Whatever might come certain career artists will stand by you when the time comes, late-1970s Tom Petty for instance which is my way of leading into sharing some quite important news directly from the Tom Petty Estate.
And that news is this: In celebration of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers’ 50th anniversary, a comprehensive new 5LP/1DVD/1BD box set titled “Origins 1971-1978″ is scheduled to come out on November 6th, 2026, via UMe (in addition to some other related incarnations I’ll get to in a bit).
The massive “Origins 1971-1978” collection has culled 27 previously unheard of-era tracks from Petty’s extensive vaults in order to chronicle the band’s “sonic formation” (those are their words, which I wholeheartedly agree with) in a most formative 1970s-period that leads directly into their emergence as an American rock powerhouse. The 51 tracks on “Origins” inclusive show Tom Petty &The Hertbreakers’ collective dexterity in creating music across a number of genres such as country, folk, punk, reggae, rock, and soul.
Each cut on the five 180gm LPs included in Origins 1971-1978 has been newly mixed and remastered from the original multitrack tapes—including those on the 50th-anniversary editions of the band’s first two albums that appear on LP2 and LP3, respectively—by longtime Tom Petty producer, engineer, and confidante Ryan Ulyate.
“Origins 1971-1978” will be made available in three configurations the 5LP/1DVD/1BD box set b) a 4CD box set and c) an uber-deluxe edition.
The centrepiece of the expanded vinyl editions is an 88-page fanzine featuring liner notes by David Fricke and Bud Scoppa, track-by-track annotations from the original bandmembers, complete album credits for the above-noted first two albums, and a trove of unearthed archival photos and memorabilia alongside Polaroids, postcards, collectibles and more.
At the core of the “Origins” collection is LP1, which is subtitled “No Sleep Til L.A.”. More than a rarities compilation, “No Sleep” is a 12-track document of Tom Petty becoming Tom Petty—tracing the years between the earliest recordings of Mudcrutch and the subsequent formation of The Heartbreakers, as Tom searched for (again, in their words, which I wholly endorse), “the right players, the right sound, and ultimately the right band.”
To get a taste of what to expect, check out the following official YouTube clip for the first track on Side 1 of “No Sleep“, the quite intriguingly (and rightly) named “Parade of Loons.” (You may even recognize some of the Hollywood faces that appear in this clip.)
“No Sleep” follows the band’s journey from their first-ever studio session at Criteria Studios in Miami in 1971 through the formative sessions held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, wherein Petty and guitarist Mike Campbell, keyboardist Benmont Tench, drummer Stan Lynch, and bassist Ron Blair all learned to make records together—which ultimately led to them cutting tracks in Los Angeles, where everything finally clicked into place.
Seven of the 12 cuts on “No Sleep” have never been released before, and the other five have been newly mixed. As someone who was able to track down a vintage white-label Mudcrutch 45 for “Depot Street” b/w “Wild Eyes” without breaking the bank, I’m quite happy to get both of those tracks available in better-mixed incarnations on longform vinyl.
Origins 1971–1978 also includes metallic limited-edition versions of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers’ aforementioned November 1976 self-titled debut album (LP2) and its May 1978 follow-up, “You’re Gonna Get It! (LP3). On those two LPs, you’ll get extended versions of eleven tracks, including “American Girl” (LP2, Side 2, Track 5), “Breakdown” (LP2, Side 1, Track 2), and “Restless” (LP3, Side 2, Track 4).
LP4, subtitled Live From the Record Plant 1977, features a highly sought-after, fan-favorite broadcast, now released in its entirety for the first time (officially, that is). Recorded for San Francisco’s KSAN-FM at the Record Plant in Sausalito, California, this 14-track recording captures the band’s intense energy already readily apparent during their early period, and it includes a guest appearance by Al Kooper on electric piano on “Fooled Again (I Don’t Like It)” (LP4, Side 1, Track 7).
I can also tell you that the Record Plant version of “Luna” (LP4, Side 1, Track 8), originally found on the S/T debut LP, features a tasty organ intro provided by Tom Petty himself.
LP5, subtitled “The Cut Out Bin”, continues the exploratory spirit of No Sleep, gathering five tracks that show Petty working as a solo artist alongside session musicians—including a (yes, in their words!) “yacht rock track” with Leon Russell—before ultimately concluding that The Heartbreakers were the right vehicle for his songs.
“The Cut Out” songs like “Save Me” (LP5, Side 1, Track 1) could have just as easily been released at the tail end of the 1980s as solo Petty tracks and no one would have batted an eye, or necessarily picked up on them having been recorded in the prior decade. I’d say a somewhat similar thing about the 1974 version of “Making Some Noise” (LP5, Side 1, Track 2), which shows the building blocks of a track that later appeared in a quite raucous form near the end of Side 2 of July 1991’s “Into the Great Wide Open“, albeit then sans the “g” in the song title’s first word. All five “Cut Out cuts appear on the first side of LP5, so I’m awaiting a confirm about what appears on Side 2—perhaps a cut-out etching of some kind? .
The box set closes with the full video of the band’s 1978 UK performance on the classic BBC show “The Old Grey Whistle Test” on the DVD, while the BD features the complete collection of all 51 “Origins” songs in high-rez stereo, 5.1, and Atmos mixes, all courtesy Ryan Ulyate. when it comes to Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers’ “Origins 1971-1978”, you’re gonna get it—and you’re no doubt gonna love it.
