Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Into the Great Wide Open [BACK TO BLACK/GEFFEN]

Why you'll love it

This 180g pressing was mastered from the analog master tapes by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering. "Learning to Fly" spent six weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart, and "Out in the Cold" topped it too.

This edition

• 180g vinyl
• Mastered from the analog master tapes
• Printed inner sleeve with lyrics

About the album

Having made Full Moon Fever with Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty wasn't about to let the Heartbreakers miss out on the fun. Into the Great Wide Open brought the band and the ELO man together in Studio C at Rumbo Recorders in Canoga Park, and the result has Lynne's polish all over it: chiming acoustic guitars, stacked harmonies and choruses that seem to have been built in a wind tunnel.

"Learning to Fly" is the big one, a gentle, grown-up anthem that became one of Petty's signature songs. The title track tells the tale of a young dreamer chasing rock stardom in Hollywood, and its video starred Johnny Depp, with Faye Dunaway and Matt LeBlanc along for the ride. "Kings Highway," "You and I Will Meet Again" and "Too Good to Be True" all became singles, and Mike Campbell's guitar keeps the whole thing rooted in the band's sound. The cover borrows Jan Matulka's painting Autumn Landscape from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Critics gave it a warm welcome, and it was the last Heartbreakers album for MCA. The studio cost $600 a day, which, spread across twelve songs this good, counts as one of the bargains of the decade.

Also at Kops: more Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On MCA / Geffen (cat# B0024292-01), a reissue of the 1991 album.