Following their seventh studio set, 1987’s platinum-certified Let Me Up (I’ve Had Sufficient), Tom Petty briefly took a break from working together with his long-term backing group, The Heartbreakers, and joined The Touring Wilburys. Nothing lower than a solid-gold rock’n’roll supergroup, this outstanding, although short-lived, outfit additionally included Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Roy Orbison, and ELO frontman Jeff Lynne, and their debut LP, The Touring Wilburys Vol.1, peaked at No.3 on the US Billboard 200, the place it bought over three million copies. Petty, nonetheless, had already introduced that his subsequent album could be a solo report, even earlier than he launched into the periods for The Touring Wilburys Vol.1. This controversial determination seemingly provoked combined feelings amongst The Heartbreakers, but all the band, barring drummer Stan Lynch, finally contributed to their chief’s solo debut, Full Moon Fever, which was launched on April 24, 1989.
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Although relaxed and low-key, the Full Moon Fever periods had been additionally a hotbed of creativity. Primarily tracked in lead guitarist Mike Campbell’s storage studio, the songs had been principally laid down by a core group of Petty, Campbell, drummer Phil Jones and producer Jeff Lynne (who performed bass and refined textural keyboards), although the remaining Heartbreakers and two of Petty’s fellow Wilburys additionally pitched in. Roy Orbison made a quick cameo on quirky rocker “Zombie Zoo,” whereas George Harrison performed guitar and added decisive vocal harmonies to the LP’s first 45, “I Won’t Back Down.”
Although defiant in tone, “I Won’t Back Down” was additionally eminently catchy. Its success on the Billboard Sizzling 100 (the place it peaked at No.12) set Full Moon Fever on the highway to multi-platinum success. Pushed by Mike Campbell’s memorable, zig-zagging riffs, the Del Shannon-referencing highway track “Runnin’ Down A Dream” shortly adopted it into the US Prime 30, whereas the craving, nostalgic “Free Fallin” later peaked at a formidable No.7.
Lengthy-term staples of all self-respecting traditional rock radio stations, this evergreen trio of 45s have since dominated reappraisals of their guardian album, but in actuality Full Moon Fever was refreshingly filler-free. Certainly, Petty and co had been proper on the cash all through. Whether or not they had been treading well-worn floor on robust, Heartbreakers-esque rockers (“Depending On You”) or veering off on elegant stylistic departures similar to the wonderful, lullaby-style love track “Alright For Now,” nothing might detour them from the trail of greatness.
On the again of its three hits and a string of optimistic evaluations, Full Moon Fever outstripped the success of The Travelling Wilburys Vol.1, peaking at No.3 on the Billboard 200 and going quintuple platinum in North America. Regardless of stiff competitors from 1994’s Rick Rubin-produced Wildflowers, it arguably stays the high-water mark of Tom Petty’s solo profession, although its mainstream pop sensibility remained intact on 1991’s sturdy, Jeff Lynne-produced Heartbreakers reunion, Into The Nice Broad Open.
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