The late Tom Petty’s landmark 1994 release Wildflowers was so critically acclaimed and beloved by fans upon its release that it quickly became a classic in a way that few albums do. Petty himself was known to have a special place in his heart for the project, and just prior to his passing in 2017 had revealed plans to do a 25th anniversary release that would expand on the album to include an album’s worth of additional songs that were recorded during the Rick Rubin-produced sessions.
That project finally came to pass this month with the release of Wildflowers And All The Rest, and the box set was met with immediate praise from fans and critics alike—culminating in the news that it reached the Billboard Top 5 in album sales. As a testament to the album’s staying power and classic status, the box set debuted on the Billboard 200 chart at number five.
That chart position actually beat out the original album, which peaked at number eight in 1994. A remarkable feat, especially for a reissue, the album also currently sits at #1 in rock albums, #1 in vinyl releases, #1 in tastemakers, and #3 in album sales.
And All The Rest finally presents the album as Petty had initially intended it—a sprawling double album that covered new sonic and musical ground. Though the original album was seen as having achieved those goals, the box set shows that Petty was climbing to new creative heights at the time and was in many ways at the peak of his craft.
“It’s a relief that it’s finally out, because I just thought it was so good, and I felt these songs needed to be heard. And especially as we dug deeper and found the demos and found the alternate takes and found the live stuff… I was really glad they didn’t leave off this, that or the other thing and just put out the “All the Rest” set (by itself). Everybody got really excited when we started going farther,” keyboardist Benmont Tench said in an interview about the release.
The original album, the first of a substantial deal with Warner Bros. Records rumored to be worth $20 million at the time, was rejected by the label in its original double album format and cut down to its best known collection of songs including “You Wreck Me” and “You Don’t Know How It Feels”.
