This review covers the rock track Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Learning to Fly.
This track was released in 1991 on the album Into the Great Wide Open.
The track starts with some guitar strumming and other guitar elements. Shortly after, the vocals come in. It dosn’t take long before the main chorus comes in. After a short verse, the main chorus comes back, but with some backup vocal elements with them.
From there, the track features a guitar solo. This is brief as the vocals then come in with the drum kit fading out. The drum kit then comes back as the vocals continue on with the verse. After this, the main chorus comes in. A drum solo then comes in for a brief moment before the main chorus repeats again. The main chorus then repeats before the track starts repeating during a fade out.
One thing about this track is that it has a very laid back sound. It does fit somewhat with the theme, although a more refreshing sound might have been more fitting.
A pitfall of this track is the act that verses are very sparse. They are there, but they are very brief. I would have liked to have heard a bit more meat in the verses instead of the little bits of scraps they offer. Because of the short verses, the chorus almost sounds like it is simply on repeat.
The vocals, meanwhile, are OK. The backup vocals do give the main vocals some depth. The solo’s, unfortunately, are brief and they only add to the track in minor ways.
Overall, this is an OK track, but nothing special. There is very little in the way of verses and the main chorus, as a result, sounds like it is on repeat. The solo’s could have been better as well, but they do add a small amount of variety to the track. While the track is nicely laid back, it’s not really enough to make it a very memorable track. A passable, but mediocre one.
Score
6/10
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Google+.
