Into the Great Wide Open

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' tenth album, released in 1991, was a turning point for the band. Petty had released a "solo" album shortly before (Full Moon Fever) and his bandmates were getting worked up suspecting that he may quit the band for more solo projects. The album itself doesn't show a great leap forward in their sound or style, and in fact, has much in common with the earlier record (which itself had major contributions from Heartbreakers besides Tom himself).

In the end it's a mostly unremarkable album with a more somber tone than the bands' powerful work through the eighties. It reached 13 on the US charts, mostly due to the strength of the hit singles "Learning to Fly" and "Into the Great Wide Open." This was the Heartbreakers' last release on MCA before moving to Warner.

Track listing

1. Learning To Fly
2. Kings Highway
3. Into The Great Wide Open
4. Two Gunslingers
5. The Dark Of The Sun
6. All Or Nothin'
7. All The Wrong Reasons
8. Too Good To Be True
9. Out In The Cold
10. You And I Will Meet Again
11. Makin' Some Noise
12. Built To Last

And, the title track:

TITLE: Into the Great Wide Open
ARTIST: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
ALBUM: Into the Great Wide Open (1991)
AUTHORS: Jeff Lynne/Tom Petty

The first novel by Kevin Canty. I read this book as a book club selection proposed by an individual who had been impressed with Canty's Stranger in this World short stories. Apparently, this novel is a continuation of one of the stories told in Stranger.

This is the tale of Junie Williamson and Kenny Kolodny, a couple of average kids in your average town who themselves feel not-so-average. It's an overly typical coming of age story, and I would describe it as a Judy Blume book written by a man for an adult audience. The problem here is that it's far too immature for your average adult, but still too mature for many teenagers.

The plot flows like this:

• Kenny and June meet, start to fall in love.
• Kenny and June see each other naked.
• Kenny and June meet each other's dysfunctional families.
• Kenny and June have unprotected sex.
• June becomes pregnant.
• June miscarries.
• Kenny and June break up.

Sound a little oversimplified and silly? Well, that's because it is. It's awfully predictable. You know that when two teenagers have unprotected sex, a pregnancy is sure to follow. You know that these kids are not going to end up together, that everything is not going to work out fine in the end. Sorry to ruin that plot for you, but I want to save you the hours this book may steal from your life.