An American Treasure (Deluxe)

As someone who owns the vast majority of Tom Petty's catalogue. I really wasn't sure if I needed to buy a four CD box-set. After all, do we really need multiple versions of the same songs etc? Well when we're talking about An American Treasure, I'd say we absolutely do. An American Treasure is a fantastic little box-set for fans of Petty. It is a hefty collection featuring some remixes, rarities and a hefty amount of quality live tracks. The song choice itself features a vast array of hits, which will please the more casual listener. But there is even more on offer for the serious die hard with an excellent array fan favourites. Each disc is roughly an hour long, this means you get a solid four hours of music for just over £15. That is in my opinion a serious bargain. There has been a bit of controversy with audiophiles about the fact that the music was mastered for iPhones and docking station listeners. This has resulted in the dynamics being a little squashed with a bit too much loudness for some people's taste. With that said, it is by no means a bad sounding collection. The music is very much enjoyable at high volumes and is nowhere near as bad as it could have been. Folks who are a little picky about the audio quality might question the sound, but I really don't think it will bother most buyers. As an example, you can expect the same sound quality as the Live Anthology or Hypnotic Eye. The packaging looks rather pleasant. It is a hardback with some excellent art work, an extensive book with plenty of information on the tracks and some hard cardboard sleeves that should provide a lot of protection for the discs themselves. I honestly wish that bands would put this kind of effort into their collections as I think this looks and feels fantastic. It will look great on a shelf on display. Would love to see what the vinyl looks like. Considering the current asking price of this collection, I think this is an absolute steal. The packaging looks great and the music sounds as good as I'd hoped. I can't imagine many Tom Petty fans complaining about this collection. Even if it was being sold at a higher price.

Everything about this release screams (well whispers respectfully): ‘Quality’. 4 discs of amazing song choices picked out by both his fellow band members and by his closest family. Most are live or ‘alternative’ takes. Even those few that have appeared on albums before feel ‘right’ here as they’re part of a gorgeous picture of a man. To purely include ONLY ‘alternative’ songs would be to disrespect the choices that Tom originally made. Not so much a ‘best of’ (some of the obvious big hits are missing to make room for rare songs delivered in ways you’d never expect) more case of ‘Tom was the best’! There are however lots and lots of versions never heard before. Vast numbers of images and accompanying words - often very moving - that tell the story behind each song choice. Whatever has been done to the sound quality of those live recordings is wonderful beyond belief. Beautiful stuff. I had a lump in my throat from the start of disc 1 to the end of disc 4. If you know anyone who loved Tom then this is a ‘must have’ gift for them. If it’s you that are missing Tom (as much as me) then treat yourself to this gorgeous book/box-set tribute. An impeccable triumph - like Tom himself. RIP

I became a fan of Tom Petty's since I saw him on The Old Grey Whistle Test in the mid 70's. I have loved all his albums. His daughter Adria, his wife Dana and his bandmates have put together a wonderful collection of songs that aren't just 2nd rate, throw away fillers. They are brilliant. Keeping Me Alive is a great song that Jimmy Iovine should have put on Tom's album, Let Me Up I've Had Enough. It's one of my favourites. Also, hearing Tom talking before or after a song is bittersweet. To get 4 CD's and a large booklet about some of the songs, and the heartfelt comments by his wife and daughter for around 13 pounds is an absolute bargain. Tom never wanted to rip off his fans. While he was alive he had well known arguments with record companies about the pricing of his albums and concert tickets. And it seems that Adria has inherited Tom's fairness to his fans. Usually if a rock singer dies, the record companies bring out poor quality demo compilations and then charge a fortune. This is not the case with these songs, they are all quality and good enough to have been on any of his albums. So in Adria's case, the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree.

Great package this. Tom P's output over the years speaks for itself. He truly is an American Icon. One of the most consistent singer songwriters of the last 40 years. I own a number of his albums but by no means all. So following the sad news of his recent untimely death I was pleased to find the anthology of his work. This CD package is great . You get the 4 CDs and a comprehensive booklet full of colour and black & white pictures along with a precis of the 60 odd tracks on the CDs. These cover tracks from 1975 including album tracks, live tracks, alternative takes, some unreleased tracks all the way though to a 2016 live recording of Hungry No More. Which must have been one of Tom's final performances. A really fantastic collection. Very well mastered too.

Gut ein Jahr nach seinem Tod erschien eine richtig kleine Schatzkiste dieses hervorragenden Künstlers. Wobei; „kleine Schatzkiste“ trifft es nicht. Eine richtig große Schatzkiste ist dieses Paket. Mit der Musik möchte ich mich gar nicht erst auseinandersetzen. Niemand kauft dieses, mehr als 60 Einzeltitel umfassende Werk, der die Musik von Petty nicht mag. Für mich stellte sich lediglich die Frage: LP oder CD. Irgendwann habe ich dann nicht lange gefackelt und mich für das LP-Paket entschieden und habe alles, wirklich alles richtig gemacht. Bei der Bestellung ging ich von einer Box mit sechs Einzel-LPs aus. Weit gefehlt, es ist ein gebundenes Plattenbuch. Dazu noch ein fantastisches Booklet mit vielen Informationen zu den einzelnen Titeln. Insgesamt macht alles zusammen einen überragenden und wertigen Eindruck. Ich bin von diesem Paket hellauf begeistert. Es ist mit das Schönste, was ich in den letzten Jahren gekauft habe und da sind einige opulente Boxen dabei. Insoweit kann ich nur die Empfehlung aussprechen, wer Spaß am Vinyl hat, sollte sich dieses Werk gönnen. Ganz nebenbei: Ich bin wirklich kein ausgesprochener Petty-Fan, doch diese 60 Titel gehen hervorragend ins Ohr und durchlaufen bereits zum wiederholten Mal meinen Gehörgang.

Tudo o Tom Petty lançou é bem feito, pode comprar ótima qualidade.

Love Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers....this made me cry so much I had to play it in stages...it is just beautiful..The words from Adria and Dana, the explanations of the songs damn near finished me off! Tears, tears and more tears....the packaging, the choice of songs and also the words and explanations from the guys...it's all just superb..Thank You Petty Family...and I will never forget you Mr Tom Petty!

Uno de los grupos que realmente son 100% Rock & Roll, espontáneos, irreverentes, honestos y que dejaron para la posteridad su excelente legado musical.

I have been a Tom Petty fan for many, many years and have pretty much all of his work. This 4 CD set is absolutely fantastic. I sat down to play only the first disc but after it was done, I played the second, than the third, until I had played all four discs And I still wanted more. This set is THAT good. Most of the songs are either live or alternate versions of album tracks but there are quite a few unreleased songs as well. None disappoint. I am sure if you're a fan you already bought this set but if you're undecided don't buy the shorter condensed version, spend the money on this 4 CD set. The comments that come with each song from his band mates and family give you tremendous insight into Tom Petty. You will find it is money well spent. The only thing that could make this better is if they had filled each disc to it's maximum length of about 75 minutes to give us more great music.