 "Photo: Peter Franklin")
Tom Petty is not your average rocker, as the new four-disc box set "Runnin' Down a Dream" fully communicates. In so many ways, Petty is a lasting pillar of rock and roll. The first two discs are biographical information on Petty, the third disc is a 30th anniversary show of Petty with his loyal Heartbreakers in Gainesville, Fla., and disc four contains audio bonus tracks.
To start, I walked away from the doc feeling like I knew the guy. Discs one and two, each two hours long, contain abundant information. Like most biographical documentaries, the esteemed Peter Bogdanovich, whose 1970 documentary about the life of Irish director John Ford is considered a classic, took a steady chronological approach to Petty's life from his childhood in Gainesville to his trek to Los Angeles with demos in hand in search of a record label. Each part is divided according to new eras in Petty's life and laced with respective footage of his performances, adding raw feeling and completing the commentary.
As with "Directed By John Ford," Bogdanovich incorporates interviews into the documentary with major personalities who have worked with Petty - in this case, Jeff Lynne, George Harrison, Dave Grohl, Eddie Vedder and not excluding Johnny Depp, who played the "rebel" in Petty's music video for "Into the Great Wide Open."
As a result of Bogdanovich's righteous choices of concert footage speckled throughout the documentary, one's emotions are heightened in the best possible way. Vedder's 2006 guest performance with Petty performing "The Waiting" is incredible as the Pearl Jammer energetically sings the melody while Petty enthusiastically backs him up with guitar. Footage from Bob Dylan's 1986 True Confessions Tour is just as invigorating. Petty's explosive yet tuneful harmonies, in conjunction with Dylan's raspy, soulful tenor in "Like a Rolling Stone," are capable of peeling paint from the walls. Home tapes from the Traveling Wilburys days, too, are just as exciting. We see Roy Orbison along with the likes of Harrison, Lynne, Dylan and Petty sitting on couches or at breakfast tables with guitars in hand or pads with pencils.
The most important element of the DVD is our discovery of Petty's cooler-than-cool character. Bogdanovich has included legions of interviews with Petty from his youth to present day. What is amazing is how consistent Petty is in his beliefs. His strong will rewarded him with success as a musician but kept him true to what is right within the corporate, dehumanizing realm of the music business. He refused to back down to MCA authorities whose blatantly corrupted terms led the singer to file a lawsuit with them. "I'll sell f-ing peanuts before I'll give into you," the steady musician eloquently stated to an overpowering MCA associate. Needless to say, Petty won.
His mentality is the epitome of rock and roll. Petty is honest, passionate, creative and immovable. One can only admire how the singer begins his phrases when addressing his mistakes with "I should have" rather than "they made me."
Despite the fact that some of the information is unclear, "Runnin' Down a Dream" is an excellent representation of Petty's musical journey and genius. The information is complete, the footage is electric and the music is stellar. A celebration of 30 years of greatness, this four-disc box set of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers is definitely worth investing in.
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