Tom Petty | Heartbreakers* – The Last DJ

I have a Japanese Digipack version of this album that apparently has some enhanced material on it as well. I’m assuming video of some sort as it has the requirements for Mac or Windows on the OBI. It’s never been played as I have a US copy of this on regular CD. The catalog number is WPCR-11344. I’m pretty sure that this is not a counterfeit item as it was purchased from CDJapan a few years ago. It has 10/23/02 as the release date on the OBI strip and if it is a counterfeit version, it’s a good one. The tri-fold cover is well made as well as the inserts and the OBI. I have purchased a few counterfeit copies and like any other collectible items, after you get screwed over a few times, you learn what to look for when it comes to counterfeit items.

Does anyone else have the Japanese version of this incredible album? I have a massive collection of US made CDs , many from Columbia House and another club that was popular in the late 90s and I haven’t even listed them here yet. Mostly because most of them are only worth around $5.00 or so maximum. If it’s a HDCD or a rare Disk, I generally list it under rare or hard to find CDs. I don’t want to go through the whole submission process, which takes me forever, to create a whole new release of this Cd if no one else has it. I don’t think it’s counterfeit as CDJapan has never been an unreliable source for the Japanese version of these rare disc. I have a very large collection of Japanese SHM and Paper Sleeve box sets that I’ve bought while in Japan, and several that my college friend who lives and works in Japan has sent me over the years that I have listed as they are steadily getting harder to find and the price of them is also going up as well.

James

This is just a comment. From all the evidence that I can find, including the release I hold in my hand, the version of The Last DJ that has the barcode 093624839620 includes a DVD as well. There is another version listed here with DVD, but it has a different barcode than the one I have.

First I would like to say that I have no idea what Tom was trying to do with The Last DJ album, other then his attack on the record industry which was well done and well over due. There were some fine tunes on the outing to be sure, but on the larger level the release seemed scattered and lost, as if it had no direction at all ... or perhaps traveling in too many at once. I sincerely attempted to get into the concept, but when I watched the DVD, and heard Tom say, “This is one, you’re really gonna’ want in your collection ...” I knew that he was just trying to SELL this piece of dribble.

Wait, wait, forgive me if I'm sounding unkind. The man has been putting out quality music for over thirty years, certainly he’s entitled to one bummer. What got me, was that I think he knew just how bad the outing was, and just trying to push it. I resented that, especially with a song that cut to the quick of the music industry like "The Last DJ." It was almost as if Tom had become the record executive … but hey, maybe that was the joke and I missed it. Silly me!

I will say that every time WXPN in Philadelphia played the song "The Last DJ" I would call them, telling them what nerve they had, being the corporate record industry suck ups they were, that they should be embarrassed to play such a number. If anything good were to come out of this release it’s that single track and the banner it waves. So save your money, let the dollar begging corporate / college radio go, search the used CD and Record Stores, find what’s good from listening, from your friends and not from some rock star or record company executive telling you what matters ... because progressive independent radio is a thing of the past, an aspect of my musical landscape most of you will never know.

All of that being said, I'm sitting here laughing, knowing that in ten or twenty years The Last DJ is going to become the misunderstood album of Tom Petty's career, being touted as brilliant, a masterpiece lightyears ahead of it's time ... but you and I are here now, we know different, we know better.

Review by Jenell Kesler