wicked Game (Chris Isaak Cover) – Widowspeak
18. John Wayne Gacy Jr. (Sufjan Stevens Cover) – Bryan John Appleby
19. Reason To Believe (Tim Hardin Cover) – Evening Hymns
20. You Are My Sunshine (Oliver Hood Cover) – Peter Broderick

As ever, please please please support the musicians we feature if you enjoy what you hear. The artist names in the tracklisting will take you to a page for each so please explore their music catalogues.

The Covers Mix: Volume #5 from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

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