Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Breakdown
2. American Girl
3. Hometown Blues
4. Anything That's Rock & Roll
5. I Need to Know
6. Listen to Her Heart
7. When the Time Comes
8. Too Much Ain't Enough
9. No Second Thoughts
10. Baby's a Rock & Roller
11. Refugee
12. Here Comes My Girl
13. Even the Losers
14. Shadow of a Doubt (A Complex Kid)
15. Don't Do Me Like That
16. Waiting
17. Woman in Love (It's Not Me)
18. Something Big
19. Thing About You
20. Insider
21. You Can Still Change Your Mind

Disc 2:

1. You Got Lucky
2. Change of Heart
3. Straight into Darkness
4. Same Old You
5. Rebels
6. Don't Come Around Here No More
7. Southern Accents
8. Make It Better (Forget About Me)
9. Best of Everything
10. So You Want to Be a Rock & Roll Star
11. Don't Bring Me Down
12. Jammin' Me
13. It'll All Work Out
14. Mike's Life/Mike's World
15. Think About Me
16. Self-Made Man

Disc 3:

1. Free Fallin'
2. I Won't Back Down
3. Love Is a Long Road
4. Runnin' Down a Dream
5. Yer So Bad
6. Alright for Now
7. Learning to Fly
8. Into the Great Wide Open
9. All or Nothin'
10. Out in the Cold
11. Built to Last
12. Mary Jane's Last Dance
13. Christmas All over Again

Disc 4:

1. Casa Dega
2. Heartbreakers Beach Party
3. Trailer
4. Cracking Up
5. Psychotic Reaction [Live]
6. I'm Tired Joey Boy [Live]
7. Lonely Weekends [Live]
8. Gator on the Lawn
9. Make That Connection
10. Down the Line
11. Peace in L.A. [Peace Mix]
12. It's Rainin' Again
13. Somethin' Else [Live]
14. I Don't Know What to Say to You
15. King's Highway [Live]

Disc 5:

1. On the Street
2. Depot Street
3. Cry to Me
4. Don't Do Me Like That [Mudcrutch Version]
5. I Can't Fight It
6. Since You Said You Loved Me
7. Louisiana Rain [Version]
8. Keeping Me Alive
9. Turning Point
10. Stop Draggin' My Heart Around [Demo Version] - Tom Petty, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
11. Apartment Song [Demo Version]
12. Big Boss Man
13. Image of Me
14. Moon Pie
15. Damage You've Done [Country Version]

Disc 6:

1. Got My Mind Made Up [Original Version]
2. Ways to Be Wicked
3. Can't Get Her Out
4. Waiting for Tonight
5. Travelin'
6. Baby Let's Play House
7. Wooden Heart
8. God's Gift to Man
9. You Get Me High
10. Come on Down to My House
11. You Come Through
12. Up in Mississippi Tonight

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19517 in Music
• Released on: 1995-11-21
• Number of discs: 6
• Formats: Best of, Box set
• Dimensions: 1.46 pounds

From Amazon.com
Tom Petty peaked early. In 1974, Petty's northern Florida bar band, Mudcrutch, moved to L.A., signed a deal with Shelter Records, and transformed itself into Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. By 1976, they had released their self-titled debut album, a seemingly impossible blend of the Byrds' jangly harmonies and Southern-California idealism with the Rolling Stones' bluesy punchiness and working-class grittiness. The rhythm section rocked; Mike Campbell was an effortlessly elegant guitarist, and Petty himself was a passionate singer. By the third album, 1979's Damn the Torpedoes, the band was creating such timeless rock & roll singles as "Refugee" and "Even the Losers." By 1980 their best music was behind them. The rhythms slackened; the melodies no longer grabbed; the performances lacked the same urgency. They played with admirable craft and sold millions of records, but they never again made music as powerful as their first three albums. This creates a serious imbalance in this box set, "Playback" (MCA), which fits 21 songs from the first four albums onto one overwhelming CD and then fills up another five CDs with 71 more tracks, which suffer by comparison. For the hardcore Petty fan, though, Playback is a treasure trove of obscurities. While most box sets adopt an 80/20 split between greatest hits and rarities, "Playback" is closer to 50/50, and includes B-sides never released in album form, rare Mudcrutch cuts, shelved studio tracks, and cover versions of songs by Jimmy Reed, Conway Twitty, and Elvis Presley. --Geoffrey Himes

Customer Reviews

somethin' else........
this is a real mixed-bag of musical styles,
& listening here, you realise what an accomplished all-round artist tom is,
"Casa Dega" is totally beautiful, the intro bass beats, the lyrics, the soaring guitars & harmonies, love it!
"lonely weekends" he does a little rockabilly here, & he does it very well - a great upbeat live track, with an infectious beat.
"the apartment song" is incredibly catchy, impossible to get out of your head.
the original versions of "stop draggin' my heart around" & "ways to be wicked" i love, for their more raw sound.
"the damage you've done" a country classic, i totally love this, as sure as there's feathers on a chicken.......
god, what else?
the classic tom songs, "free fallin'" can't listen to this without envisioning Tom Cruise in-car karaoke moment(jerry mcguire), & always feel i'd like to do this myself...... also love the guitars on this song.
"Insider(hard promises)" is a beautiful sad song, love the lyrics (i bet you're his masterpiece, i bet you're his self-control, yeah, you'll become his legacy....)
i really could go on forever about these songs, i'm having trouble remembering.....
"cry to me" is another beautiful rock/& roll ballad.
i'm sure i'm gonna miss something out here,
"runnin' down a dream" is another great song, really upbeat, great in-car beat.
overall, this is a brilliant collection, some songs i don't listen to, but others i really love.
"peace in la" a gorgeous christmas type song....
"kings highway" is another i love.

The Ultimate Tom Petty Anthology
PLAYBACK is a six-piece boxed set that's the ultimate anthology of Tom Petty's timeless music. It features almost all of his greatest songs, and even though it misses some gems, what's here can inspire people to work harder to achieve their goals and dreams, as well as to be more loyal to the ones they care about. And the rarities! Yes, these tracks are mostly quite good and often great. Most notable are "Make That Connection" and "Waiting For Tonight", the latter of which features all of the Bangles singing backup vocals. If you can afford PLAYBACK, by all means, buy it. The rewards are worth the extra cost.

'The Best of Everything' just got better
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the band that consistently reinvents itself, yet stays the same, has done it again. The first Heartbreakers album I listened to was "Wildflowers" and I got hooked. Each song is so different and yet they sound so similar. Since then, I've become a fanatic of this music--"Anthology: Through the Years," "Echo," "Their Greatest Hits," and, finally, this collection of works, reaffirm what I've come to know: That this band is true genius. If you're a borderline fan of the Heartbreakers--that is to say that you own one or two of their albums--then you need this collection, more than anyone. Well-established fans should already have this in their collections.
Like I've said before, no two of their songs sound the same, and yet they're quite similar. That is to say, most (if not all of the tunes) are great, but each for different reasons. Just buy any of their works and you'll know exactly what I mean.