Tom Petty E-Book

Richard James

• Herausgeber: Sonicbond Publishing
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

At the Hollywood Bowl, California, on 25 September 2017, the final song of the final concert of the Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers 40th Anniversary tour was, almost inevitably, ‘American Girl’, the classic from the bands 1976 debut album. Seven days later, Thomas Earl Petty was dead.
When Petty died, we lost one of the great singer-songwriters of our era. His songs touch people of all ages and possess a timeless quality that will ensure they will live on for years to come. Petty’s music speaks of freedom and rebellion, of doing what you want to do, of not compromising your integrity, and, fundamentally, of speaking the truth. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers evolved from being a fledgeling rock’n’roll band from Gainesville, Florida, into becoming an American music institution, being incorporated into the Hollywood Rock ’n’ Roll Hall Of Fame in March 2002.
Most people have heard the big hits; ‘Freefallin’, ‘Refugee’, et al. But there is so much more to enjoy in Petty’s extensive back catalogue. This retrospective delves into every aspect of Petty’s 40-year recording career to uncover the extraordinary consistency and quality of this much-missed musician.

Richard James immersed himself in music as soon as he got his first real six-string at the age of ten. Previously chained to a desk for a living, he managed to escape and armed with a music degree from the Open University and a Licentiate Diploma in Classical Guitar from the Royal School of Music, now roams the East Midlands as a freelance guitarist and music teacher. He lives with his wife in Leicestershire, UK, and when not involved with music he enjoys travel, playing chess badly, and inventing new ways to tease his cats. This is his second book, following UFO On Track Published in 2021.

Leseprobe

Tom Petty

Richard James

Contents

Social Media

Introduction

1. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

2. You’re Gonna Get It!

3. Damn The Torpedoes

4. Hard Promises

5. Long After Dark

6. Southern Accents

7. Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough)

8. The Traveling Wilburys: Volume 1

9. Full Moon Fever

10. The Traveling Wilburys: Volume 3

11. Into The Great Wide Open

12. Greatest Hits

13. Wildflowers

14. Playback: 1973 – 1993

15. Songs And Music From The Motion Picture ‘She’s The One’

16. Echo

17. The Last DJ

18. Highway Companion

19. Mudcrutch

20. Live Anthology

21. Mojo

22. Hypnotic Eye

23. Mudcrutch 2

24. Posthumous Petty

25. An American Treasure

26. The Best Of Everything

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Introduction

On 25 September 2017, at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, the final song of the final concert of the 40th Anniversary Tour by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers was ‘American Girl’, the iconic last track from the band’s first album in 1977. This was the last time Petty would perform in public. A few minutes later, although nobody knew it at the time, his professional career was over. Seven days later, Tom Petty died.

The best of Petty’s songs, of which there are many, are timeless. Listen to ‘Breakdown’, ‘American Girl’, ‘I Need To Know’, ‘Refugee’, ‘The Waiting’, ‘Freefallin’’, or ‘Wildflowers’ (this list could go on and on, and on) and they simply do not sound dated in any way. Yes, they will transport you back to the time and place you first heard them, but they refuse to acknowledge their age. Petty’s songs could become a soundtrack for your life. With over a four-decade career in rock music, there is a Petty or Heartbreakers song for every mood. From the exuberance and energy of the early band albums to the more reflective and emotionally cathartic ‘Wildflowers’ material, and with pretty much every other base in-between covered, he was the consummate songwriter. It says much about Petty’s talent that songs written by a North Floridian Southerner, who made his home and fortune in California, speak to people of all ages across the world.

Tom Petty was born on 20 October 1950 in Gainesville, Florida, to Earl, an abusive alcoholic, and Kitty, a loving mother. Seven years later, a brother, Bruce, arrived. The absence of any musicians in the family tree didn’t stop the elder son from wanting to become a rock and roller. The young Petty viewed music as a safe place, somewhere away from his sometimes frightening family life. A chance opportunity to watch Elvis Presley filming locally, (the movie was Follow That Dream), and to briefly meet the singer left an indelible impression. As soon as Petty saw The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, he knew he wanted to be in a band.

