After teases, unearthed songs and demo recordings, Tom Petty’s estate has finally announced its long-awaited reissue for Petty’s beloved 1994 solo album Wildflowers.
Wildflowers and All the Rest, a “comprehensive” five-CD or nine-LP box set due out October 16th, features the 1994 LP alongside dozens of unreleased tracks, home recordings (like “There Goes Angela (Dream Away)” and the demo of “You Don’t Know How It Feels“), alternate versions and live renditions of Wildflowers tracks.
In addition to the announcement of Wildflowers and All the Rest, Warner Records also shared Petty’s “home recording” version of the album’s title track “Wildflowers.”
The Petty, Rick Rubin and Mike Campbell-produced sessions for Wildflowers yielded enough material for a double-album filled with 25 songs. However, the label advised that Petty pare it down as a single disc, with unused tracks either winding up on Petty’s She’s the One soundtrack or in the archives, like “Somewhere Under Heaven,” which appears in the box set. “I did not remember writing it, recording it, anything,” Petty told Rolling Stone in 2014. “And it was really good — uptempo but very unusual, in some strange time signature.”
In the years prior to his October 2017 death, Petty admitted that restoring Wildflowers to its full glory was a top priority. “I broke through to something else. My personal life came crashing down, and it derailed me for a while. But I was at the top of my game during that record,” Petty said.
The planned 25-song LP is realized on the first two discs of Wildflowers and All the Rest, which adjoins the original 15-song album with the 10-song “All the Rest” containing five previously unreleased tracks. The “Home Recordings” disc finds Petty’s solo workshopping of 15 Wildflowers songs in his home studio, while the “Alternate Versions (Finding Wildflowers)” disc sees Petty and his studio band working toward the final LP. The box set — curated by Tom’s daughters, Adria and Annakim Petty, his wife Dana Petty and Heartbreakers Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench — is rounded out by a collection of 14 live recordings of Wildflowers songs spanning 1995 to 2017.
Wildflowers and All the Rest, up for preorder now ahead of its October 16th release, is available in a variety of editions, ranging from a stripped-down two-CD/three-LP with the complete album of 25 songs to a massive Ultra-Deluxe Limited Edition that contains a lyric book, custom-made necklace, an exclusive 7-inch of “You Don’t Know How It Feels” and more.” Each version also comes with a booklet that includes an introduction by Rick Rubin and an essay by Rolling Stone contributor David Fricke.
Wildflowers and All the Rest Tracklist
Wildflowers
1. Wildflowers
2. You Don’t Know How It Feels
3. Time to Move On
4. You Wreck Me
5. It’s Good to Be King
6. Only a Broken Heart
7. Honey Bee
8. Don’t Fade on Me
9. Hard on Me
10. Cabin Down Below
11. To Find a Friend
12. A Higher Place
13. House in the Woods
14. Crawling Back to You
15. Wake Up Time
All The Rest
1. Something Could Happen
2. Leaving Virginia Alone
3. Climb That Hill Blues
4. Confusion Wheel
5. California
6. Harry Green
7. Hope You Never
8. Somewhere Under Heaven
9. Climb That Hill
10. Hung Up and Overdue
Home Recordings
1. There Goes Angela (Dream Away)
2. You Don’t Know How It Feels
3. California
4. A Feeling of Peace
5. Leave Virginia Alone
6. Crawling Back to You
7. Don’t Fade on Me
8. Confusion Wheel
9. A Higher Place
10. There’s a Break in the Rain (Have Love Will Travel)
11. To Find a Friend
12. Only a Broken Heart
13. Wake Up Time
14. Hung Up and Overdue
15. Wildflowers
Wildflowers Live
1. You Don’t Know How It Feels
2. Honey Bee
3. To Find a Friend
4. Walls
5. Crawling Back to You
6. Cabin Down Below
7. Drivin’ Down to Georgia
8. House in the Woods
9. Girls on LSD
10. Time to Move On
11. Wake Up Time
12. It’s Good to Be King
13. You Wreck Me
14. Wildflowers
Alternate Versions (Finding Wildflowers)
1. A Higher Place
2. Hard on Me
3. Cabin Down Below
4. Crawling Back to You
5. Only a Broken Heart
6. Drivin’ Down to Georgia
7. You Wreck Me
8. It’s Good to Be King
9. House in the Woods
10. Honey Bee
11. Girl on LSD
12. Cabin Down Below (Acoustic Version)
13. Wildflowers
15. Wake Up Time
16. You Saw Me Comin’
From Rolling Stone US
