SOUTHERN ACCENTS - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

YEAR: 1985

LABEL: MCA

TRACK LISTING: Rebels, It Ain't Nothin' To Me, Don't Come Around Here No More, Southern Accents, Make It Better (Forget About Me), Spike, Dogs On the Run, Mary's New Car, The Best of Everything

IMPRESSIONS: My favourite Tom Petty album (not that I have that many of them in my collection to choose from -- I only have 3 not counting greatest hits and live stuff). This is the album where Petty famously broke his hand by punching a wall in frustration because he couldn't get the sound he was looking for on "Rebels"; he required hand surgery and pins to put his hand back together.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: Rebels, It Ain't Nothin' To Me, Don't Come Around Here No More, Southern Accents, Make It Better (Forget About Me), Spike, The Best of Everything

GUEST ARTISTS: Garth Hudson (keyboards), Jim Keltner (percussion), Richard Manuel (vocals), Jack Nitzsche (strings, string arrangements), Jimmy Iovine (producer), Robbie Robertson (producer), Dave Stewart (bass, guitar, keyboards, sitar, vocals, producer)

FACT SHEET: SOUTHERN ACCENTS is Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' sixth album. The cover painting is by Winslow Homer. The album took three years to make and was originally meant to be a concept album about southern attitudes and identity; however only the songs "Rebels", "Southern Accents" and "Spike" deal with that theme. Album closer "The Best of Everything" was not only produced by "The Band's" Robbie Robertson but also features Garth Hudson and Richard Manuel; the track is one of the last recordings made by Manuel before his suicide in 1986.