10 Most Underrated Rock Albums Of All Time
3. Southern Accents - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
As Tom Petty entered the '80s, things were starting to get pretty rough.
After combing through material for albums like Hard Promises and Long After Dark, Petty had lost one of the Heartbreakers, lost his mother, and was watching his band get strung out on drugs. He may have had to suffer a bit, but when he came for air, he had one of the most consistent albums of his career.
Originally slated to be a double record, Southern Accents is one of the most grandiose albums Petty had laid down, as he brought in everything from horns to strings on these cuts.
There is still some heartland rock to be found on here like "Rebels" and "Make It Better," but the standout tracks are where Petty gets experimental, from the bluesy musings of "Spike" to the sitar driven odyssey found on "Don't Come Around Here No More."
Aside from the more luscious rock tracks, these might be some of the most beautiful ballads Petty would ever write, with the title track sounding like a piece of Petty's heart that somehow found its way onto the stereo.
Petty would eventually say that while Southern Accents wasn't the album he had in mind, he was more proud of the album it became, and after almost 40 years of hindsight, these songs still haven't lost their luster.