"The extraordinary new collection Wildflowers and All the Rest lets listeners experience that mystical, intimate moment: The first home-recorded demo of 'Wildflowers' is among the five-disc release’s many spoils.”
"One of the geeky joys of Wildflowers and All the Rest is observing Petty at the absolute peak of his songwriting powers, making small, intelligent tweaks to these songs in progress.”
"But what makes it bearable, and makes the record so timelessly listenable, is everything else that’s mixed in: humor, wisdom, a little randiness and a palpable sense of hope. I still find the final song on Wildflowers, 'Wake Up Time,' to be the saddest song Petty has ever written: verses of last-call, midlife musings ('You used to be so cool in high school, what happened?') followed by a chorus’s inner-child yowl, 'You’re just a poor boy, alone in this world.' But it’s also one of his most hopeful. By its end — in this big, calming voice, as warm as the sun — he has become a third character, assuming the role of the kind of parent he always needed. 'It’s wake up time/Time to open up your eyes/And rise/And shine.' That’s Petty singing to himself again. Self-soothing with the creation of yet another perfect song.”