Hypnotic Eye (2014)
1. American Dream Plan B
2. Fault Lines
3. Red River
4. Full Grown Boy
5. All You Can Carry
6. Power Drunk
7. Forgotten Man
8. Sins of My Youth
9. U Get Me High
10.Burnt Out Town
11.Shadow People
Upon its release, Hypnotic Eye was pitched in certain circles as a return to roots—a callback to the lean, punchy style of Tom Petty’s first couple of albums. This, as it turns out, was more marketing than reality. Whatever one might have expected, this record bears little resemblance to the tight, Byrds-inflected rock of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers or You're Gonna Get It!. Fortunately, that’s not a criticism. Petty had, by this point, developed a catalogue broad enough that “returning to roots” could mean nearly anything, and what we have here is something far more expansive: a compendium of styles Petty had explored over the years, all housed under one roof.
The opener, American Dream Plan B, signals with its serrated guitar riff and half-snarled vocal that we’re in for something more visceral than contemplative. Forgotten Man keeps the tempo up and may be the closest approximation of his early sound—though even here, the polish and weight are unmistakably late-period. Elsewhere, Petty dials into his psychedelic inclinations on Fault Lines and the shadowy closer, Shadow People. The rootsier, Mudcrutch-flavored Red River provides one of the album’s most infectious choruses, while Sins of My Youth and Full Grown Boy flirt with cabaret stylings and jazzy undertones that recall Petty’s more theatrical forays.
There are blues workouts too—Power Drunk and Burnt Out Town—though it should be stressed that none of this feels forced. One of Petty’s greatest strengths was his ability to inhabit genre without becoming its caricature. Whether channeling garage rock, R&B, or backwoods country, he always sounded like himself. That consistency of tone amidst stylistic variation is arguably the secret to his longevity: familiar, but never stagnant.
And yet, it’s this very diversity that both defines and slightly undermines the album. While the individual tracks hold up admirably on their own—several are downright excellent—the sequencing and pacing feel disjointed. The album veers abruptly from one stylistic avenue to the next, giving it the feel of a well-stocked playlist rather than a cohesive statement. As a result, the listener is occasionally left more disoriented than immersed.
Hypnotic Eye is a record that rewards repeated listening, though it may not immediately endear itself the way some of Petty’s more thematically unified efforts have. Still, in a discography that spans nearly four decades, it stands as further proof that Petty never truly lost his footing. He may have shifted gears often here—perhaps too often—but the engine underneath remained unmistakably his own.
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