O N E    F O R    T H E    R O A D

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
"Songs and Music from the Motion Picture
'She's the One' " (Warner Bros.)

By CYNTHIA JOYCE having already revealed his cinematic sensibilities with music videos that are more like mini-films than standard MTV eye-candy fare, it's a wonder Tom Petty has waited until now to write his first film score, for Edward Burns' upcoming romantic comedy "She's the One." While the album doesn't add any new colors to Petty's musical Americana, it deepens the landscape and provides the perfect soundtrack, not only for the film, but for every long road trip ever taken on impulse. Petty's music has always been about momentum, whether gaining it (as on "Runnin' Down the Dream" from "Full Moon Fever") or trying not to lose it (as on "Time to Move On" from "Wildflowers,"). These themes of mobility and movement continue throughout "She's the One," but this time around, Petty's lyrics are less about trying to get someplace than about covering the same ground over and over again. On "Climb that Hill," one of two songs on the album co-written by guitarist Mike Campbell, Petty could well be referring to his own 20-year career as he sings "I gotta bury my pride, drag this line/over that hill one more time/I gotta get up in the morning and make my way/ over that hill again." While the album highlights Petty's knack for writing songs that personalize the universal, one of the best songs on the album is a cover of "Change the Locks" by Lucinda Williams, an artist who shares a similar songwriting style. As he tauntingly sings her words, "I change the name of this town/ so you can't follow me down/ And you can't touch me like before, and you can't make me want you more," Petty gives Williams' building conviction a necessary edge. The opening track of "She's the One," "Walls," skirts dangerously close to cliche. But, as always, Petty manages to escape that trap with lyrics that are earnest though never saccharine. Petty clearly enjoys his game of heading straight for hackneyed expressions --"Some days are diamonds/some days are rocks/some doors are open/some roads are blocked" -- only to swerve off at the last minute to set up a more oblique chorus: "You've got a heart so big/It could crush this town/And I can't hold out forever/even walls fall down." Many of the songs on "She's the One" share the same slack tempos (the bittersweet "Hope You Never," a cover of Beck's "Asshole," which sounds like it could be a posthumously released Beatles' song, "Supernatural Radio," and "Hung Up and Overdue," which features Ringo Starr on drums and ex-Beach Boy Carl Wilson on backing vocals). The rowdy "Zero from Outer Space" stands out as one of the album's only upbeat jams and is reminiscent of earlier, more raucous Heartbreakers' tracks. As he has done on more recent albums, Petty includes a single quiet ballad here, "Angel Dream." Over heart-wrenching harmonies, Petty turns the love song into a prayerful lullaby, crooning, "Over mountains I floated away/ across an ocean I dreamed her name/ I followed an angel down through the gates/I can only thank God it was not too late." Back to The truth about Catholic boys