Echo

The standout songs are "Free Girl Now", "Room at the Top", and "Echo", all of which are heartfelt and echo the feel of the early Heartbreakers sound with a good bit of Dylan thrown into "Echo". "Accused of Love" and "Won't Last Long" are lighter songs that are as melodic and catchy as anything Petty has ever done, with hooks, rhythms, and psychedelic touches reminiscent of 60's pop songs. "This One's For Me" has a bit of that same feel, but is less memorable. "Counting on You" is reminiscent of "Honeybee" and, like several tracks here, is up there with minor songs of the "Full Moon Fever"/"Great Wide Open"/"Wildflowers" era. "Lonesome Sundown" and "No More" are pretty, but nothing special. "Swingin'" is boring and repetitive, though not as boring as most of the "Last DJ" songs. "Billy the Kid" has the same flaws, and the "getting up again" theme was done better as "I Won't Back Down" long ago. These two songs might have been left off the CD along with "About to Give Out" and the downright embarrassing "Rhino Skin". I just didn't need lyrics about elephant balls, sorry. "One More Day" isn't a great song, but it closes the album nicely with its soulful chorus and the slow buildup to a searing climax of dueling lead guitars.

Based on the reviews here, there seem to be all sorts of Tom Petty fans who like different phases of his career. If it helps to figure out whether your tastes might be similar to mine, I like the first two CD's, think "Torpedoes" and "Hard Promises" were masterpieces, that "Long After Dark" began a decline that continued gradually through "Southern Accents" and "Let Me Up". Just when I was about to give up on the man, I got big smiles out of the Wilburys, "Full Moon Fever", and "Great Wide Open", which may have been overproduced and were usually more whimsical than passionate, but were so well-crafted. Since then, nothing has really stood out to me. "Wildflowers" was really nicely done but for some reason I hardly ever listened to it, I didn't buy the soundtrack album, and I find "The Last DJ" to be abysmal except for a few songs. "Echo" is currently my favorite Petty CD just because I overplayed "Full Moon Fever" and "Great Wide Open", have to be in a silly mood for Wilburys, and the old stuff is, well...old, even if it's better. But I do hit the skip button a lot on "Echo".

Overall, "Echo" isn't perfect, but there are a lot of pleasures to be found here, and a few great songs. Every 10 years, from "Damn the Torpedoes" to "Full Moon Fever" to "Echo", Tom Petty seems to pull out of a slump with something new and interesting. This one isn't his best, but it's a keeper.

1. Room at the Top - lyrically and musically, an incredible song. Not much else to say.
2. Counting on You - a weaker track, but still a really good song.
3. Free Girl Now - An inspirational rocker that made me think of women in a different way (i'm not joking)
4. Lonesome Sundown - A nice tune.
5. Swingin' - Epic song that inspires
6. Accused of Love - An infectious melody with a great chorus
7. Echo - One of Tom's best ballads
8. Won't Last Long - pretty standard good melody
9. Billy the Kid - Great song.
10. I Don't Wanna Fight - worst song on the CD. Why? probably because it was written by mike campbell. just really bad lyrics, although it gets easier to listen to over time
11. This One's for Me - another catchy song with a good chorus
12. No More - this one is really good and the title explains the feel of it
13. About to Give Out - one of the most country songs he has ever written. The verse is a little cheesy but the strings that are added onto the chorus make up for all of it.
14. Rhino Skin - I have seen a lot of people complain about this song. Well I didn't like it at first, but now it is one of my favorites. I has a very epic feel, especially when the voice harmonizing comes in.
15. One More Day, One More Night - a pretty good song, although the album probably could have ended better with a different one.

This album proves that Tom Petty can still write great material and the Last DJ was just a fluke of crap.