MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS - THE BEST OF EVERYTHING

Thoughts on Tom Petty:  I find it impossible to feel bad when I play a Petty collection. Whether it's the old classics, the mid-period hits such as Free Fallin', or later, lesser-known material, it doesn't matter, the quality roars through. It's all in retrospect now, shot through with sadness and a huge sense of loss, but my first feeling, and the enduring one is simply, this is great stuff.

There are several Petty collections now, but what artist doesn't have a few best-of's these days? This one is thankfully a complete overview, not split by record company contracts, so all the early hits owned by Universal are joined by the Warner years for the first time. The 2.5 hours of music is billed as covering his full career, from The Heartbreakers to solo to Mudcrutch, and that's almost correct, with just the Wilburys missing. I'm okay with that, those fun cuts don't fit the plot anyway. I'm more interested in having the later, less commercially successful material such as Walls (Circus), Wildflowers and The Last DJ sitting alongside the well-known greatest hits, so their status can be raised. These are some of Petty's best, and slowly but surely they are climbing in fan appreciation.

The compilers here have done a masterful job at sequencing the tracks. Rather than going by chronology, or top-loading the hits, this builds and flows, pacing well-known numbers with deep cuts, rockers to medium tempo to ballads. Placing You Wreck Me between the big hits Mary Jane's Last Dance and I Won't Back Down shows what a strong rocker that 1994 track is, while 2002's Dreamville becomes a dramatic, gentle pause sitting before a return to old favourites Refugee and American Girl.

The attraction for collector fans here is an unreleased track, For Real, a 1994 outtake. It's a darn good one too, one of Petty's strongest statements about refusing to sell out. That's why we loved him, he always, always had the best moral compass in rock. Sure, you might have most of the big hits in your collection already, but this will no doubt make you appreciate many of his other songs as well, and it's one heck of a great road trip sets you'll ever get.