Tom Petty hits the big time
"Damn the Torpedoes" was the album that pushed Tom Petty solidly into the mainstream and gave him a large audience. Deservedly so, for this is a fine album. The two best songs, "Refugee" and "Here Comes My Girl," kick things off in fine form and things roll along from there. Petty and the band are just getting the feel of being major rock stars. Their signature sound was perfected on this record. The album closes with "Louisiana Rain," another excellent cut. Except for the albums "Full Moon Fever," and "Southern Accents," this is Petty's best.
One of rock and roll's finest moments
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers third release, which has served as their commercial breakthrough, is also one of rock's most finely crafted albums. Damn the Torpedoes was recorded with the genius producer, Jimmy Iovine, in the midst one of Petty's most stressful ordeals - a heavy lawsuit with his new label MCA. Through the yearlong court battle, Petty did not only write some of rock's greatest tunes but recorded them with the utmost discipline to create his first, but not final, masterpiece. This is evident from the opener, "Refugee", which is now considered Petty and the Heartbreakers' ultimate classic. The fun does not stop there, however, as Petty and the Heartbreakers rip through the rest of Side 1 with such energy and rock and roll spirit that would put the Stones to shame. Side 2 starts off with Petty's first Top 10 and instant classic, "Don't Do Me Like That" as it gently flows into a more eclectic approach with hints of soul and rockabilly. The album ends with a little bit o' country in the form of another Petty classic, "Louisiana Rain", a perfect ending to one of rock's finest moments. Other Petty classics: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (1st album), Southern Accents, Full Moon Fever (Tom Petty solo), Wildflowers (Tom Petty solo), Echo.
-Nate Kirk
Prime Petty
Once upon a time, long before middle age and Traveling Wilburys and Full Moon Fever, decades before the annoying David Spade caricature, a youthful Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers rocked with breathtaking passion and talent. They came fully into their prime with this recording, bursting into the public eye in November of 1979 with a performance of "Refugee" on Saturday Night Live. Blown away, I was at the record store the next day to buy this amazing album.
This is the finest recording made by the band, and the obvious choice for anyone who wants to buy their first Tom Petty CD. Some may prefer a greatest-hits package, but these songs were meant to be heard together, to flow as an album. Some may prefer the older mellower acoustic-guitar-strumming Petty, and that Petty has continued to make excellent music. But to buy Full Moon Fever first would be a bit like buying Springsteen doing The Rising instead of Born to Run, or Dylan doing Love and Theft instead of Blonde on Blonde. There are graceful comebacks, and then there is youthful creativity with passion and sometimes genius - Damn the Torpedoes is the latter.
This album contains everything you need to know about the band at its best. The stripped-down sound (more polished than garage rock, but just as vital), Petty's voice going from whines to raspy growls to scathing Dylanesque bitterness, evocative lyrics that take the listener through every possible emotion in 3 minutes, that 12-string Rickenbacker on the cover photo with the singer as skinny as I was back then, Mike Campbell's Chuck Berry-esque guitar solos, a driving rhythm section. Tom Petty would never come back to rock like this again. He's done music that's arguably as good, but rarely as consistent, and never with such blazing energy and gutsiness.
It would be easy to praise song after song in detail, but the bottom line is that this is indeed the quintessential Tom Petty album, every song a gem, the singer and his band at their youthful peak.
Another Masterpiece From Tom Petty
DAMN THE TORPEDOES is the third masterpiece in a row from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, and his breakthrough record. The album's songs were written during a major battle with MCA Records, but could be metaphors for any struggle. I've listened to this album when I was not feeling well, and it gave me new hope for a quick recovery. The first four songs on the album- "Refugee", "Here Comes My Girl", "Even The Losers", and "Don't Do Me Like That"- are the best, but the rest are also excellent. Petty and his band can be compared to American artists ranging from Skynyrd and the Outlaws to Springsteen and Bob Seger, and any serious rock fan should own DAMN THE TORPEDOES in some form.
Another Masterpiece For Tom Petty
DAMN THE TORPEDOES is the third masterpiece in a row for Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. The songs were written in the wake of his attempts to renegotiate an unfair contract with MCA Records, and they are full of romantic issues looked at in a manner full of hope-against-hope compassion, but could just as easily be metaphors for attempting to succeed in any kind of struggle. I've listened to this record when I've been not feeling too well, and the lyrics gave me new hope for a quick recovery. The first four songs- "Refugee", "Here Comes My Girl", "Even The Losers", and "Don't Do Me Like That"- are obviously the best, but there are a
number of other very good ones on this album as well. This is one of the great albums to come out of the second half of the 70s.
To refer to Damn the Torpedoes as Tom Petty's breakthrough album is to seriously understate the case. His first two albums had already sold pretty decently and endeared him to America's rock press, but it took the success of Damn the Torpedoes to really establish Petty as one of the top names in mainstream rock. Though "Don't Do Me Like That" was the record's lone top 10 smash, nearly every song on it sounds like a hit; thanks to their timeless mix of Byrdsy jangle and Stonesy rock, "Refugee," "Here Comes My Girl," and "Even the Losers" still get plenty of classic-rock radio play, while "Shadow of a Doubt (Complex Kid)," "Century City," and "Louisiana Rain" are all minor classics in their own right. --Dan Epstein
