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October 16th 2020 sees the release of an expanded version of Tom Petty’s seminal album Wildflowers. Entitled Wildflowers & All The Rest, this release finally gathers together all 25 songs from the original recording sessions – the 15 songs from Wildflowers, plus All The Rest – the 10 songs that were left off the original release.
The deluxe editions of the CD and vinyl also adds the Home Recordings disc which includes 15 intimate demos of the songs recorded solo by Tom, plus Wildflowers Live – 14 songs played live by Tom and the Heartbreakers from 1995 to 2017.
During Tom Petty’s final interview with the Los Angeles Times, as the triumphant 40th anniversary tour with The Heartbreakers was coming to an end, he announced that his next big focus would be to finally revisit his 1994 masterpiece, Wildflowers, co-produced with Rick Rubin and Mike Campbell.
Wildflowers in many ways changed Tom’s creative life—as a recording artist, collaborator and band leader—while a profound, personal crisis transformed the stories and emotional thrust in his songs. Tom ultimately wrote more songs than he could release at the time. In fact, Tom, Rubin and Campbell completed the album as a double CD with 25 songs, nearly two hours of music, but his label advised restraint. Released on November 1, 1994, Wildflowers—a single CD with 15 songs, still more than an hour in length—was Tom’s most acutely confessional album to date.
The resurrection of Wildflowers has been a long time coming. In a 2014 interview with Rolling Stone Tom detailed his plans for the reissue, telling the magazine, “I broke through to something else. My personal life came crashing down, and it derailed me for a while. But I was at the top of my game during that record.” Then again in 2016 on SiriusXM’s Tom Petty Radio, he discussed his desire for a Wildflowers tour to coincide with a reissue. Tom had always intended to release the second half of the album—a collection he named All The Rest, featuring ten songs from the Wildflowers recording sessions that were left off the original version and five unreleased tracks (different versions of four other songs would appear on the soundtrack to the 1996 film, She’s The One).
Wildflowers & All The Rest, the long-awaited Wildflowers reissue and comprehensive collection, will be released on October 16 via Warner Records. Tom’s vision of the project is becoming a reality due to the commitment of his loving family, bandmates and collaborators who helped unearth many previously unheard gems. The compilation was curated by Tom’s daughters, Adria and Annakim Petty and his wife Dana Petty who call it, “Many, many hours of pure sonic joy,” as well as Heartbreakers Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench, and was produced by Tom’s longtime engineer and co-producer Ryan Ulyate. Together they stewarded the warmth Tom created through his music and relationship to his fans.
The significance of the ‘Wildflowers’ song was revealed in David Fricke’s essay written for the liner notes of the collection: “It would be some time before he understood the complexity of ‘Wildflowers.’ It was, he realized, ‘me singing about me.’”
Wildflowers & All The Rest will be released in multiple formats. Wildflowers & All The Rest—Deluxe Edition features 15 recordings made by Tom in his home studio as he was writing the album. These solo demos provide an intimate look at Tom’s songwriting process, where he plays all the instruments and revises lyrics as he works. The Deluxe Edition is rounded-off with 14 live performances of songs from Wildflowers, recorded on various tours from 1995 to 2017. Wildflowers & All The Rest—Super Deluxe is a Direct to Consumer Limited Edition set featuring Finding Wildflowers—16 studio recordings of alternate takes of Wildflowers songs as Tom, band members and Rubin honed-in on the final album.
The collection features incredibly special packaging across the various formats. The Super Deluxe Edition is the most complete; it includes an introduction penned by Rick Rubin, the aforementioned essay written by David Fricke—“Somewhere You Feel Free: Tom Petty’s Road to Wildflowers, ” lyrics to all the songs on Wildflowers And All The Rest, as well as an in-depth track-by-track by Jaan Uhelszki with contributions from Rubin, Ulyate, Wildflowers engineer Jim Scott, Heartbreakers live mixing engineer Robert Scovill, and Heartbreakers Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench and Steve Ferrone.
