Tom Petty's many moments of brilliance

Modern classic: Tom Petty at Ventura Boulevard, San Fernando Valley, in
the 1989 video for Free Fallin'. The song mentioned many "Valley" locations

Tom Petty was one of the great modern singer songwriters of America. His output around the late 1980s and early 1990s was stunning, and it is this period that I most associate with his music.

Petty, 66, died in Santa Monica on Monday after a heart attack. Here are two personal vignettes relating to Petty and his music.

The catchy melodies and lyrics of his biggest hits, particularly the two I rate most highly, Learning to Fly and Free Fallin', were firmly etched in my mind by 1995 - the year I enrolled for a semester of study at a Los Angeles college in the San Fernando Valley.

The relevancy of that is Petty's own connection to "The Valley." For many years he lived in the neighbourhood of Encino, and some of his songs and videos show or reference places in the San Fernando Valley - the vast metropolitan sprawl that is separated from downtown Los Angeles by the Hollywood Hills.

On my twice daily route to college through the neighbourhood of Reseda, or anytime I travelled along Ventura Boulevard (which passed one block away from the college), I could not help but hear Free Fallin' playing my head. Reseda, Ventura Boulevard and nearby Mulholland are all mentioned in the song, which was only a few years old at that time. The song's lyrics created a degree of comforting familiarity with my immediate surroundings, even though I was 7,000 miles from home.

Watch for the UFO: Tom Petty in the classic video for Learning to Fly

Rewinding eight years to 1987, and an October evening just outside the city of Birmingham, England. I was at the National Exhibition Centre to see a sell-out concert at the immense indoor venue.

Of the three artists on the bill I was familiar with two; the headliner Bob Dylan and the opening act Roger McGuinn, the former lead singer and guitarist of The Byrds. Sandwiched between the two was a group I'd never heard of called Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. I was there to see Dylan. The fact that McGuinn was also on the bill was a bonus. And I figured if Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were touring with Dylan and had been given a higher billing than McGuinn, then they must be pretty good.

McGuinn was on form, although his short set barely allowed him time to play more than a few of the jangle pop hits that made The Byrds famous in the 1960s, one being a cover version of Dylan's Mr Tamborine Man. This contrasted with Dylan, who barely lit up the stage with his disconnected performance.

Which brings me to Petty. That evening I had no expectations and so the surprise turned out to be all the greater. He and his band gave a performance between McGuinn's set and Dylan's that turned out to be the most enjoyable of the night. The rock-pop songs soared with an energy that seemed to bounce off the walls. Petty was having the time of his life performing on the same stage as two of his musical idols, and he was doing all he could to share some of that zest and fun with everyone in the audience of 15,000 - and succeeding.

At the time, the songs I consider to be Petty's finest had yet to be recorded, but during the next few years he would release I Won't Back Down, featuring George Harrison and Ringo Starr (Starr was only in the the video), the aforementioned Learning to Fly and Free Fallin', and was a founding member of the supergroup The Traveling Wilburys, along with Dylan, Harrison, Roy Orbison and ELO's Jeff Lynne.

The Traveling Wilbury's two albums spawned hits such as Handle With Care and End of the Line. It is fitting that Petty became a founding member of that short-lived group filled with musical legends, because he came to the world of music first and foremost as a fan. Just before his eleventh birthday he shook hands with Elvis Presley, then two years later he watched the US television debut appearance of The Beatles, at which point he decided he wanted to pursue a career as a musician in a band. It wasn't until the late 1970s that Petty and the Heartbreakers secured a contract with a major record label, but they quickly rose to success and reached a creative pinnacle in the late 80s and early 90s.

Petty was on the cusp of his greatest success when I saw him in concert in 1987. In the years that immediately followed I watched out for his records, and that proved to be perfect timing to catch the richest treasures of his career. Many of his American rock-pop classics have endured for a quarter-century and will last much longer.

Farewell Mr Petty, and thank you for the music.

Below: The official videos for Free Fallin' and Learning to Fly.





Further reading: An interview with the girl from the Free Fallin' video (and what she is doing now), can be found on this blog

Lana Del Rey's 'Lust for Life'

Memorising songs: Lana Del Rey singing in the video for Love,
the opening track of her album Lust for Life

It is almost a decade since I last bought an album by an artist I'd never heard of before.

Towards the end of last month I purchased Lust for Life, by a singer whose name I had to double check.

I was sitting under a beach shade, interviewing an empath, when one of my ears tuned into the background music being played at the beach bar. I was focused on the interview, and what the empath had to say was fascinating - it resulted in an interesting article. But try as I might, the unusual song quietly playing in the background was also incessantly vying for a corner of my attention.

The tune was reminiscent of Radiohead's Creep, so much so that I thought it might be a cover version, yet the words were unfamiliar. There was a quality in the singing that drew me in. The song ended and I made a mental note to find out who it had been. After concluding my interview I strolled to the beach bar and asked about the track. The singer was Lana Del Rey - a name that meant nothing to me.

New music: Lana Del Rey on the cover of Lust for Life.

Living on an island and not being tuned into TV, radio or keeping up with many other cultural portals, I had to go and Google this mysterious (to me) singer. That's when I found out she was one of the most successful singers of the past five or six years.
Who knew? Everyone else, apparently.

The album playing at the beach was new and had only been released two weeks earlier. I found a video for the opening track on YouTube. Love was mesmorising, as was the video which had evident shades of M83's We Own the Sky. With my curiosity now further heightened, I bought Del Rey's Lust for Life.

With no previous exposure to her music I could only evaluate the album on what I found. I had no preconceived ideas; to me she was a new artist emerging from a void. The album is a refreshing and intriguing collection of songs and styles. The first three tracks, Love, Lust for Life, and 13 Beaches are standouts. The quality hardly slips, but as I got into the second half of the record the seam of gold broadened with ever more beautifully crafted and delivered songs, such as God Bless America - And All the Beautiful Women in It, Heroin, Change and Get Free (the song I heard at the beach).

Five of the tracks feature collaborations with the likes of Weeknd, A$AP Rocky, Playboi Carti, and Stevie Nicks. There is a mixture of styles and influences sprinkled in, particularly on the two tracks with A$AP Rocky. And then there is the timeless, poignant beauty of Tomorrow Never Came, a song co-written and performed with Sean Ono Lennon.

Del Rey's vocal delivery and lyricism is a refreshing break from usual. I'm thankful to have discovered Lust for Life. Someone remarked that empaths tune-in to the feelings and thoughts of the person they are speaking to. I'm not sure what the empath at the beach might have deduced as my attention was semi-diverted to the music drifting across the sand, but I suspect he might have wondered why he could sense so many musical notes dancing around my head.