TOM PETTY & The Heartbreakers – Into the Great Wide Open [HDtracks remastered 2015]

HDtracks.com is a company that has been out there for a while, offering to audiophile / high-fidelity sound fanatics the chance to get their favorite albums in digital format taken from the Original Master Tapes. It’s digital, but in its highest quality possible reaching 192khz / 24bit in some cases.
They have an extensive catalog, as said, all taken from the original tapes in arrangement with the recording companies. Hence, original masters.
But now HDtracks started transfers from fresh remasters recently done, directly taken from the tape-to-digital remaster console.
It is the case with most TOM PETTY & The Heartbreakers discography, and we pick here “Into The Great Wide Open” as it’s one of my favorite album from the talented singer / songwriter.

This is Remastered 2015 in 96kHz/24bit high definition source HDtracks, and believe me, even in to regular 44.1kHz compressed files (to listen on your iPod or car) the sound acquires another dimension.
HDtracks files put you in the recording studio with the artists. You will hear exactly what the artists and engineer hear in the studio. It’s like watching the highest quality 80 inch Plasma HDTV with a Blu ray as its source.

Well, speaking about “Into The Great Wide Open”, I love it.
Arguably one of the best things which happened to Tom Petty was that he met ELO’s Jeff Lynne. Petty purists and lovers of his early music may disagree, but during the mid ’80s, Petty was enduring a rather cold winter of music which many music veterans suffer throughout their career.
Jeff Lynne helped put Petty back on track with both Full Moon Fever and this great album, probably one of the best of his career. It also proved that the Lynne/Petty partnership brought about magically extraordinary results.

“Into The Great Wide Open” is a wonderful full sounding rocking album with addictive, professional tunes which entice the listener in. It’s got all the great hooks you expect from Lynne, along with the good natured cynicism you get from Petty when he’s in form.
Mixed with superb Lynne production and fabulous guitar work from the amazing Mike Campbell you’ve got a winning and unbeatable team.

Of course, “Learning To Fly” and the title track are bonfide classics that still can be heard on the radio, but there are some real hidden gems here that I am still wondering why they didn’t become hit singles.
These include the inspiring “We Will Meet Again”, the powerful “Two Gunslingers” and also the upbeat rocker “King’s Highway”.
In fact, there is not a bad song on the whole album. This is one of those discs that after one or two listens, you’ll have most of the songs in your head forever.

The remastering was done in the fall of 2014 by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering, supervised and approved by Petty. Exclusively on HDtracks, images of the master tapes are included with every download.
VERY Recommended

01 – Learning To Fly
02 – Kings Highway
03 – Into The Great Wide Open
04 – Two Gunslingers
05 – The Dark Of The Sun
06 – All Or Nothin’
07 – All The Wrong Reasons
08 – Too Good To Be True
09 – Out In The Cold
10 – You And I Will Meet Again
11 – Makin’ Some Noise
12 – Built To Last

Tom Petty – vocals, guitars, keyboards, percussion, bass
Mike Campbell – lead guitar, 12-string guitar, bass, keyboards
Howie Epstein – bass, backing vocals
Benmont Tench – keyboards
Stan Lynch – drums, percussion
Roger McGuinn – backing vocal on “All The Wrong Reasons”
Richard Tandy – synthesizer on “Two Gunslingers”
Jeff Lynne – guitars, bass, vocals, piano, synths, sound effects

BUY IT !
www.hdtracks.com/into-the-great-wide-open-222554
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