Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers have have announced the first details of an epic box set that will begin to clear out the archives of Heartbreaker live footage recorded and filmed from throughout the band's career.
No release date has been announced for The Live Archives, but an ambitious series of packages have been announced. The recording industry should pay attention to this because it's obvious Petty and his management team are. There is a package available for every kind of Petty listener. The live archive will be made available through iTunes and other digital outlets (presumably Amazon's digital music store). There will also be physical and digital experiences for every kind of fan.
CD fans can treat themselves to a 4-CD, 48-track box set. The hardcore can go with a multimedia deluxe box set that will include 5 CDs (62 tracks), 2 DVDs, 1 vinyl LP, and a Blu-ray audio DVD. Vinyl fans can get a 7-LP box and digital fans can order the set through Petty's web site and get the "The Superhighway Tour." The "Superhighway" set will allow fans to download MP3 or FLAC (lossless) audio files. They'll even get a headstart on this archival material, being allowed to download some of the set early.
Okay, so we get it. There's a lot of "stuff." What is the stuff? We only get some hints right now. The material us drawn from 1978-2007 and was chosen by Petty, longtime aide-de-camp Mike Campbell, and producer Ryan Ulyate. There are plenty of Heartbreaker classics as well as some covers that have been part of the band's shows throughout the years. Among them the theme from Goldfinger, The Zombies' "I Want You Back Again," James Brown's "Good, Good Lovin'," and Fleetwood Mac's "Oh Well."
Here are full details on the packages. Stay tuned at Blogcritics to for more details as they're announced.
Article comments
1 - El Bicho
"We only get some hints right now. The material us drawn from 1978-2007"
That's a hint? Hope he is able to include material when he is joined by friends
2 - Josh Hathaway
That and the covers are the only hints we get now. More details when they lock in the date, I guess.
3 - Tom Johnson
This looks like it's going to be spectacular, but deadly to the wallet if you aim for package 2, which is really the one to get. Alas, I'll probably have to settle for package 1 - I'm guessing 2 will be well over $100, and I'm not going to get away with another super-expensive box after the Beatles stereo set.
Hmm, digital stuff "delivered over 8 weeks" . . . I'm guessing the release date will be sometime in late November then? Give this news a few weeks to seep out, then set up the purchase options toward the end of September. Yep, sounds about right for release the week of Thanksgiving! Let's see how close I am to the real thing. What do I win?
4 - Josh Hathaway
Not a copy of the box set, that's for sure!
It's a good thing I've been working some overtime. I'm setting money aside for this right now. The Beatles' box will be an early birthday present, so I only have to finance one of these. Right? Now how to explain the U2 UnFire and R.E.M. packages... My wife has already forgiven me. This is why we don't have kids.