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Old 10-06-2017, 04:25 PM
Newzchspy's Avatar
Newzchspy Newzchspy is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Chicago, IL U.S.A.
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Unlike 24K Gold and some of Stevie's discography, I can't think of a bad TPHB album . Much of his work needs to be segmented, however, because there's the early LA years starting in 1976, right after Gainesville's Mudcrutch (pre 1976) and the work at Mudcrutch Farm and then the 80s and later more "POP" albums. I prefer the early stuff, TPHB and DTT. This was when he was still writing simply and as if he just stepped out of High Springs or Alachua, FL . He often wrote of those times as if he were playing at Dub's on 13th street. His LA stuff, >1980 was more "pop" to me, and that's not a bad thing, just different. American Girl (Mudcrutch-ish) is a classic TPHB song that was born and bred in Gainesville (listen to the lyrics and the references to the roads running through the town, 441) versus the IGWO, that although it maintained a LOT of his roots, was far different IMHO than his early-mid 70s stuff. Even SDMHA with Stevie, in 1981 , was more like his Mudcrutch days than Free Falling and Learning to Fly. Just different. His later songs became less love songs and the angst of being a poor Florida boy was driven from him in LA.

I often listened to Tom on Sirius radio and he often referred to his past as the "good old days" as if somehow, despite his success in LA, he missed the simplicity of growing up in a small southern college town. His songs often reflected that. He also had a beef with people coming to his concerts and never putting down their cell phones and families not talking around the dinner table while they all just looked at their phones, like as he described it, Jack o Lanterns in a pumpkin patch with their faces all lit up by the phone. Success never jaded Tom and that's why his writing, despite being different in later years, never strayed too far off a path that he chose. He could also get quite ornery when someone would make a comment as if his good old days were behind him. He always said he had a LOT more in him.

I was thinking about it the other day, even before he passed, and one of the greatest R&R vids was Live from GatorVille in 2006. I was there, probably more to see her royal highness than to see TP, BUT you could tell from the way TP addressed the crowd that he was proud and honored to be HOME!!! I could just see Benmont and TP taking Stevie on a tour of "their town" and showing her Mudcrutch Farm and all their hangouts. Too bad that Mama Lo's was out of business due to her passing, because I am sure they would have wound up there too!!

Surprisingly, they are requesting a coroners inquest because it was reported that he had not been to a doc since about 1999?/ Don't know if that's accurate, but I can see TP just saying " Oh yeah man, I'm fine."

Last edited by Newzchspy; 10-06-2017 at 04:55 PM..
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