» Into the Great Wide Open

Into the Great Wide Open Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: Tom, what happened?
Comment: Man this is a lame album. I don't know if TP gave up subtances or alcohol prior to writing the songs for this album but if he did he should go back on them. This is terrible. Lackluster, dull, uninspired and cheesy. TP's first couple albums he comes off as this wirey little prick who you'd better not mess with, and it showed. His music had attitude and cajones. But this stuff...man, it's like he morphed into my grandpa crossed with
Michael Bolton or Peter Cetera. Ish.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: A Great Wide Classic
Comment: This is one of those "classic" albums that really get overlooked. It's probably Petty and Co most consistantly good album. There's the "hits" of course that you know like Learning to Fly and Into the Great Wide Open (which featured Johnny Depp and Faye Dunaway in the video) but there are other equally great songs that never hit the airwaves like the upbeat emotions of King's Highway and You and I Will Meet Again, the "rockin" Makin' some Noise, Out in the Cold and Dark of the Sun and Tom's version of a love song, Built to Last. Even the seeming "throw away" songs like Two Gunslingers is lyrically interesting and fun. It's a CD that no "Petty" fan should be without.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: WHAT THE HECK is "In the dark of the sun" ??????
Comment: "IN THE DARK OF THE SUN ".......SAY WHAT ??? I don't get it. This is tom petty's worst song ever. I like the album, it's fun but that song is enough to drive me crazy. The title song is as well, ( in to the great wide open ), its good but once you herd it.....You herd it....AND thats fine ( NO REPEATED LISTENS ). But the rest of this album is pure magic, fun, and doesn't get old with age. This is a good album, Just 2 weak songs.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Free Fallin'
Comment: This was the album that should have come before Full Moon Fever. Perhaps if it had, "Into The Great Wide Open" might not have been so disappointing. Where Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne seemed to capture a Heartbreaker's sound stripped down on the hits like "I Won't Back Down" and "Running Down a Dream," on this album, The Heartbreakers seemed compressed and smothered in layers of pudding. It made "Great Wide Open" the first Heartbreakers album for me to fall below excellence.

Things open promisingly with the cool single "Learning to Fly" and one of Petty's early music industry diatribe in the title track (shades of The Last DJ!). "Kings Highway" is an example of a song that could have been perfect had it not been slathered in Lynne's excess. And in all honesty, some of these songs echo "Full Moon Fever" a tad to closely. "For All The Wrong Reasons" plagiarizes "Free Fallin'," while the Ben E. King influenced "Built To Last" sounds like it came from a Traveling Wilburys session.

The heartbreakers also don't rock out all that much here. Only "Out In The Cold" kicks up any real dust, with "Making Some Noise" being a bit stunted. "All Or Nothing" is also a song that captures Petty and The Heartbreakers at their easy-going best, along with the great verse

"Your Daddy was a Sgt Major,
you didn't want to, but he made you
wipe his brass from time to time."

Unfortunately, the majority of ITGWO sounds too typical, to average for it to rise not just above its predecessor, but above TP&THB's work to this point. It's fine for completists (like myself), but you could just as easily start with Damn the Torpedoes or their Anthology: Through the Years.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: An OK album
Comment: This is an OK album,but it wasn't a huge seller like Tom Petty's previous two projects,1988's THE TRAVELING WILBURYS VOL. 1 and 1989's FULL MOON FEVER. This album is Petty's last to be released on the vinyl LP,but on a limited quantity and limited area basis. This album spawned only one Top 10 hit,LEARNING TO FLY. The other songs are good.

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