If you have seen Any of Tom's Videos then you know his weird, artistic way of doing music videos. After I was done watching thid DVD I said out Loud "Wow, that was great!"

16 of 18 found the following review helpful:

CALIFORNIA DREAMIN'  Dec 29, 2001
By Brooser Bear
If there is any artist who should be nominated the poet laureate of California, Tom Petty would be it... I didn't know until I picked up this video that MTV had made a Video Vanguard Award just for him, because he invented the music video and the MTV! Perhaps in a successful attempt to promote his band (as any fans of Heartbreakers would know he did relentlessely), he took what was then a promotional format for musicians to advertise their music and turned it into an new art form. It was on the strength of his vison and talent as an artist that he was able to attract the best and the brightest, film directors, supermodels and artists to participate in his videos. Whether its' Johnny Depp or Kim Basinger in a dedidedly non-traditional role, or whether its film directors and video animation special effects people, they all worked together to create this incredible collection of videos.

The tape covers a variety of styles, from stage perfomances to animation, to mini films, which was how he conceptualized his videos. What unites most of his work, however, is that it was inspird by the California experience. You can see it in many incarnations. Whether it's the sixties in Learning to fly, and he gets it right, going back all the way to the engineers that flocked to California to work on militray aircraft design and their children, who turned to hippies or whther its the vagaries of being a present day celebrity or the malls, or the politics and power of the ranchers of old in his Insider song, Tom Petty celebrates much and misses little of what is California, while sidestepping the usual cliches of surfers and new age glitter that one usually associates with California.

3 of 3 found the following review helpful:

A dream for all Petty fans  Jan 15, 2006
By Stephanie Taylor "fan4petty"
This DVD is a wonderful collection of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers at there best. I love watching the videos as they evolve. A fare warning though, this an incredible collection of videos from Tom Petty but it only covers their work up until Mary Janes last dance. There is nothing from any releases after greatest hits. Still worth owning and enjoying.

3 of 3 found the following review helpful:

Music videos to cherish--Petty rocks!  Sep 13, 2005
By Lizartist
Yeah, we've seen the videos on MTV (back when MTV actually PLAYED music videos!)but it's great to see Tom Petty's best videos packaged together in this "greatest hits" type package. So many great little moments--Ringo Starr, George Harrison, and Jeff Lynne join Petty & the band on one number (whose name now escapes me).

And who can forget Johnny Depp and Faye Dunaway on the "Into The Great Wide Open" video?? Amazing! If you loved watching Petty's videos back in the 80's, you will enjoy this DVD!

3 of 3 found the following review helpful:

There's good news and bad news  Feb 20, 2001
By Kathy V.
The good news is that this is the same edition of "Playback" that was originally released on VHS in 1995. The videos are great and there are plenty of them: a total of seventeen that span nearly two decades of this bands' career.

The bad news is that this is the same edition of "Playback" that was originally released on VHS in 1995. The audio hasn't been upgraded from stereo to 5.1 and there are no added features. Even the plain black and white menu screams of a slapped-together-in-a-hurry product. So . . . great to have these videos on DVD at last, but points off for not making this just a bit more special.

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