Don Henley and the album ‘Building the Perfect Beast’

Following a successful career as part of the band Eagles, Don Henley of Gilmer, Texas achieved success with work under his own name. The second album released in this way was Building the Perfect Beast, which was released in the third week of November, 1984.

(Shown is the album cover for Don Henley‘s second solo album Building the Perfect Beast).

The Boys of Summer opens Building the Perfect Beast with lyrics by Don Henley and music composed by Mike Campbell of Panama City, Florida and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. The song is a look back at what was had with a past relationship and wanting those feelings and experiences back again. Evoking a feeling of summer at a beach offers a pleasant sense of nostalgia for me.

(The Boys of Summer was the first single released from the Don Henley album Building the Perfect Beast on October 26th, 1984).

You Can’t Make Love offers a rather grim look into the physical and emotional limitations that keep the singer from a full expression of love. I sense Henley saying that engaging many of the heartfelt parts of love will offer simply the illusion of love without granting the intimacy that offers true emotional connection. Henley wrote this song with Danny Kortchmar of Larchmont, New York.

Man With a Mission offers a country dance floor sensibility to suggesting that is singular focus is on emotionally connecting with someone he wishes to know romantically. J.D. Souther of Detroit, Michigan joined Kortchmar and Henley writing this song.

You’re Not Drinking Enough went full country lament for the sadness of a love lost. The song focuses on the hurt of loving another, with advice to drink more as a coping mechanism against the pain. With writing credits for Danny Kortchmar here, this song was most popularly covered by Earl Thomas Conley of Portsmouth, Ohio, with another cover by Alan Jackson of Newnan, Georgia here.

(Supporting the Building the Perfect Beast album, Don Henley‘s Not Enough Love in the World was released as a single in 1985 and hit #34 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart).

Not Enough Love in the World lands with a soft rock sound with writing credits for Benmont Tench of Gainesville, Florida, Henley and Kortchmar. The song deals with another rocky relationship wherein the singer indicates he remains in love. As indicated here, the relationship sung about might be one between Henley and Stevie Nicks of Phoenix, Arizona.

Don Henley’s second studio album gains its title from the song Building the Perfect Beast. In what feels like a reference to the beast that couldn’t be killed in the song Hotel California by Eagles, this song offers a sarcastic look at the psychological torment that losing in love does in turning a man all around. That the distance traveled to building that beast is our own doing is a cruel feeling indeed.

All She Wants to Do Is Dance present writing credits for Danny Kortchmar. The song, as indicated by SongFacts here, “draws on classic literature for song inspiration.” The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald of St. Paul, Minnesota and The Ugly American by Eugene Burdick of Sheldon, Iowa and William Lederer of New York City, New York are those classics. The song itself is among Henley‘s more successful in his solo career in part due to the pop groove of the sound.

(All She Wants to Do Is Dance was released as the 2nd single from Don Henley‘s Building the Perfect Beast album. The song peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart).

Written by Don Henley alone, A Month of Sundays offers a sentimental ballad of a lifestyle lost and looked upon in retrospect. Looking back as a grandfather who built things with pride, the song is sadness, lament and acknowledgment that the current world is no longer the one he knew.

Sunset Grill offers the writing collaboration of Henley, Kortchmar and Tench once again. As captured here, the “Sunset Grill is a real place and a favorite spot for Henley. Located on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, it’s a place where Henley could see how everyday people interact, which isn’t always easy to do when you’re a celebrity in LA.” Further, the Sunset Grill was used as “a metaphor for what he liked, what he thought was great about society. And then he also used it to describe what he didn’t like, which is plenty.”

(Sunset Grill was released as the fourth single from Don Henley‘s Building the Perfect Beast album).

Drivin’ With Your Eyes Closed brings a perspective of the elevation of women in the eyes of men in romantic relationships. Stan Lynch of Gainesville, Florida and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers joins Henley and Kortchmar with writing credits, wherein Henley‘s lyrics point out that improperly appreciating women in romance is bound to end badly.

Land of the Living is the concluding song to Building the Perfect Beast, granting Henley and Kortchmar their final collaboration for this album. The messaging gets into an uplifting feel as an album sendoff. Lyrically the song is a call to slow down and metaphorically smell the roses with the one you’re with. The song does provide the light touch in bringing me home with satisfaction and lightness of spirit.

