Wildflowers (Tom Petty album)


Wildflowers is the second solo studio album by American musician Tom Petty, released on November 1, 1994. The album was the first released by Petty after signing a contract with Warner Bros. Records and the first of three albums produced by Rick Rubin. The album was certified 3× platinum in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Background

The album features all members of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, with the exception of drummer Stan Lynch. Steve Ferrone plays drums on Wildflowers and would join the band officially the following year. However, the album was not credited to the Heartbreakers because, in Petty's words, "Rick and I both wanted more freedom than to be strapped into five guys." Freedom notwithstanding, Petty chose to use most of his regular band as session players, demonstrating his comfort with that format. Rolling Stone placed Wildflowers at number 12 on their list of the best albums of the 1990s. Guitar World placed the album at number 49 in their "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994" list.
Four singles were released from the album between 1994 and 1995, the most successful of which, "You Don't Know How It Feels", reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Album Rock Tracks chart for one week. It was followed by "You Wreck Me", "It's Good to Be King" and "A Higher Place" which reached Nos. 2, 6, and 12 respectively on the Mainstream Rock chart.
In April 2015, when Petty's back catalog was released in High-resolution audio, this was one of only two albums not included in the series, but a hi-res version was available on Pono Music.

Track listing

All songs written by Tom Petty, except where noted.
  1. "Wildflowers" – 3:11
  2. "You Don't Know How It Feels" – 4:49
  3. "Time to Move On" – 3:15
  4. "You Wreck Me" – 3:22
  5. "It's Good to Be King" – 5:10
  6. "Only a Broken Heart" – 4:30
  7. "Honey Bee" – 4:58
  8. "Don't Fade on Me" – 3:32
  9. "Hard on Me" – 3:48
  10. "Cabin Down Below" – 2:51
  11. "To Find a Friend" – 3:23
  12. "A Higher Place" – 3:56
  13. "House in the Woods" – 5:32
  14. "Crawling Back to You" – 5:05
  15. "Wake Up Time" – 5:19

    Outtakes

Musicians
Production
Weekly Charts
Chart Peak
position
US Billboard 2008
UK Album Charts 36

Singles

Certifications