Yer Not So Bad

In the decade between Damn the Torpedoes and Full Moon Fever, Tom Petty prevailed as a singles artist rather than an album-oriented rocker. However, Full Moon Fever was a serious game-changer. Released in 1989, FMF saw Petty capture lightning in a bottle with the seemingly effortless convergence of his songwriting and commercial peaks in an era of big synths and bigger hair, when most of his ’70s contemporaries were struggling to find traction. Chock full of hits, yet having the polished cohesion of Jeff Lynne’s production (and co-writing), the album is a start-to-finish long player that—with five of Petty’s most instantly recognizable singles—was practically a greatest-hits album on arrival. Dedicated to spotless live recreations of albums in their entirety, Nashville’s stellar Long Players will give their session-veteran treatment to a record that’s one controversy is its distinction as the first non-Heartbreakers Petty record.
Sat., Dec. 27, 9 p.m., 2008