Additional musicians contributing to Building the Perfect Beast included Steve Porcaro of Hartford, Connecticut, David Paich of Los Angeles, California, Michael Boddicker of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Albhy Galuten of Hartsdale, New York, Randy Newman of Los Angeles, California, Bill Cuomo, Lindsey Buckingham of Palo Alto, California, Charlie Sexton of San Antonio, Texas, Larry Klein of California, Pino Palladino of Cardiff, Wales, Tim Drummond of Bloomington, Illinois, Ian Wallace of Los Angeles, California, Kevin McCormick, Jim Keltner of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Maren Jensen of Arcadia, California, Jerry Hey of Dixon, Illinois, Belinda Carlisle of Hollywood, California, Sam Moore of Miami, Florida, Martha Davis of Berkley, California, Michael O’Donahue, Carla Olson of Austin, Texas, Patty Smyth of New York City, New York, Waddy Wachtel of New York City, New York, Marie Pascale Elfman and Dominique Mancinelli.

Matt – Saturday, November 19, 2022

Tom Petty and the album ‘Highway Companion’

Tom Petty‘s solo album, Highway Companion, was released on Tuesday, July 25th, 2006. The style offers a wide-ranging set of music that proves a solid album that makes for nice companionship during an extended drive. Let not the somewhat darker tone, by the standards of Tom Petty music, dissuade you from a good, hard listen.

(The album cover for Highway Companion by Tom Petty features an apparent astronaut beside what I take to be a rhesus monkey, which in fact was the first primate launched into space by the United States).

Saving Grace opens Highway Companion with a hard-hitting approach on a run for finding peace of mind. The notion of being alone and trying to decide who you are girds the message of the lyrics. The southern rock influence on this song is strong.

(Saving Grace was released as the first radio single from the Tom Petty solo album, Highway Companion. The song was released on iTunes in the United States and physically in the United Kingdom).

Square One takes a slower, controlled pace to confronting a feeling of turmoil that needed dealt with. The feeling I get is there was relationship reflection that needed resolving, though the pain that needed conscience clearing need not be in the world of love to make this song meaningful of its own accord and in the heartland rock genre.

Flirting with Time keeps with the theme of travel metaphorically can guide you to your relationship feelings of continued romantic tidings or moving on. The resolution for Petty is that the lady he can love needs to commit to the effort to keep her suitor, Petty, from moving on.

(Tom Petty of Gainesville, Florida, shown here in 2006, would most certainly have been playing music in support of Highway Companion).

If the notion of a country song met a western and a song for the road, Down South lays this out precisely and deliberately. The organ accompaniment I here within this song giving way to exquisite guitar play brings me sincere happiness.

Jack uplifts the listener again, transitioning in sound between determined and deliberate. Lyrically, this song is about a guy whose girlfriend has moved on from him, yet he is determined to get her back in the face of people telling him that the notion is futile.

(Mike Campbell of Panama City, Florida played on Highway Companion as well as with music made as part of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers).

Turn This Car Around offers insight into an impossible wrong situation for Tom Petty in the world of love. A need, a desperation, or something in-between sees the singer put his shame in his hat to apologize and make the next romantic play for the girl of his fancy.

Big Weekend was the B-side to the Saving Grace single that opened the Highway Companion album. The song leans as strongly country music in sounds as any on the album, lyrically getting into the hitting the bars with friends for a weekend.

Night Driver delves deeply into new instrumentation, showing some of what I take to be Jeff Lynne‘s production influence. Lyrically, the notion of physical intimacy is rejected for lack of emotional intimacy. The message I hear feels like the mirror image of Turn This Car Around, which invokes a clear history that really drew Tom Petty and those listening in.

(Jeff Lynn of Birmingham, England, United Kingdom played on Highway Companion. In addition to playing with Petty in The Traveling Wilburys, Lynn played a leading role as a member of Electric Light Orchestra).

Damaged by Love is a clear statement of a woman hurt in love that has grown numb to the risks and rewards of the gentler emotion. There’s a downcast feeling to the lyrics and the sound, ultimately lending itself to a short solo to express disappointment and sorrow.

The travel companionship of Highway Companion returns with Ankle Deep, pointing to a truly shallow, hollowed out feeling that passes for love. The song extends the sense of damage in love of Damaged by Love, this time offering the ghastly feeling of wading through a collective disappointment and sorrow.

The Golden Rose closes with both the most interesting and the most downtrodden opening of any song on Highway Companion. The song offers a sadness outside love, and despair over lacking a once-known love as well. The song evokes personal blues as outside the many directions I’ve heard blues take. The song is classic Tom Petty meets a personal darkness.

