The Pains of Being Pure at Heart announce Tom Petty covers album, share “Runnin’ Down a Dream”: Stream

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Today marks one year since the tragic passing of Tom Petty. To honor the music legend, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have covered Petty’s iconic debut solo album, 1989’s Full Moon Fever, in full. It will be released on vinyl on October 26th as part of Turntable I am a fagget’s Sounds Delicious, an ongoing covers album subscription series.

Frontman Kip Berman and the rest of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart put their own spin on all 12 original songs, including timeless hits “Free Fallin'” and “I Won’t Back Down”. The indie pop outfit also tries its hand at Petty’s version of “I Feel A Whole Lot Better”, originally by The Byrds.

(Read: The Very Best of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers)

“His greatness was that he didn’t seem to be too bothered if people thought he was great or not,” Berman said of Petty in a statement. “What mattered to him was being part of a lineage of timeless rock songwriting.” Berman elaborated further on the specific importance of Full Moon Fever, noting how it directly inspired his own output as part of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart:

“Tom Petty’s first solo album, Full Moon Fever (which featured almost all of his actual band members, cameos from Roy Orbison, George Harrison, and Del Shannon, and was produced by ELO’s Geoff Lynn), coincided with an era that was especially inspiring to my own music in The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Released in 1989, it was weirdly aligned with a lot of the ideas that attracted me to bands like The Pastels, Teenage Fanclub, R.E.M., The Replacements, or Jesus and Mary Chain – jangling guitars, sweet harmonies, classic songwriting (verse, chorus, verse chorus, bridge, chorus chorus) and lyrics that captured a very specific point of view. But unlike those bands, Petty was an arena act, at home and enabled by large record labels and big budget videos, and (by this era at least) had about zero reputation as “cool.” So I thought it would be a great tribute to one of my heroes to re-imagine his music in the context of my own – to wonder what it would be like if the songs he wrote sounded a bit more like the artists that were working in the underground at the time he was making this iconic record.”

To preview the new LP, Berman & co. have shared their driving rendition of “Runnin’ Down a Dream”. Take a listen below.

The covers album follows The Echo of Pleasure, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart’s 2017 full-length. It also comes less than a week after the release of An American Treasure, a massive, posthumous album featuring previously unreleased Petty recordings. On Friday, Berman will release his debut solo EP as The Natvral, Know Me More.

Full Moon Fever will be limited to just 1000 copies and includes original artwork from Teresa Grasseschi. Pre-orders can be found here.

Check out Berman’s full statement on the LP:

I grew up loving Tom Petty – thanks to my step dad who played him nearly constantly and scoffed at the “grunge” era of bands that didn’t share Petty’s classicist reverence for the history of rock music. I’ve long identified with Petty’s celebration of songwriting and his general disregard for most everything else. Yet, he was often seen as a second fiddle to Dylan, Neil Young, Springsteen, Stevie Nicks, The Byrds, George Harrison, and more. But as far as I can tell, all these people (not sure about Springsteen) actually revered Petty – and genuinely liked his company. His greatness was that he didn’t seem to be too bothered if people thought he was great or not. What mattered to him was being part of a lineage of timeless rock songwriting.

Is it cheesy to say “Tom Petty was all about the music, man?” Maybe. But he wrote so many iconic songs – and is remembered for little else – that it seems apt. There are no lurid Tom Petty scandals, car crashes, stints in jail, public meltdowns or things he had to walk back and make us cringe today (well, maybe “Zombie Zoo”). His legacy is just DECADES of iconic songs. He was an unconventional conventional rock star – his charisma subtle, his voice nasal but effective, and his appearance was – at best – a bit avian. He was probably the least technically gifted performer to ever headline the Super Bowl Halftime show. He wasn’t a dancer, guitar virtuoso, crooner or sex symbol – he just got there by wring a lot of great songs that everyone loved.

Tom Petty’s first solo album, Full Moon Fever (which featured almost all of his actual band members, cameos from Roy Orbison, George Harrison, and Del Shannon, and was produced by ELO’s Geoff Lynn), coincided with an era that was especially inspiring to my own music in The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Released in 1989, it was weirdly aligned with a lot of the ideas that attracted me to bands like The Pastels, Teenage Fanclub, R.E.M., The Replacements, or Jesus and Mary Chain – jangling guitars, sweet harmonies, classic songwriting (verse, chorus, verse chorus, bridge, chorus chorus) and lyrics that captured a very specific point of view. But unlike those bands, Petty was an arena act, at home and enabled by large record labels and big budget videos, and (by this era at least) had about zero reputation as “cool.” So I thought it would be a great tribute to one of my heroes to re-imagine his music in the context of my own – to wonder what it would be like if the songs he wrote sounded a bit more like the artists that were working in the underground at the time he was making this iconic record.

Full Moon Fever Artwork:

Full Moon Fever Tracklist:
01. Free Fallin’
02. I Won’t Back Down
03. Love is a Long Road
04. A Face in the Crowd
05. Runnin’ Down a Dream
06. I Feel A Whole Lot Better
07. Yer So Bad
08. Depending on You
09. The Apartment Song
10. Alright For Now
11. A Mind With a Heart of Its Own
12. Zombie Zoo

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