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48 illinoisentertainer.com december 2018
ishing richness of its traditions while cele-
brating their waning light. Although lack-
ing a standout chart hit, VGPS today
works magically as a whole piece. The
album comprises durable melodies like
the one for the nostalgic jangle-pop of
“Picture Book,” and wry but heartfelt
lyrics on “Animal Farm” and the music-
hall bounce of “People Take Pictures of
Each Other.” “People take pictures of the
summer, just in case someone thought
they had missed it,” begins Ray Davies,
before describing how some of those cap-
tured moments carry the pain of what
used to be. Tracks, including “Last of the
Steam-Powered Trains” document the
sharp interplay of the original Kinks line-
up with bassist Pete Quaife on a full album
for the final time. Session man Nicky
Hopkins enriches the auburn hue of
“Village Green” with perfectly quaint
harpsichord, as camera-toting American
tourists trample the countryside saying,
“gawd darn it, isn’t it a pretty scene?” The
album’s best-known track is its title cut,
naming an increasingly ludicrous string of
activist groups bent upon saving cultural
treasures from gentrification and dilution.
“Big Sky” imagines the Almighty as being
occupied by bigger, cosmic concerns apart
from the mundane, everyday lives of
humanity. Guitarist Dave Davies’ “Wicked
Annabella” is wicked fun, spinning a grim
fairy tale about a witch bent upon captur-
ing children who refuse to settle down to
sleep at night. Heavyweight vinyl platters
capture new remasters of the original 15-
track album’s stereo and mono releases,
while an additional LP features the 12-
track Swedish album’s variant selection
including “Mr. Songbird” and the Kinks
classic “Days.” Five CDs have been
expanded with bonus tracks, alternate ver-
sions, BBC performances, demos and the
previously unreleased “Time Song.” How
the wistful and lilting waltz of “Time
Song” managed to remain under wraps for
50 years is a genuine mystery, as one can
easily imagine hearing it among past col-
lections of the band’s gems from their 30+
years together. The box is packed with
other trinkets including a replica concert
ticket, posters, glossy photos, and sheet
music for “Days.” A 52-page hardback
book includes an essay with quotes by
Ray, Dave, and founding drummer Mick
Avory, alongside essays by knowledgeable
fans including Pete Townshend of The
Who. The VGPS 50th Anniversary Super
Deluxe Box is a lavish vehicle offering fans
transport to a simpler time, which was
itself spent eulogizing a simpler time pre-
ceding it.
– Jeff Elbel
10
TOM PETTY
An American Treasure
(Reprise)
When Tom Petty passed away in
October 2017, he and his trusty band of
Heartbreakers had just completed a sold-
out 40th-anniversary tour. Petty’s prior
albums including 2014’s Hypnotic Eye with
the Heartbreakers and 2 with Mudcrutch
had also given evidence of an adventur-
ous, intuitive and still-vibrant artist. The
future was promising, and fans were eager
to hear whatever came next. Although
there will never be another freshly-written
Tom Petty song, An American Treasure pro-
vides an apt testament to the
Heartbreakers’ career via the band’s back
roads. These 63 songs collect previously
unreleased material, live tracks, alternate
takes, and deep album cuts. The set is
arranged chronologically, beginning with
1976 debut album outtake “Surrender”
and concluding with a 2016 live perform-
ance of “Hungry No More” from Petty’s
final studio album (the previously-men-
tioned Mudcrutch's 2). Across the arc,
Petty’s touch is never heavy-handed, yet
his growth and finesse are evident. Even
songs that missed their shots as album
tracks exude the qualities that made Petty
the songwriter and the Heartbreakers as a
band beloved by roots rockers, blues
hounds, jangle popsters, British Invasion
enthusiasts, country music diehards, R&B
fans and garage rockers alike. Benmont
Tench’s piano sparkles while his
Hammond organ shimmers throughout
“Keep a Little Soul,” an outtake from
1982’s Long After Dark that is propelled by
a restless but optimistic “Mustang Sally”
Motown beat. One of Petty’s superpowers
was his ability to deliver simple state-
ments as universally-relatable truths and
axioms, and this song’s lyric features a
guileless, populist mantra in the line
“Don’t be afraid to live what you believe.”
The song may have stretched the length of
one of Long After Dark’s meticulously-craft-
ed vinyl sides past Petty’s tolerance for
audio quality, but otherwise would have
made a welcome addition that could have
been a fan favorite. “That was fun,” says
Petty into the talkback microphone as the
final notes fade. An alternative version of
“Rebels” from 1985’s Southern Accents fea-
tures a handful of different searing licks
from guitarist Mike Campbell. The song’s
development is revealed by the straight-
forward charge of the first verse in place of
the album’s restrained tension, and more
emphasis on the clarion call of its stately
trumpet solo. Studio album inclusions
highlight
overlooked
tracks
like
Wildflowers’
weary
but
emotive
“Crawling Back to You.” Written during a
personally trying period Petty’s lyric is
alternately resigned and consoling. “Most
things I worry about never happen any-
way,” he sings. Any of these tracks -
“Crawling Back to You,” the Full Moon
Fever lullaby “Alright for Now,” or
Hypnotic Eye’s howling “Fault Lines” -
might have been another artist’s greatest
hit. The durability of Petty’s songwriting is