Matt – Monday, July 25, 2022

Tom Petty and the album ‘Wildflowers’

Tom Petty was a guitarist springing onto the new wave rock scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Born in Gainesville, Florida and coming to prominence with the band Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, this album was written in a style intended and allowing for listening from beginning to end. There’s hits here, nonetheless. Join me for a ride and a listen to the 1994 album Wildflowers, which was billed as a solo album for Petty without the backing of the Heartbreakers.

(The album cover for Wildflowers by Tom Petty).

The song Wildflowers leads this 15-song album with a simple and folksy, almost country sound to it. In an interview for Performing Songwriter from 2014, Petty said of the writing process that he “just took a deep breath and it came out. The whole song. Stream of consciousness: words, music, chords. Finished it.” Playing the song in one take speaks wonders to the simplicity and charm of it.

You Don’t Know How It Feels follows the song Wildflowers on the album Wildflowers as a song clearly about getting into drugs. In fact, the song was a bit controversial, but less so than the B-side from the single for You Don’t Know How It Feels. The song Girl on LSD was intended for the album, though never landed there.

(Tom Petty in the video You Don’t Know How It Feels, which is a part of the Wildflowers album).

Time To Move On provides a none too subtle message of moving past the drugs and getting on with adulthood. The song gives a hat-in-hand message of seeking forgiveness and facing the uncertainties ahead.

The second single released from Wildflowers was You Wreck Me, aiming for a more pronounced rock beat with a positive feeling. Offering the sentiment of getting euphemistically wrecked (rather than rocked) by a love interest, perhaps asking his girl to “just play dumb to whatever you know” can be forgiven with the thought of Tom being “the boy in corduroy pants; you’ll be the girl at the high school dance.” That’s a shy high school kid’s dream thought if I ever heard one.

It’s Good To Be King, a song described by Matthew Greenwald as dealing “with the phenomenon of rock & roll stardom,” calls out the Mel Brooks film History of the World, Part I (1981). Greenwald goes on to add that Petty said “This [rock & roll] life is great, …yet it’s not the only thing in my reality. An elegant, folk-rock-ish melody frames the song.”

(A single of It’s Good To Be King on vinyl from the Wildflowers album by Tom Petty).

The song Only A Broken Heart gets a bit more downtrodden and angsty, yet filled with determination for landing romance again once able to overcome the pain and fear of separating from the initial love.

Honey Bee revs up the music a sense of driving desire that is more rock & roll than country. The feeling of erotic feelings echoes You Wreck Me with less of a pop feeling and more of a cheating feel here.

(An image of Tom Petty from a Rolling Stone magazine article on Wildflowers from November 2019).

Don’t Fade On Me offers another feeling of sadness akin to that offered as consolation with Only A Broken Heart. In Don’t Fade on Me, the melody drives feeling like a blues song. The lyrics drive less toward strict consolation than toward probing towards clarity by asking questions geared at landing on meaning.

Hard On Me rebukes the questions asked in Don’t Fade On Me, at least in my interpretation. Petty almost steps back and points a finger of blame.

A country pop feeling of friskiness hits the listener with the song Cabin Down Below. The lyrics and rockabilly feel of this song are a straight up ask for time away with his lady and the narrator.

(A compact disc single of Cabin Down Below from the Wildflowers album by Tom Petty).

To Find A Friend plays as a straight up middle aged man that left his wife, committed adultery, and suffered from bad decisions. Reacting in kind, the wife lost a similar sense of lost self-respect and alienation among friends.

In a song that feels like a reaction to To Find A Friend, A Higher Place feels like a metaphorical call for redemption after seeing the reality of adultery. The song has the feel of a highway song of two folks who found a soul needing that next step, and looking to rationalize this as a call to love the one your with out of the clear and present need among both parties.

House In The Woods is another driving blues song of desire expressing intense love and desire from man to woman. The song Where Did you Sleep Last Night by Huddie William Ledbetter (Leadbelly) comes to mind.

Crawling Back To You might simply be the truest, most painful beautiful song on Wildflowers. Two people at cross purposes with each other find something they need to see in themselves through the eyes of another. The truth comes with these lines that resonate like little else:

“I’m so tired of being tired / Sure as night will follow day / Most things I worry about / Never happen anyway.”

Closing the album is the call to action, bringing things to a head. Wake Up Time is an idealist’s call to admit that walking this life alone is no way to live a life. The cost of feelings is a cold truth, and the risk of love takes the bravery of getting hurt. Admit it; show your vulnerability; with love you will shine.

I completely love the album Wildflowers. Thanks for coming along on this ride and sticking it through with me until the end.

Matt – Wednesday, January 29, 2020