Being told frequently by his father and school teachers that music could never be a career for him imbued the young teenager with an absolute determination to prove them wrong. Petty also possessed an attitude to authority which would land him in plenty of trouble in the future. These characteristics also instilled integrity and realism into his songs, which would result in over 80 million record sales, and sold-out concerts the world over.

Initially a bass player, Petty started off in a school group, The Sundowners, then joined a local Gainesville band, The Epics, on his sixteenth birthday, quitting school the following year to go professional. When Petty left The Epics, guitarist Tom Leadon went with him, and with singer Jim Lenehan they formed Mudcrutch. Via Randall Marsh, the band’s drummer, Petty was introduced to Mike Campbell, whose innate shyness and quiet-spoken manner was at odds with his brilliance as a guitar player. Petty recognised talent when he saw it.

Regular gigging led to him meeting Benmont Tench, a formidable keyboard player for his young years. Tench and Campbell would still be playing with Petty over four decades later. Mudcrutch travelled to Los Angeles hoping to secure a record deal. Denny Cordell signed the band and in 1975, a single, ‘Depot Street’ was released on Shelter Records. It failed to chart. Shelter, however, wanted to retain Petty as a solo act, and Mudcrutch was dissolved although Petty persuaded Campbell to stay with him. Meanwhile, Tench had recorded some demos with Ron Blair on bass and Stan Lynch on drums. Tench wanted Campbell to play guitar for him and then asked Petty to sing. Petty, who by now had a solo record deal, persuaded the others to join him, and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers were formed. The scene was set.

Chapter1

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

Personnel:

Tom Petty: vocals, guitars and keyboards

Mike Campbell: guitars

Benmont Tench: piano and organ

Ron Blair: bass guitar and cello

Stan Lynch: drums

Guest musicians:

Phil Seymour: backing vocals

Harley Fiala: backing vocals

Jeff Jourard: guitar on ‘Fooled Again (I Don’t Like It)’

Charlie Souza: saxophone on ‘Hometown Blues’

Jim Gordon: drums on ‘Strangered In The Night’

Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn: bass on ‘Hometown Blues’

Randall Marsh: drums on ‘Hometown Blues’

Jane Petty: hand claps

All songs by Tom Petty except where noted

Recorded and mixed by Noah Shark and Max Reese at the Shelter Studio, Hollywood, California

Mastered at Capitol Studios by Ken Perry

Produced by Danny Cordell

Released: 9 November 1976

Highest chart position: US: 55, UK: 24

If your first album has one great song and the rest is terrible, you’re a one-hit wonder. But when your debut record contains two timeless classics, which are still being played worldwide half a century later, and a slew of other great rock’n’roll songs, then you’re onto something.

Hindsight is a great gift. When Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers was first released, it disappeared like the proverbial last bun at a buffet. One year and many positive reviews later, the album finally appeared in the US charts, eventually receiving gold certification (500,000 sales). Whilst most of America ignored the band, Britain took Petty to its heart. Appearances on the nation’s two music television shows of the time, Top of the Pops and The Old Grey Whistle Test, helped in establishing both the band and their debut release.

First impressions of the album? It’s so short. With a running time of just over half an hour, and the longest song not making it past the four-minute mark, brevity is the order of the day. At the time, vinyl records could last up to twenty minutes per side, so potentially there’s room for another six songs. But the best things can come in small packages, and with this first release Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers set out an eclectic, electrifying stall.

Alongside the stand-out tracks, ‘Breakdown’ and ‘American Girl’, other numbers range from good time rock’n’roll through angry blues to reflective ballads. Recorded in just fourteen days, the band’s debut release captures their youthful energy and attitude. Subsequent albums would tighten the focus and define their ‘sound’, but Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers is a strong calling card, packed with great songs and excellent musicianship.

‘Rockin’ Around (With You)’ (Petty, Campbell)

That said, the album’s opening track isn’t its strongest tune. Petty wrote the words and vocal melody around Campbell’s tightly funky blues riff. Whilst the song is an energetic two and a half minutes, it really acts as an attention- grabbing overture for the better numbers which follow.