Adria Petty also oversaw the creative direction for the Wildflowers project, with original packaging illustrations by Blaze Ben Brooks, original cover beadwork by Maria Sarno, as well as Wildflowers-era photography by Mark Seliger, Robert Sebree and Martyn Atkins.
Tom Petty released 16 studio albums and over 180 songs over the course of his 40-year career. Wildflowers was the first album of a long-term renaissance. It was Petty’s fastest selling album and was certified Triple Platinum only nine months after its release. The album was always deeply significant to him. As proof, five of the 18 songs performed at his final live concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles came from the album. Wildflowers—his solo masterpiece, a personal triumph and the album Petty needed to make at that moment, at any cost—is finally here as he intended it and beyond.
LP Versions Tracks:
LP1 & LP2: Original Album
01 Wildflowers
02 You Don’t Know How It Feels
03 Time To Move On
04 You Wreck Me
05 It’s Good To Be King
06 Only A Broken Heart
07 Honey Bee
08 Don’t Fade On Me
09 Hard On Me
10 Cabin Down Below
11 To Find A Friend
12 A Higher Place
13 House In The Woods
14 Crawling Back To You
15 Wake Up Time
LP3: All The Rest
01 Something Could Happen
02 Leave Virginia Alone
03 Climb That Hill Blues
04 Confusion Wheel
05 California
06 Harry Green
07 Hope You Never
08 Somewhere Under Heaven
09 Climb That Hill
10 Hung Up And Overdue
LP4 & LP5: Home Recordings
01 There Goes Angela (Dream Away)
02 You Don’t Know How It Feels
03 California
04 A Feeling Of Peace
05 Leave Virginia Alone
06 Crawling Back To You
07 Don’t Fade On Me
08 Confusion Wheel
09 A Higher Place
10 There’s A Break In The Rain (Have Love Will Travel)
11 To Find A Friend
12 Only A Broken Heart
13 Wake Up Time
14 Hung Up And Overdue
15 Wildflowers
LP6 & LP7: Wildflowers Live
01 You Don’t Know How It Feels
02 Honey Bee
03 To Find A Friend
04 Walls
05 Crawling Back To You
06 Cabin Down Below
07 Drivin’ To Georgia
08 House In The Woods
09 Girl On LSD
10 Time To Move On
11 Wake Up Time
12 It’s Good To Be King
13 You Wreck Me
14 Wildflowers
CD Versions Tracks:
CD1: Original Album
01 Wildflowers
02 You Don’t Know How It Feels
03 Time To Move On
04 You Wreck Me
05 It’s Good To Be King
06 Only A Broken Heart
07 Honey Bee
08 Don’t Fade On Me
09 Hard On Me
10 Cabin Down Below
11 To Find A Friend
12 A Higher Place
13 House In The Woods
14 Crawling Back To You
15 Wake Up Time
CD2: All The Rest
01 Something Could Happen
02 Leave Virginia Alone
03 Climb That Hill Blues
04 Confusion Wheel
05 California
06 Harry Green
07 Hope You Never
08 Somewhere Under Heaven
09 Climb That Hill
10 Hung Up And Overdue
CD3: Home Recordings
01 There Goes Angela (Dream Away)
02 You Don’t Know How It Feels
03 California
04 A Feeling Of Peace
05 Leave Virginia Alone
06 Crawling Back To You
07 Don’t Fade On Me
08 Confusion Wheel
09 A Higher Place
10 There’s A Break In The Rain (Have Love Will Travel)
11 To Find A Friend
12 Only A Broken Heart
13 Wake Up Time
14 Hung Up And Overdue
15 Wildflowers
CD4: Wildflowers Live
01 You Don’t Know How It Feels
02 Honey Bee
03 To Find A Friend
04 Walls
05 Crawling Back To You
06 Cabin Down Below
07 Drivin’ To Georgia
08 House In The Woods
09 Girl On LSD
10 Time To Move On
11 Wake Up Time
12 It’s Good To Be King
13 You Wreck Me
14 Wildflowers
