When chatting about music with a dear friend this morning, he asked me whether I had heard of this 3-CD box live set from Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, which had come out recently. I had not but was immediately intrigued, especially when my friend added it features numerous great covers, including Satisfaction (The Rolling Stones), You Really Got Me (Kinks) and Louie Louie (The Kingsmen).
He had seen it on Amazon. While still on the phone with him, I searched Apple Music/iTunes and came up empty. Then I started searching the Internet for this box set called San Francisco Serenades. The first hit was the enclosed YouTube clip, which based on its length of more than three hours seems to capture the entire thing! Of course, I realize there is a high likelihood the shelf life of this link is limited, but heck, as long as it works, I’m happy to feature it on the blog.
According to the website of Spin CD, a UK music retailer, the box set captures the last show of a 20-date residency at The Fillmore in San Francisco, which the band had there from January 10 to February 7, 1997. Apparently, that gig was recorded live for FM broadcast. In addition to some Petty gems like I Won’t Back Down, American Girl and Free Fallin’, the set predominantly includes cover versions of tunes by Chuck Berry, JJ Cale, The Rolling Stones and other artists. In addition, John Lee Hooker joined the band to perform three of his tunes.
After having listened to the first two hours in a row and sampled the remainder, I have to say I’m really blown away! The fact that the Heartbreakers were a terrific band wasn’t news to me; what I didn’t fully appreciate is how many covers these guys played, and damn, do they sound great! While taking three hours to listen to the entire clip is a significant time commitment, if you are a Petty fan, you should do it!
Following are some highlights of the covers with time stamps: Around And Around (Chuck Berry; 0.00); Call Me The Breeze (JJ Cale; 17:18 – Petty credited Floridian compatriots Lynyrd Skynyrd, which also covered the tune); With John Lee Hooker: I Found My Baby, It Serves You Right To Suffer & Boogie Chillin’; 50:05 – 1:07:07); Green Onions (Booker T. & The M.G.s; 1:19:40); You Really Got Me (The Kinks; 1:53:55); Shakin’ All Over (Johnny Kidd and The Pirates; 2:09:15); Gloria (Them; 2:38:07); (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction (The Rolling Stones; 2:52:38); and It’s All Over Now (The Valentinos; 2:59:35).
Here is the full set list.
What’s a bit of a mystery is when exactly the box set appeared. Leeway’s Homegrown Music Network, which describes itself as “independent bands, representatives, venues, stores, fans and people like you all working together to improve our world through good music,” indicates February 9, 2018 as the release date. AllMusic notes the box set is available on Amazon with a date of December 1, 2017. Amazon simply indicates 2018 as the release time. I suppose, it matters less when the bloody box set came out than the fact that it is outstanding.
Christian's Music Musings 
This doesn’t entirely surprise me. I listen to Petty’s channel on Sirius and the live stuff far outweighs the studio stuff. A lot of good covers and Petty originals. Good find.
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Really dig it big time and actually think about getting the set! “Green Onions” is one of my favorites here. That of course a bit ironical, given earlier today I commented on your cool Al Di Meola post that I generally prefer stuff with vocals – oh well, go figure!
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Sure but music is a fine meal and so you gotta have the meat with the potatoes, if you will.
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