During Petty’s final interview with the Los Angeles Times, as the 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.”
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).
Now 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 songs. 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.
“Wildflowers (Home Recording),” a solo demo version of the title track, premiered alongside a video featuring never before seen footage of Tom at his home, shot by Martyn Atkins during the recording of Wildflowers. The video was co-directed by Alan Bibby and Jonny Kofoed and produced by Assembly. Watch the video HERE.
The significance of the song is revealed in David Fricke’s essay written for the liner notes of the collection.
That track is available now with pre-order of the Deluxe Edition, in addition to the recently released songs “There Goes Angela (Dream Away) (Home Recording)” and “You Don’t Know How It Feels (Home Recording).”
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 found him playing all the instruments and revising lyrics as he worked.
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 special packaging across the various formats. The Super Deluxe Edition 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 a 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 Petty’s fastest selling album and certified Triple Platinum nine months after its release. Five of the 18 songs were performed at his final live concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles came from the album.
Wildflowers & All The Rest format details:
A 2-CD and 3-LP 140g set that features 25 tracks, with five unreleased songs. Includes lyrics to all the songs on Wildflowers and All The Rest.
Disc 1: Wildflowers (15 tracks, as per the 1994 released album)
Disc 2: All The Rest (10 tracks—five unreleased songs)
LP 1 and 2: Wildflowers
LP 3: All The Rest
Wildflowers & All The Rest—Deluxe Edition: A 4-CD and 7-LP 140g set that features 54 tracks, eight unreleased songs and 24 unreleased versions. The 4-CD includes the Rick Rubin introduction, track-by-track for all the songs included on these formats, while the 7-LP also includes the David Fricke essay and lyrics to all the songs on Wildflowers and All The Rest.
Disc 1: Wildflowers
Disc 2: All The Rest
Disc 3: Home Recordings/Demos (15 tracks—three unreleased songs; 12 unreleased versions)
Disc 4: Wildflowers Live (14 tracks—12 unreleased versions; two distributed to Fan Club only)
LP 1 and 2: Wildflowers LP 3: All The Rest
LP 4 and 5: Home Recordings/Demos
LP 6 and 7: Wildflowers Live
Wildflowers & All The Rest—Super Deluxe Edition: A 5-CD and 9-LP 180g Direct to Consumer, Limited Edition set that features 70 tracks, nine unreleased songs and 34 unreleased versions. Includes Rick Rubin introduction, David Fricke essay, track-by-track for all music and lyrics to all the songs on Wildflowers and All The Rest. This set also comes with a hardbound book, cloth patch of Wildflowers logo, sticker of Wildflowers logo, replica of “Dogs with Wings” tour program (the 1995 Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers tour), hand-written 4-song lyric reprints in vellum envelope, a litho of new and exclusive art by Blaze Ben Brooks for the song “Only A Broken Heart,” and a (numbered) Certificate of Authenticity.
Disc 1: Wildflowers
Disc 2: All The Rest
Disc 3: Home Recordings/Demos
Disc 4: Wildflowers Live
Disc 5: Alternate Takes (Finding Wildflowers) (16 tracks—one unreleased song;
ten unreleased versions)
LP 1 and 2: Wildflowers
LP 3: All The Rest
LP 4 and 5: Home Recordings/Demos
LP 6 and 7: Wildflowers Live
LP 8 and 9: Alternate Takes (Finding Wildflowers)
Disc 1: Wildflowers
Disc 2: All The Rest
Disc 3: Home Recordings/Demos
Disc 4: Wildflowers Live
Disc 5: Alternate Takes (Finding Wildflowers) (16 tracks—one unreleased song;
ten unreleased versions)
LP 1 and 2: Wildflowers
LP 3: All The Rest
LP 4 and 5: Home Recordings/Demos
LP 6 and 7: Wildflowers Live
LP 8 and 9: Alternate Takes (Finding Wildflowers)
Wildflowers & All The Rest—Ultra Deluxe Limited Edition: A 9-LP Direct to Consumer, Limited Edition set (only 475 copies will be sold). The package includes the same contents as the Super Deluxe Edition, as well as an exclusive unique unisex necklace—hand-made by Maria Sarno in a faux suede pouch, an exclusive lyric book with the illustrations by Blaze Ben Brooks, an exclusive 7” of “You Don’t Know How It Feels,” packaged in a custom fabric bag with a metal Wildflowers logo as the closure—designed and made by Los Angeles-based, Made Worn.
