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Originally posted by Johnny Stew
I believe Gordon Perry & Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers produced the 'Bella Donna' session versions, and Perry produced the 'Wild Heart' session versions himself. David O. might be able to correct that information, if I'm mistaken.
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Apparently, Petty & the Heartbreakers weren't involved at all. Stevie did a bunch of studio work with them during breaks in the Tusk tour (January & April 1980), but not much afterward, probably because they were recording their own album "Hard Promises." "Julia" was tracked at Rumbo during the first few weeks of June 1981. The reel boxes list Iovine as the producer & Shelly Yakus & Don Smith as 1st & 2nd engineer, respectively. No reference is made of Gordon Perry's involvement.
I know it's the norm to refer to the "Bella Donna" version of "Julia" & the "Wild Heart" version, but I don't think any conclusive evidence supports the existence of a "Wild Heart" version. I myself never thought the so-called "Wild Heart" version was done for "Wild Heart"; to me, it sounds like the '81 versions. I think it was only fans (like Mike Bise & Debby DeStefano) through the years who said that "Julia" was recorded for both albums (& not used for either one, obviously). All I've heard from them is that they based this belief solely on Stevie's vocal sounding different on the alleged "Wild Heart" version. What do you guys think?
Maybe, in the future, somebody with Web space will create a page filled with all the info that can be lifted from the reel-to-reel boxes (producers, recording dates, studios, track sheets, engineers) as well as from other sources, like press cuttings & interviews. It would provide a hell of a timeline, something that Peter Lewry purported to have done but actually didn't. Lewry's book isn't just periodically off track but fairly consistently (during the 1975-1987 portion) filled with shameful guesswork & egregious errors. You can't write a book that purports to be an authoritative source on the recording sessions if you never obtained actual access to studio files, etc., & it's obvious Lewry had no access to studio files, only the guesswork of fans, regardless of how accurate that sometimes proves to be.