Lynch’s enthusiastic drums lead into the bass guitar riff with an acoustic guitar grooving away in unison at a lively 126 beats-per-minute tempo. Petty’s harmonised vocals are strong, although lyrically it’s lightweight stuff (rhyming ‘blue’ with ‘you’ isn’t exactly new ). The chorus refrain, with its off-beat chord attack and backing vocal ‘hey’s’, are the song’s strongest elements.

There are only two verses with choruses before the number becomes an instrumental coda which fades with some guitar fills and Tench’s synthesiser growing in prominence. Brisk, brief, and to the point, the track has plenty of enthusiasm and tight-knit musicianship to it, but it’s just not as strong as the other songs. Originally intended as the opening number of side two, it was producer Danny Cordell’s suggestion to switch it to pole position.

‘Surrender’, a song which would finally appear on Anthology – Through The Years (2000), and latterly on An American Treasure (2017), is a far superior song. A favourite of the band’s early gigs, it’s a ‘classic-in-waiting’ and deserved top billing, being a much more appropriate and involving track. It is a mystery why ‘Surrender’ was overlooked in favour of ‘Rockin’ Around (With You)’, which could have displaced ‘Mystery Man’.

‘Breakdown’

‘Breakdown’ was written in the studio in the midst of the recording sessions. The loping drum introduction and Tench’s deep keyboard groove set the mood, with Campbell’s classic guitar melody really establishing the song. His tune was initially part of the play-out, but it was felt to be too good not to be used as an instantly identifiable introduction to Petty’s sly vocals.

Structurally ‘Breakdown’ doesn’t follow a standard pattern. There are two verses where Petty is daring a woman not to leave him, a chorus followed by a guitar solo based around the opening pentatonic based melody with some added fills, a second, extended chorus, and an instrumental play-out. On stage, this coda would be extended further, with Petty acting out a ‘breakdown’ scenario as the couple’s relationship falls apart. The band would then mimic the album fade to silence rather than go for the big rock ending, making the number all the more effective.

‘Breakdown’ is a magnificent song, a well-deserved instant classic, and a track that would end up on permanent rotation on American rock radio. Of special note is Lynch’s high pitched backing vocal in the choruses and the unstoppable, underlying groove established by Blair and Tench, which leaves Campbell time to tastefully fill the spaces. Petty’s laconic vocal style works wonders with his introspective, personal words, sounding simultaneously intimate and defiant.

‘Hometown Blues’

Driven by a relentless, irresistible foot-tapping rhythm, ‘Hometown Blues’ has an engaging country-rock feel throughout, which is heightened by Campbell’s Telecaster double string bends and Lynch’s excellent drum sound.

The song follows a set formula, breaking into a bridge section after the second chorus. The third verse, ‘All of the girls run with the crowd, they go wild when the lights go down, they gotta little money, livin’ in a dream, wanna be the queen of their little scene’, is highly emotive thanks to Petty’s style of singing. Bereft of dynamic or textural changes the track, all two minutes fourteen seconds of it, doesn’t even have time for a guitar solo before fading in the play-out after the final chorus.

‘The Wild One, Forever’

Another song that was written in recording situ, this first ballad is the longest track so far, clocking in at just under three minutes. Opening with a strummed acoustic guitar joined by piano and cymbals, Campbell adds a chiming guitar arpeggio pattern which is played constantly throughout the song, never changing despite the underlying chord progression. This sets up a hypnotic effect which, when added to Petty’s poetic opening lines, ‘Well, the moon sank, as the wind blew, and the street lights slowly died’, is supremely effective.

‘The Wild One, Forever’ has more than a hint of Bruce Springsteen’s early work about it, especially in the chorus where Lynch’s drums drive the rhythm along against Blair’s unexpected cello. The backing vocals, apparently also sung by Petty rather than Lynch, have an arresting quality. There is a return to the verse instrumentation in the quieter post-chorus section, ‘I’ll never get over how good it felt, when you finally held me I will never regret, those few hours linger on in my head, forever’, which is wryly effective.

The play-out features an interesting chugging electric guitar rhythm as the music fades, but again there is no guitar solo and therefore no chance for Campbell to shine in this atmospheric number.

‘Anything That’s Rock ’n’ Roll’

Opening with a straight four-to-the-floor twelve-bar blues guitar groove, ‘Anything That’s Rock ‘n’ Roll’ is both a celebration of the musical art form and a hymn to the rebellion of youth against authority (bosses, parents, school, rules, the usual suspects) played out against a ‘by the book’ I, IV, V chord sequence. It’s an anti-establishment anthem set in a well-established genre.

Again the structure is different to the norm. After the opening verses and chorus, the song swings into a more melodic bridge section. This is followed by Campbell doing his best Chuck Berry impression. The solo plays in the left and right stereo channels, initially bouncing phrases to-and- fro, and then in unison as the track moves into its second and final chorus. The number fades out with additional guitar fills, strong backing vocals, and Petty’s ad-libs.

‘Strangered In The Night’

The recording starts with some live-in-the-studio sounds before Lynch’s pounding drums and Campbell’s overly distorted guitar soon drop onto another solid groove for both guitar and bass, which is at odds with the song’s dark lyrics.

Petty describes a confrontation between a knife-wielding white man and a gun-toting black man. The reason for the interracial violence isn’t explained, but the end result (the black man is wounded by the knife, the white man killed by a gunshot) leaves the white man’s partner bitterly proclaiming, ‘You’ve blown away my dreams’.

Musically the song appears to be following a traditional blues progression in the key of E major until the chorus refrain, where chords of G and D major are used instead of the anticipated B7. The foreboding atmosphere is heightened by angry, heavily distorted guitar fills interspersed between the verse lyrics and the instrumental section at 1.53. This leads into a highly effective slide guitar solo until the final verse with its dramatic denouement. After the third chorus, the track fades away amidst backing vocals, and Campbell weaving in and out with more fills.

‘Fooled Again (I Don’t Like It)’

The album’s second-longest track opens with a shaky start as the master tape wobbles momentarily before the band settle into a brooding minor chord progression over which Tench plays sustained synthesizer lines against a slow, bluesy chord progression.

Lyrically this is a ‘relationship-in-trouble’ song, with Petty receiving a threatening phone call advising him to leave a woman alone. This culminates in a bitter chorus with a pained vocal, ‘Looks like I’m the fool again, I don’t like it’, followed by some excellent lines in the second verse, ‘If two is one I might as well be free, it’s good to see you think so much of me’.

At 1.33, there is an instrumental section which includes a fine, melodic guitar solo before moving into the third verse, which is a disappointing reprise of the second verse. Petty’s repeated mulling suggests that rather than being the wronged person in this situation, perhaps he is the ‘other man’ to the woman whose partner has discovered ‘what’s been going on’.

After the third and final chorus refrain, the remainder of the song is an instrumental, which breaks back into the previous progression at 2.53. Further guitar fills over the initial chord sequence, and Petty’s repeated ‘I don’t like it’s, lead to the fade.

‘Mystery Man’

There is a holiday feel to this lyrical ballad which begins with a gently strummed electric guitar to which a tremolo effect has been added. This is then overlaid with some pretty slide guitar fills. The drums push the song into a medium tempo, with Campbell adding a Duane Eddy style refrain. Petty’s words relate a man appealing to a woman with her ‘ruby lipstick, rose petal rouge, dime-store jewellery, and cheap perfume’, wanting to be her ‘mystery man’.

Musically the song lifts to the bridge at 1.16, which leads into a Hawaiian sounding guitar solo which is reprised after the third verse at 2.28. ‘Mystery Man’ is the only song on the album to come to an actual stop rather than a fade and, despite its deft touches and pleasing change of mood, is the collection’s only dispensable track.

‘Luna’

The longest song on the album (an epic four minutes!), ‘Luna’ is lyrically poetic and musically ethereal; the band’s arrangement makes the most of Tench’s layered keyboard tones. After an opening that sounds improvised, a cowbell sets up the slow 12/8 shuffle rhythm 30 seconds in over which Petty paints pictures with words; ‘White light cut a scar in the sky, thin light of silver, the night was all crowded with dreams, wind made me shiver, black and yellow pools of light, outside my window, Luna come to me tonight, I am your prisoner, Luna, glide down from the moon’.

The instrumental section again relies heavily upon keyboards and drums, with only the occasional guitar fill to be heard. The second verse is followed by a repeat of the instrumental section and the third verse is, sadly, a repeat of its predecessor. The coda section at 3.20 is a reprise of the introduction with its loose feel leading to a gentle fade. Haunting and hypnotic, ‘Luna’ is an excellent early example of Petty’s succinct song writing skills, and the band’s knack for classy, clever arrangements.

‘American Girl’

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers closes with an anthem recorded, appropriately, on Independence Day 1976. When it was released as a single, astonishingly, it failed to chart. Years later, Rolling Stone magazine would rank ‘American Girl’ at 76 on its list of ‘The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs Of All Time’.

Campbell’s chiming chords and Lynch’s pulsating drums set up a Bo Diddley- esque beat, with Blair providing a simple, memorable bass melody before Petty’s famous verse lays out the story of the girl ‘raised on promises’. The track bristles with energy as the verse/chorus/repeat format gives way to an instrumental passage where Tench becomes prominent for the first time with a call and response section with Campbell. This leads back into the introduction and Campbell’s stunning solo, which fades far too quickly.

The lyrics, which chart the story of a person who longs for something else in life, found immediate resonance with listeners who took the song to their hearts. And everyone can relate to the final lines rising into the second chorus: ‘God, it’s so painful when something is that close, is still so far out of reach’.

The magnificently catchy refrain is just one melodic highlight in a song packed full of them, and the sound established the band’s early trademark style (part Byrds jangle, part mid-period Beatles harmonic and melodic structures), and mixed it with a Southern attitude to produce a compelling concoction.

Right from the start of their career Petty and the band set the bar high. The pressure was now on to consolidate on this success and deliver the goods again.

Chapter2

You’re Gonna Get It!

Personnel:

Tom Petty: vocals, six and twelve-string guitars, piano.

Mike Campbell: six and twelve-string guitars, squeeze box

Benmont Tench: piano, organ and vocals.

Ron Blair: electric bass, acoustic guitar, helicopter

Stan Lynch: drums and vocals

Guest musicians:

Phil Seymour: backing vocals on ‘Magnolia’

Noah Shark: maracas, beer cans, ‘and other odds and ends relentlessly…’

Novi Novog: viola

Jesse Urlich: cello

All songs by Tom Petty except where noted

Recorded and mixed at Shelter Studio, Hollywood, California. Engineered by Noah Shark and Max Reese

Produced by Danny Cordell, Noah Shark, and Tom Petty Released: 2 May 1978

Highest chart position: US: 23, UK: 34

The band’s second album was to become their first gold record with over 500,000 sales, with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, the ‘sleeper’ debut, soon matching this accreditation. You’re Gonna Get It! (the album’s working title, Terminal Romance, was soon replaced with the more aggressive sounding final name), consolidated on the previous collection with a more cohesive sound and style and, overall, a stronger set of compositions.

Full disclosure: You’re Gonna Get It! was the first Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers album I heard – on a cassette, no less. (‘A cassette?’, ‘A small rectangular plastic box with sound contained on magnetic tape’). With this energetic set, I was hooked. The album brims with energy and attitude, every instrument sounds better than on the debut, and Petty’s knack of distilling a younger generation’s angst via hard-hitting, melodic pop-rock songs is even stronger. Lyrically the themes of loyalty and devotion hold sway, as well as the then unfashionable view that women are more than capable holding the upper hand in situations should they so choose. Petty was unafraid to write about men’s vulnerability, a sure sign that his songwriting showed a breadth and depth frequently lacking in his contemporaries.

Disappointingly the album lasts less than half an hour (29.39 compared to its predecessor’s 30.55). Only three of the songs pass the four-minute mark and this leads to a growing sense of frustration. There isn’t a dud track here, and, given Petty’s song writing skills, the ‘missing’ ten minutes cry out to be filled with more material of this calibre.

The band felt the pressure to prove that the first album wasn’t a fluke, that they could do it again and better, and the albums ten songs were written and recorded at lightning speed. An eleventh song, ‘Parade Of Loons’, fell prey to distortion on the master tapes and was binned. Recorded over a four- month period, You’re Gonna Get It! firmly established the early Heartbreakers ‘sound’;- guitars chime and jangle, solos are short and sweet, vocal harmonies add sheen to compelling, catchy choruses, and Petty’s gift for the telling lyrical phrase is frequently on show.

‘When The Time Comes’

Opening with an overdriven guitar chord sequence, with a further chugging guitar, the rhythm section joins in as Campbell adds some six-string jangle on top. ‘When The Time Comes’ is a declaration of intent. In the chorus, the narrator ‘...will stand by you, through whatever might come, wherever you run…’, but there is doubt: ‘…will you stand by me when the time comes?’ The chorus, laced with harmony backing vocals, also features the rhythmic motif common to a lot of American rock music (the dotted crotchet, tied quaver off beat push), and this would become a stylistic trait of many of the early Heartbreakers’ rockier songs.

There are no dynamics or textural contrasts. This short, punchy track has a bridge section after the second chorus where Petty realises he may not have chosen the right time to say what he’s said, but ‘I look in your eyes and there is no real life…’. After a further verse and chorus, the track goes into a slow fade where Tench’s keyboards become more prominent in the mix. Campbell’s guitars continue to chug and chime, but regrettably, there is no space for a solo.

‘You’re Gonna Get It’

Petty’s visceral vocal opens this bitter track with the dotted crotchet, tied quaver rhythm being delivered by bass and drums with a steady quaver rhythm on the piano. By the time the first chorus arrives (nineteen seconds in, no time to waste), the tension relaxes and the lyric becomes more doubtful, ‘I should quit it babe, but you look so good, yeah, you do … I kept thinkin’ somethin’ might change, but I was just a fool’. The angst is back for the second verse, enhanced by Campbell’s stinging distorted chord stabs with Petty’s sinuous vocal phrasing; ‘Go on, go to somebody else like you do it to me. I don’t want you, I can’t crawl, I can’t crawl any further you never crawled for me’.

After the second chorus, Campbell lets loose with a simple but superbly effective solo supported by Tench’s keyboards. At 1.40, this mutates into a second instrumental section where an acoustic guitar and string section are prominent. This atmospheric interlude builds up into the final chorus and play-out with the repeated ‘You’re gonna get it’s being engulfed in reverb as the track fades away.

‘Hurt’ (Petty, Campbell)

And the anger doesn’t stop there. Lyrically ‘Hurt’ could be a continuation of the title track. The narrator is going home to California after the break up of a relationship and, despite the pain he feels, he remains resolute that ‘You ain’t getting me again’.

The track has a long, improvised introduction; instruments meander in; guitars play excerpts of the chord progression amidst cymbal washes, occasional drum hits, and percussion doodles. After 40 seconds, the music explodes gloriously with the upbeat major key feel at odds with the darker subject matter.

The verse returns to the sparseness of the introduction, with Lynch adding in many excellent syncopated short drum fills. Petty unleashes his chorus to maximum effect, the song title coinciding with the strong first beat emphasis, ‘That’s right you hurt me baby’ before concluding, ‘And we both know it’s too late to save it, betcha feel proud about it baby, you taught me how to hurt.’

Campbell then launches into a superb riff which sounds like The Beatles’ ‘Paperback Writer’ had been listened to recently. The rhythm section joins for the second block of four repeats, then the second verse and chorus follow with a play-out where lead guitar fills intertwine with Petty’s ‘that’s right’ musings.

