Product Description

Third solo album, and his first since 1994's 'Wildflowers',from stadium rock icon and frontman of The Heartbreakers, whom he has led for 30 years. Produced by Petty's former Traveling Wilburys bandmate Jeff Lynne, 'Highway Companion' is aselection of mostly gentle acoustic numbers loosely based around the theme, in Petty's words, of "time and what it doesto you". Includes the single 'Saving Grace'.

Track Listing

1. Saving Grace
2. Square One
3. Flirting With Time
4. Down South
5. Jack
6. Turn This Car Around
7. Big Weekend
8. Night Driver
9. Damaged By Love
10. This Old Town
11. Ankle Deep
12. Golden Rose

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4173 in Music
• Released on: 2006-07-24
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

A slow burner - live with it for a while
Like some other reviewers, I was somewhat disappointed by this on first listen and it really didn't take at all with me. But its Tom so I fished it out one day and (who'da thought??) played it while I was driving and it made perfect sense. All round great tunes and some of Tom's best lyrics.
The TP back catalogue sets the bar high and this easily lives up to his massive legacy. Just give it a little time. The ones that take the longest to get into are the keepers.

PS - Mike Campbell is on top form which raises the bar even higher!!

Slightly Pedestrian Companion... until you invest time and energy into this album
Tom Petty teams up with producer Jeff Lynne again and returns with what has been his most warmly received album for quite a while. This isn't, however, a repeat of Full Moon Fever or Into The Great Wide Open - the pop sensibilities which fuelled those Jeff Lynne-produced albums seem to have been pushed aside to produce a more subtle and less immediate collection, although not abandoned completely - Flirting With Time, for example, could quite easily have been on either of those two releases. Although you can just about tell that this is a Jeff Lynne collaboration, his sonic imprint isn't that pronounced and he produces solidly without the heavy-handed trademark sounds that people either love or loathe. In fact, Jeff is confined to production and simply performing on this album, rather than being the co-songwriter as on Full Moon Fever and Into The Great Wide Open. All of the instruments on this album are played by Tom Petty, Mike Campbell and Jeff Lynne and this album feels almost wholly Tom's.

This is an album that is difficult to listen to once and absolutely love because it's so understated, but with each listen, more and more of the tracks will reveal themselves to being amongst the best that Tom has released in recent years. This is steady rather than spectacular and you can imagine Tom performing all of these songs without breaking so much as a sweat, even less a guitar string, so there is very little of the hard-edged rock Tom thrilled people with over twenty-five years ago, but it's gentle without ever being boring, thematic without being predictable and a, likeable welcome addition to the Tom Petty catalogue that slowly and surely warms you without ever truly setting you on fire.

Highway Companion
This is another album of great music from Petty. We see him reunited with Jeff Lynne and there are hints of their old magic at points of this album. Lynne's production is a little smoother this time, less polished than 'Full Moon Fever' is how I can best put it, but still clear and perfectly in keeping with the tracks. This album is definitely a grower and I think some people have been disappointed expecting another 'Full Moon..' or 'Wildflowers', whereas this one is a different beast. Petty's voice is just as soporific and his song writing doesn't seem to diminish. Overall this is a good album, well up to Petty's high standard and worth persevering with as it's gets better with repeated listening.