Pack Up the Plantation: Live! is the first official live album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, released in November 1985 by MCA Records. It was released as a double LP and, in slightly truncated form, a single cassette or compact disc. A concert film of the same name was released on home video in 1986. Stevie Nicks sings on two songs, including the US single "Needles and Pins", which reached No. 37 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Background

The album was primarily recorded at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles during the band's 1985 tour, but also includes several tracks from previous tours. Stevie Nicks, who collaborated with Petty and frequently appeared with him on tour, sings with him on two songs on the album. The first is a cover of the Searchers' 1964 hit "Needles and Pins," which was released as a single and reached No. 37 in the Billboard Hot 100. Nicks' second track is "Insider", one of two cuts from Petty's 1981 LP Hard Promises that feature her. "Breakdown" is notable because the audience takes over from Petty at the start, singing the first two verses and the chorus loud enough to be picked up by the mics. Petty quips, "You're going to put me out of a job", to huge applause, then launches into a reprise of the second verse.

Releases

No other singles were released from the album in the United States, although a cover of the Byrds' 1967 hit "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" was released in Europe. "Refugee" was also issued in Europe on a four-track EP. A concert film of the Wiltern Theatre performance, also titled Pack Up the Plantation: Live!, was released on home video in 1986. It included songs that did not make the album, such as originals "Don't Do Me Like That" and "Don't Come Around Here No More", as well as covers such as "Little Bit O' Soul" and "Route 66".

Reception

Sandy Robertson, writing for Sounds, described it as "a turgid four-sided video soundtrack". Jimmy Guterman, writing for Rolling Stone, said that Petty "sounds impassioned and impressive when he lays into his early songs", and that the Heartbreakers are "an undeniably great band." In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine felt the album was a logical follow-up to the band's album Southern Accents, "criticized from many corners for being too slick," but relied too much on that album's material. He concluded that Pack Up the Plantation featured "strong performance and neat surprises", which "alone makes it worth investigating for dedicated fans, even if it doesn't quite deliver the knockout punch many listeners might have wanted."

Track listing

The two songs appearing only on vinyl or cassette have never been officially released on CD. Both songs were also initially not included in the 2015 Hi-Rez remaster, despite being a digital download without time limits. However, after fan response, they were belatedly added to the release.

Recording information

All tracks recorded at the Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, California, August 7, 1985, except:

Personnel

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Soul Lips Horns (on tracks recorded at the Wiltern Theater) The Rebeletts (on tracks recorded at the Wiltern Theater) Additional musicians Technical

Charts