Tom Petty…Angel Dream (Album Review)

The latest Tom Petty vault release is a 25th Anniversary reimagining of the She’s The One soundtrack album from 1996.

It’s now called Angel Dream, and was released June 12th, 2021 as part of a celebration of Record Store Day, 2021.  It came out in digital form on July 2nd.  Three of the songs from the original soundtrack that were included in the recent Wildflowers box set, have been removed, along with four other tracks.  Instead, there are four previously unreleased tracks… “105 Degrees”, “One Of Life’s Little Mysteries”, the instrumental “French Disconnection”, and a cover of J.J. Cale’s “Thirteen Days”.  

Here are the songs on the original soundtrack (the new lineup of songs is farther below):

  1. Walls (Circus)
  2. Grew Up Fast
  3. Zero From Outer Space
  4. Climb That Hill
  5. Change The Locks
  6. Angel Dream (No. 4)
  7. Hope you Never
  8. A**hole
  9. Supernatural Radio
  10. California
  11. Hope On Board
  12. Walls (No. 3) [acoustic version]
  13. Angel Dream (No. 2)
  14. Hung Up And Overdue
  15. Airport

When I started listening to the original album in 1996, it was initially disappointing.  “Walls (Circus)” sounded pretty good, but out of the first nine tracks,, the only other songs that appealed to me were “Climb That Hill” & “Hope You Never”.  Then beginning with #10, “California”, there were five good songs in a row.  When “Walls (No. 3)” started playing, my mind went…“Now that’s Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers!”  Then “Angel Dream (No. 2)” was so much better than the earlier version that had the distractingly odd percussion.  Plus, “Hung Up And Overdue” sounded like a blend of The Beatles and The Beach Boys (Ringo Starr & Carl Wilson are on it).  So, in the end, there were 8 songs I liked, and that’s more than most albums.

Here are the songs on the new Angel Dream:

Side 1…tracks 1-5,  Side 2…6-12

  1. Angel Dream (No. 2)
  2. Grew Up Fast
  3. Change The Locks
  4. Zero From Outer Space
  5. A**hole
  6. One Of Life’s Little Mysteries*
  7. Walls (No. 3)
  8. Thirteen Days*
  9. 105 Degrees*
  10. Climb That Hill
  11. Supernatural Radio (extended by 41-seconds)
  12. French Disconnection (Instrumental)*

*Previously unreleased

The seven tracks that went away are “Hope You Never”, “California”, “Hung Up And Overdue”, “Walls (Circus)” “Angel Dream (No. 4)”, and the instrumentals “Airport” & “Hope On Board”.  On the original album, “Hope On Board” served as a beautiful intro to “Walls (No. 3)”, and it’s a shame it was left off.  In fact, if you use GarageBand (or other song editor) to overlap the songs so “Walls (No. 3) starts before the last note of “Hope On Board” fades, it sounds like it was always meant to be.  Here it is:

The four new tracks are all on side two, which is the best side of the record.  “One Of Life’s Little Mysteries” is really different for Tom Petty.  It’s a slow song that sounds like an old fashioned tune from the 1930’s, or a song Randy Newman would have written for a movie or musical.  “Thirteen Days” is a very good studio version of J.J. Cale’s blues song, with cool slide guitar by Mike Campbell.  “105 Degrees” is an uptempo rocker that would have been fun in concert.  The final track is titled “French Disconnection”, but it’s really an instrumental version of “Angel Dream”.  It’s a pretty ending for the album.

(Recording session for “She’s The One” album.)

Extra:  Here’s a suggestion for making a playlist that combines the best songs from the two versions of the album.

  1. Angel Dream (No. 2)
  2. California
  3. Hope You Never
  4. Hung Up And Overdue
  5. One Of Life’s Little Mysteries
  6. Hope On Board
  7. Walls (No. 3)
  8. Thirteen Days
  9. 105 Degrees
  10. Climb That Hill
  11. Supernatural Radio
  12. French Disconnection (Angel Dream instrumental)

That would have been a worthy follow-up album to Wildflowers.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *