Tom Petty

Petty's navigation through the sea of '80s cheese is charted on Southern Accents, a record holding hits like "Rebels" and "Don't Come Around Here No More." Certainly, the weepy synths, stabbing horns and psyche-soaked vocals break from the Heartbreakers' typical guitar rock. But there's plenty of ambition in the record's theme -- an exploration of the modern South that, in its quiet moments, seems an homage to Neil Young. If the production hasn't aged perfectly, at least the conflicted narratives are redemptive.

"There's a southern accent, where I come from/The young 'uns call it country/The
Yankees call it dumb," sings Tom Petty on the title track of his long-awaited Southern
Accents. The Gainesville, Florida, native knows all about stereotypes. You know, slow
talking equals slow thinking, good rocking equals no thinking. This, his sixth album, is a
fierce defense of his Southern roots and an ambitious fight for his creative hono... More >

Petty's problem isn't that he's dumb, or even that people think he's dumb, although they have reason to. It's that he feels so sorry for himself he can't think straight. Defending the South made sense back when Ronnie Van Zant was writing "Sweet Home Alabama," but in the Sun Belt era it's just pique. The modernizations of sometime coproducer Dave Stewart mitigate the neoconservative aura somewhat, but unmitigating it right back is Petty's singing, its descent from stylization into affectation most painful on side one's concept songs. Side two is less consequential, and better. Note, however, that its show-stopper is "Spike," in which a bunch of rednecks, I mean good old boys, prepare to whup a punk. It's satire. Yeah sure. (Grade - B-)