Music Review : Runnin' Down A Dream

Tom Petty always had an element about him of being the luckiest man alive. His music (which I've always enjoyed) never seemed to be remotely cutting edge, but was based on the old fashioned values of good playing and good songs. Which is more than fine, but there are other artists that you can say the same about - but they never got to play with Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, George Harrison, Roy Orbison amongst others. The converse, of course, is that these guys ain't mugs and wouldn't be consorting with Mr Petty unless they had a pretty high impression of him.

An entirely seperate question would be if the career of Mr Petty was worth a four hour documentary. Runnin' Down A Dream is just such a beast directed by Peter Bogdanovich (still best know for the classic The Last Picture Show and for being by far the worst actor in the Sopranos!!) albeit that it's split over two discs allowing a comfort break in between.

Four hours on anyone sounds like more of a threat than a promise but it has to be said that having sat through it tonight that it makes more than a fair stab at painting Tom as a pretty crucial figure of the past thirty years. It would probably be fair to say that he's more important to Americans than he might be those of us in Europe (although he's unquestionably a major player in these parts as well) but the documentary tells the tales well through interviews (current and past) alongside loads of vintage footage. I think the best compliment it can be paid is that it held my attention for the duration.

Does it change my view of Petty? Yes, I think it does. He's never been greatly innovative as a songwriter or a performer but the quality of his songwriting has stayed at a consistently high level for the full length of his career. He's also taken some pretty significant stands against the music industry along the way and it's clear that his integrity is important. There's also a terrific piece of footage from the sessions for Roger McGuinn's album Back From Rio where Petty lays into the producers who are trying to get McGuinn to record what Petty feels is a substandard song for someone of his stature to be recording. McGuinn acknowledged that he was being submissive and would have gone along with the request without Petty's intervention; and that Tom was absolutely right in doing what he did. Needless to say, the song in question never appeared. And the continual piling up of songs that you recognise and enjoy begins to make its own very persuasive case.

As with all these things, if you don't like Petty there's probably little in the documentary to change your mind but for commited fans or those like me who have enjoyed his work it might be a worthwhile investment.

In addition to the show, the DVD set also comes with a complete concert recorded in Tom's hometown of Gainesville which celebrated the 30th anniversary of the band, as well as a CD with a selection of complete songs from otherwise unreleased performances that are used in the film. I got this online for about £22 so it's very good value package.