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Tom Petty
Highway Companion
(American/Warner Bros.)
The Music Box's #21 album of 2006
First Appeared in The Music Box, July 2006, Volume 13, #7
Written by John Metzger
The last decade has not been easy for Tom Petty: One love left him, and the
other succumbed to corruption and greed. For all of the anger that he expressed
on The Last DJ over the way in which corporations have killed rock ’n‘
roll, the album was, psychologically speaking, his method of addressing the
feeling of betrayal that had crept into the major aspects of his life. In that
sense, his latest effort Highway Companion is a continuation of his
dramatic tale. Yet, where Petty once paid tribute to the allure of the open
road, his latest batch of material questions the very nature of a nomadic,
disconnected existence. Instead of happy-go-lucky freedom, he finds shadows on
the moon, rain on the road, and plenty of dashed dreams and disillusion to go
around.
Although all of the characters that dot Highway Companion’s landscape
remain on the run, Petty pokes and prods at them, highlighting both their ennui
and their loneliness. In This Old Town, for example, he looks around the
city of Los Angeles as a piano echoes a familiar refrain plucked from Phantom
Planet’s California, but all he sees is the corrosive isolation that
surrounds him. Specific enough to be about Petty’s return from the depths of
depression, yet vague enough to be a condemnation of the state of Western
society, Highway Companion gains resonance from its quest to find
substantive identity and emotional connection. It is made all the more urgent by
its repeated references to the rapid passage of time as well as the fleetingness
of life.
Although Highway Companion never strays far from the sounds that Petty
has explored over the course of his past few albums, it is impeccably crafted,
playfully delivered, and decidedly eclectic. Hints of The Byrds, The Beatles,
Bob Dylan, and Roy Orbison (to name a few of his influences) lurk in the
background, and thankfully, Jeff Lynne’s frequently heavy-handed production
technique is pushed to the fringes where it is permitted to color, rather than
to smother, the songs. From the anxious, pulsing blues of Saving Grace to
the groovy, R&B-meets-Bay-area-rock flavors of Jack; from the ominously
hypnotic Turn This Car Around to the Riders on the Storm-imbued
weariness of Night Driver; and from the jangly, West Coast pop of
Flirting with Time to the gentle contentment of Square One, Petty has
concocted another mature, but no less vital effort that succeeds in keeping the
rust at bay. 
Highway Companion is available
from Amazon.com. To order, Click Here!
For Canadian orders, please
Click Here!
For UK orders, please
Click Here!
Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2006 The Music Box
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