Tom Petty is quick to praise Jeff Lynne’s production skills. That’s no surprise, considering their 1989 collaboration Full Moon Fever became a No. 3 hit — and, to that point, that was the best Petty had done since 1979’s Damn the Torpedoes. They also worked closely together as part of 1988’s Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1, another No. 3 smash.
“Sometimes, I might have had the song done, and Jeff would come up with that one brilliant chord that made it even more special,” Petty says, in a newly posted talk with HazyRock.com. “I’ll be here all day, talking about Jeff Lynne — and my admiration for Jeff. You know, he’s just brilliant. I mean, I’ve been around a little while, and he’s one of the only real record producers around today. Most of them just talk on the phone, and stuff.”
Lynne wasn’t the only Wilbury to appear on the career-best five-times platinum-selling Full Moon Fever, which also included contributions from George Harrison and the late Roy Orbison. But Lynne played a key role, even beyond co-producing the project. He also co-wrote almost all of the songs and, along the way, became a bowling buddy of Petty’s, as well.
“He’s really a producer, in the truest sense,” Petty adds. “He comes in and gets right up at the board, and works with you on the music and the arrangement and the sound — and he’s really one of my best friends. He’s a great bowler. We go bowling, me and Jeff. He’s very careful, or at least he was with me. I was always going, ‘C’mon, Jeff, you sing this part.’ Because he could sing anything. And, he’d say, ‘No, I think you should sing this part, because it’s going to start sounding like me.’ He was really modest.”
Harrison, and yet another Traveling Wilbury in Bob Dylan, also played a key role in Lynne’s taking over production duties for Full Moon Fever.
“We had met, when we were in England when we were over there doing some shows with Bob Dylan,” Petty added. “Jeff had come along with George Harrison. They would come night after night, and we would have a great time. And then, we came back to L.A., and on Thanksgiving day, I’d just been playing this Cloud Nine record that Jeff had produced, over and over and over. I thought it was fantastic.”
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