The Last DJ Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

• 1 The Last DJ 03:48
• 2 Money Becomes King 05:10
• 3 Dreamville 03:47
• 4 Joe 03:16
• 5 When A Kid Goes Bad 04:57
• 6 Like A Diamond 04:33
• 7 Lost Children 04:28
• 8 Blue Sunday 02:56
• 9 You And Me 03:11
• 10 The Man Who Loves Women 02:54
• 11 Have Love, Will Travel 04:06
• 12 Can't Stop The Sun 05:00
• Total Runtime 48:06

Info for The Last DJ

The Last DJ is a bit of a concept record, with the first four tracks (“The Last DJ”, “Money Becomes King”, “Dreamville”, and “Joe”) being direct shots fired squarely at the music business in general. Take a little trip back in time to the early 2000s, and what stands out about mainstream popular music? Most of it seemed to come from manufactured pop groups (Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Britney Spears). These were the acts that Tom Petty was writing about. While he had built his legacy on writing his own songs and playing his own instruments, he is none too easy on the eyes. Even his vocals are far from perfect, musically speaking, but who can tell a story better than Tom Petty? He’s in the same company as Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan when it comes to painting a vivid picture. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, collectively, are the anti-popstars. Simon Cowell would have laughed them off his stage, and that’s exactly why music needs Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

A vivid picture is exactly what The Last DJ is. “Dreamville” paints a picture of the days of yesteryear, when life’s pleasures were simpler. “The Last DJ” tells the tale of a renegade DJ who refused to bend to the corporate machine, instead playing songs that he deemed worthy of being pressed upon the public instead of leaving the decision to corporate finance managers – in essence, a refusal to appeal to the lowest common denominator. “Money Becomes King” is a heartbreaking story of a hero who has fallen from his lofty pedestal. “Blue Sunday” explores how quickly people can enter, and then exit, one’s life. What all these songs have in common is that they trigger responses in the listener – one cannot help but nod in agreement and immediately have a thought of a similar life experience.

The one weak point in the album – “The Man who Loves Women” – is harmless enough. The rest of this album, from the opening riff of “The Last DJ” to the closing notes of “Can’t Stop the Sun”, are as amazing of a musical journey as one could expect to take. (Steve Shreve, www.unappreciatedscholars.com)

Tom Petty, guitars, vocals, piano, ukulele, bass
Mike Campbell, guitars, bass
Benmont Tench, piano, organ, various keyboards
Scott Thurston, guitar, lap steel guitar, ukulele, background vocals
Ron Blair, bass (on 'Lost Children' and 'Can't Stop The Sun“)
Steve Ferrone, drums
Lenny Castro, percussion
Lindsey Buckingham, background vocals (on 'The Man Who Loves Women“)
Jon Brion, orchestral arrangements and conducting

Recorded 2001–02 at Cello Studios, Hollywood, California
Engineered by Jim Scott, Richard Dodd
Produced by Tom Petty, Mike Campbell, George Drakoulias

Digitally remastered

No biography found.

This album contains no booklet.