Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers are one of a handful of truly transcendent rock and roll bands to grow from American soil. From their smoldering explosion onto the scene in 1976 with debut album singles like "Breakdown" and "American Girl" through the Rick Rubin-produced "Mary Jane's Last Dance," Petty has chronicled the life of the common man with unparalleled alacrity. Like contemporary Bruce Springsteen, Petty has traveled many roads to reveal his cast of characters — touching every genre from '60s British pop through new wave, folk, country, and even, in his early years, punk. But it's this pastiche of influences that create American roots rock and give Petty his bully pulpit.

And while his career has already been packaged a few different ways — 1993's Greatest Hits and the accomplished but overwrought six-CD box set Playback in 1995 — his longtime record label MCA has finally found the best way to represent the music of Petty's storied career. Anthology: Through the Years is a two-disc set that offers up nearly every hit single, numerous other album tracks, and a 20-plus-year-old song, "Surrender," recorded for the first time in 2000. Missing, of course, are tracks like "Wildflowers" and "Walls (Circus)" that marked his breakthrough to "mature" artist and departure to Warner Bros. in 1993. And although not the landmark event that MCA would like it to be, Petty's memorable duet with Stevie Nicks, "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," appears here for the first time on a Heartbreakers record.

Anthology is most successful in its ability to take Petty's great singles from 10 MCA albums and wrap them contextually with other tracks from the era that may not have received radio attention. If Greatest Hits was historically important at the time, and Playback was the set for diehard Petty fans, those who have always respected the Florida rocker as a songwriter, lyricist, and performer now have an album to add to the permanent collection.

It would've been nice for Petty to include some of the tracks that he recorded with the Traveling Wilburys, as they are as much a part of his career as, say, the Nicks duet. Or, perhaps, he should have offered a live cut or two from the summer that he and the Heartbreakers spent backing Bob Dylan in 1986 ("Jammin' Me," co-written with Dylan after that tour, does appear). But these are minor criticisms for a major band. While not definitive, Anthology is a must for anyone who came of age via rock and roll during Petty's still evolving career. — Andrew Strickman