TOM PETTY—WILDFLOWERS & ALL THE REST
1). Wildflowers
1. Wildflowers
2. You Don’t Know How It Feels
3. Time to Move On
4. You Wreck Me
5. It’s Good to Be King
6. Only a Broken Heart
7. Honey Bee
8. Don’t Fade on Me
9. 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
2). All The Rest
1. Something Could Happen
2. Leaving Virginia Alone
3. Climb That Hill Blues
4. Confusion Wheel
5. California
6. Harry Green
7. Hope You Never
8. Somewhere Under Heaven
9. Climb That Hill
10. Hung Up and Overdue
3). Home Recordings
1. There Goes Angela (Dream Away)
2. You Don’t Know How It Feels
3. California
4. A Feeling of Peace
5. Leave Virginia Alone
6. Crawling Back to You
7. Don’t Fade on Me
8. Confusion Wheel
9. 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
4). Wildflowers Live
1. You Don’t Know How It Feels
2. Honey Bee
3. To Find a Friend
4. Walls
5. Crawling Back to You
6. Cabin Down Below
7. Drivin’ Down to Georgia
8. House in the Woods
9. Girls on LSD
10. Time to Move On
11. Wake Up Time
12. It’s Good to Be King
13. You Wreck Me
14. Wildflowers
1. Wildflowers
2. You Don’t Know How It Feels
3. Time to Move On
4. You Wreck Me
5. It’s Good to Be King
6. Only a Broken Heart
7. Honey Bee
8. Don’t Fade on Me
9. 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
2). All The Rest
1. Something Could Happen
2. Leaving Virginia Alone
3. Climb That Hill Blues
4. Confusion Wheel
5. California
6. Harry Green
7. Hope You Never
8. Somewhere Under Heaven
9. Climb That Hill
10. Hung Up and Overdue
3). Home Recordings
1. There Goes Angela (Dream Away)
2. You Don’t Know How It Feels
3. California
4. A Feeling of Peace
5. Leave Virginia Alone
6. Crawling Back to You
7. Don’t Fade on Me
8. Confusion Wheel
9. 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
4). Wildflowers Live
1. You Don’t Know How It Feels
2. Honey Bee
3. To Find a Friend
4. Walls
5. Crawling Back to You
6. Cabin Down Below
7. Drivin’ Down to Georgia
8. House in the Woods
9. Girls on LSD
10. Time to Move On
11. Wake Up Time
12. It’s Good to Be King
13. You Wreck Me
14. Wildflowers
5). Alternate Versions (Finding Wildflowers)
*Note: only available on 9-LP and 5-CD formats*
1. A Higher Place
2. Hard on Me
3. Cabin Down Below
4. Crawling Back to You
5. Only a Broken Heart
6. Drivin’ Down to Georgia
7. You Wreck Me
8. It’s Good to Be King
9. House in the Woods
10. Honey Bee
11. Girl on LSD
12. Cabin Down Below (Acoustic Version)
13. Wildflowers
14. Don’t Fade on Me
15. Wake Up Time
16. You Saw Me Comin’
*Note: only available on 9-LP and 5-CD formats*
1. A Higher Place
2. Hard on Me
3. Cabin Down Below
4. Crawling Back to You
5. Only a Broken Heart
6. Drivin’ Down to Georgia
7. You Wreck Me
8. It’s Good to Be King
9. House in the Woods
10. Honey Bee
11. Girl on LSD
12. Cabin Down Below (Acoustic Version)
13. Wildflowers
14. Don’t Fade on Me
15. Wake Up Time
16. You Saw Me Comin’
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