Consider
The Best of Everything
a companion piece to
An American Treasure
, the first posthumous
Tom Petty
compilation. Weighing in at four CDs,
was designed as a gift to the devoted who were still in mourning. In contrast,
is aimed at the fan who didn't dig quite so deep, or perhaps to listeners who always liked
Petty
but never bothered to purchase an album. The
Best of Everything
relies on the hits that were largely absent on the box set but it takes a similar non-chronological approach to sequencing, a move that emphasizes
's consistency as both a songwriter and recording artist. This distinguishes
from 2000's
Anthology: Through the Years
, which also spanned two discs and contained four fewer songs than this 2019 set. Apart from that notable aesthetic choice, there is a considerable amount of overlap between the two double-disc collections -- namely, all the hits
had with and without
the Heartbreakers
between 1976 and 1993, when he switched from his longtime home of
MCA
to
Warner
.
trumps
Anthology
in that it also includes hits
had for
-- "You Don't Know How It Feels," "You Wreck Me," and "Walls" -- and extends to his strong last decade as a recording artist, adding two unreleased cuts for good measure (an alternate take of the title track which was heard in a shorter version on
, the unheard "For Real," which is laid-back and nifty). All this adds up to the best overall overview of -- and perhaps introduction to --
assembled to date. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine