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The Last DJ (Includes Limited Edition DVD)

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - The Last DJ (Includes Limited Edition DVD) Audio CD

A fair review of the Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers "The Last DJ (Includes Limited Edition DVD)" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers reviews here, or go back to the Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers tabs.

Band: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Title: The Last DJ (Includes Limited Edition DVD)
Rating:

Release Date: 2002-10-08
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: The Last DJ 2: Money Becomes King 3: Dreamville 4: Joe 5: When A Kid Goes Bad 6: Like A Diamond 7: Lost Children 8: Blue Sunday 9: You And Me 10: The Man Who Loves Women 11: Have Love, Will Travel 12: Can't Stop The Sun

Tom Never Rests

They never stop growing or commenting on relevant events. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are consistently reinventing themselves.

The title track, "The Last DJ" is a wry commentary on the current sorry state of affairs of radio and the music industry as a whole.

They are the best rock-n-roll band America has ever produced.

tom petty: the last dj
i like it quite a bit. this album is a little differnet than most tom petty/heartbreakers cd's. i play the cd in this order: (skipping tracks 2 & 4)
it now seems like the tom petty album i should have been spending more time with.

tom petty: the last dj (c. s. b. version)
1. the last dj
2. dreamville
3. when a kid goes bad
4. like a diamond
5. lost children
6. blue sunday
7. you and me
8. the man who loves women
9. have love will travel
10. can't stop the sun

enjoy.

Tom Petty's "Lola Versus Powerman And The Moneygoround"
Although the Kinks album carried two big hits with Lola and Apeman, their album also attracted mixed reviews and wasn't the succes The Kinks hoped for. The title of my review refers to a 1970 Kinks album largely dealing with the same subject matter.
This is almost inevitable when you decide to write and release an conceptual piece of music, a book or film about a subject matter with the intention to attack it or uncover it to get to the truth. There are people who will agree with you and there are of course those who don't. The latter will be disappointed, hence the 1,2 or 3 star reviews.
Maybe over the years this CD will be recognized as one of Petty's best albums. Read the recent reviews about "Echo". The same could happen with this one. In 1970 The Kinks almost ended up in court for naming their managers in a song called "The Moneygoround" in which Ray Davies bluntly stated they devide his money and he ended up with nothing. Now the album is considered as being part of their classic era.
You don't have to agree with Mr. Petty. Value the fact that he still comes up with interesting CD's and great music!.

Broken Dreams, dashed hopes and The last DJ
"? Eleven years later, he grew up to become Johnny, an aging rocker in "Money Became King," who sold out while his aging fans hunger for one last whiff of that old rebellious innocence. Remember Eddie, the young aspiring rocker from Tom Petty's Into the Great Wide Open? The one who defied "the A&R man said 'I don't hear a single'. But what they get - after hocking some stuff in order to afford tickets in the nosebleed section - is a rude awakening.

"Johnny rocked that golden circle
And all those VIPs.
And that music that had freed us
Became a tired routine.
I saw his face in close-up
Trying to give it all he had,
And sometimes his eyes betrayed him
You could see that he was sad.
And I tried to rock on with him
But I slowly became bored.
Could that man on stage with everything
Somehow need some more?"

So goes Tom Petty's "The Last DJ," where Petty vents his anger at the music biz. He's done it before (the infamous price war over Hard Promises), but for the first time, he tries his hand it saying it musically. sadly, he is mostly unsuccessful. The first three songs here are all pretty good, with the title track bemoaning the fate of free-form radio ala The Kinks' "Around The Dial. " The thing is, this is a format that was all but extinct by the time Petty was recording Damn the Torpedoes. It's followed by Johnny and "Money Became King," a fan's disillusionment with stars that go from controversial to recording lite-beer commercials. But again, this turf has been covered heavily by the likes of Neil Young's This Note's for You. So while it's a good song, Petty again seems late to the party.

Then comes "The Last DJ's" best song. On "Dreamville," Petty looks back to the time when he started to aspire towards music making as a kid.

"Ridin' with my mamma to Glen Springs Pool
The water was cold my lips were blue
There was rock and roll across the dial
When I think of her it makes me smile. "

It is vintage Petty, with just the right touch. "Like a Diamond" comes a close second. But the 4th song is easily the worst Petty has ever recorded. "Joe," the nasty tale of a sleazy record company CEO, crosses the line from anger to bile. Joe wants to sign an "Angel Whore" and bemoans that his aging star could make him more money "if he'd just die quicker. " It's an ugly bit that wears thin after a few listens. The other 'message song' here, "When a Kid Goes Bad," is heavy handed and clunky. Then there's "The Man Who Loves Women," a novelty that might have made a good B-Side, but seems puzzling here.

The rest of "The Last DJ" hovers between fair and average. Saving it from total mediocrity is Mike Campbell, who is given a few extended solos here, maybe more than any other TP&TH record. Both "Can't Stop The Sun" and "Lost Children" are better because of Campbell's lead work. And Mediocre is a word I would never have applied to any Petty album before this, which makes it a disappointment. Granted, Petty got his mojo back when it came time to record Highway Companion, but "The Last DJ" had me worried that he'd lost his groove.

Hands Down, One of Petty's Best!
His lyrics spit at the record excecutives, yet the music is fantastic to listen to. Yes, it's a very angry CD. Petty knows the right mixture in stating a point and offering the best music in his catalog. This is his big "F**K YOU, I AM TOM PETTY, I CALL THE SHOTS" to the weak music industry.
Notable tracks are the TITLE TRACK, JOE, MONEY BECOMES KING, WHEN A KID GOES BAD

Worth your $$.

You can see a complete list of all Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers discography, or go back to the Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.