Tom Petty - Runnin’ Down A Dream

Four discs of Petty – too much ain’t enough

Two DVDs of Tom Petty retrospective may seem a bit of a marathon, but four hours later you will prise yourself off the sofa wishing for more. Luckily this box set includes a further disc of The Heartbreakers’ 30th anniversary concert and a CD of rare tracks.

What’s it about? Tom Petty, obviously, and he gets quite personal in places, without hurting any innocent parties. But it’s also about the music business, friendship, songwriting, the separate crafts of live performance and producing a record; in short, a whole life, illuminated by stars. You wouldn’t want to be in possession of something Petty needed, but there would be nobody better to have on your side in an argument. His stand against MCA is well documented, but see Disc Two’s astonishing footage of Petty ripping into the producers who wanted Roger McGuinn to sing substandard material on his comeback disc, Back From Rio.

There is a wealth of archive material, as well as interviews with a mass of people who have worked with Petty, all mixed up in a really interesting way. But then you would expect nothing less of the perfectionist Peter Bogdanovich. Just don’t start to watch if you have other commitments to attend to.

SPV | 98717 (3-DVD+CD)

Reviewed by Tim Holmes
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