‘Magnolia’

Originally written for Roger McGuinn at his request, the song was then rejected by The Byrds’ songwriter. ‘Magnolia’ is the album’s first ballad-style number, but it’s not a slow song, driving along at a constant 124 beats per minute.

Petty’s story of a one night stand with a mysterious stranger is poetically descriptive, ‘Her lips were as warm as that wet summer night, her eyes were as black as the sky’, and it’s clear that Magnolia was definitely not a vanilla relationship for him. The chorus contains another line which audiences could relate to, ‘…and I know she’s out there somewhere in the world, she’s forgotten me but remember her’. The triplet feel of Petty’s phrasing of this latter line adds further emphasis to his words.

The song is again simple in structure with two verses, two choruses, and an instrumental section at 2.14, which becomes the fading coda section. Whilst the track grooves satisfactorily along, the real musical interest is in Campbell’s use of slow, distorted, phased guitar lines, Blair’s prominent melodic bass, and Tench’s ‘echo’ piano phrases in the chorus. Lynch’s drumming is stylishly effective as he just sits back on the rhythm as the short story unfolds.

‘Too Much Ain’t Enough’

Inspired by the revolving guitar motif of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Oh Well’, and constantly propelled along by Lynch and Campbell’s circular riff, ‘Too Much Ain’t Enough’ has an up-beat, rockabilly feel to it which belies the song’s bleaker lyrical content.

The second verse paints a picture which invites the listener, in best ‘show – don’t tell’ tradition, to fill in the gaps, ‘You’re standing by the telephone, waiting for the word, and ever since that bathroom scene, there’s been a slight concern. I’m tryin’ to make things easy baby, you seem to like things rough you just can’t be satisfied, too much ain’t enough’.

The bridge section at 1.21 (yes, that’s an introduction, two verses, and two choruses gone already) features highly effective backing vocals splitting the second half of the chorus lyrics away from Petty’s lead vocal. Campbell plays a blistering solo at 1.39, all phased and distorted rock’n’roll phrases, into the third verse and a play-out which fades away.

‘I Need To Know’

This is two minutes and 21 seconds of pure power-pop-rock heaven, delivered at a blistering pace with everybody pouring bucketfuls of energy into the album’s best song.

Lyrically the narrator wonders whether his current relationship is about to end. It’s another of Petty’s strong-women character songs with the man on the receiving end of her decision. The verse, a mere twelve seconds long, is followed by the superb chorus with the memorable lines, ‘If you think you’re gonna leave, then you’d better say so’, and well-placed backing vocals echoing back the title words. Tench’s simple descending piano fills after the more reflective words, ‘Cos I don’t know how long’, I can hold on’, ‘If you’re making me wait’ and ‘If you’re leading me on’, are excellent.

The energy level goes through the roof as Petty yells ‘Wah!’ into the beginning of Campbell’s aggressive, distorted solo. Tench isn’t going to be outdone by this as he hammers his keyboard into submission. After a further final chorus, the song comes to a sudden, dramatic end. Utterly brilliant.

‘Listen To Her Heart’

The opening chords are reminiscent of songs by 1960s group The Searchers, then the jangly guitars and driving drums propel this compelling, uplifting song into stronger territory with a wonderful opening lyric, ‘You think you’re gonna take her away, with your money and your cocaine’. This is a relationship Petty has confidence in.

The chorus is one of the best he had written thus far, ‘She’s gonna listen to her heart, it’s gonna tell her what to do, she might need a lot of lovin’, but she don’t need you’. The effect of the words is highlighted by the shifts between 2/4 and 4/4 time with the final words fitting into a bar of 6/4.

The driving rhythm takes a break at the bridge at 1.33, with Campbell providing wonderfully melodic fills in-between Petty’s lyrics and Tench’s sustained keyboards. The guitar solo at 1.50 mimics the verse’s strong melody. A further chorus at 2.05 is followed by a relatively (for this album) long play- out with the keyboards becoming more audible and a definitive, satisfying end. ‘Listen To Her Heart’ is a timeless song and a supremely melodic, pointed, and concise piece of pop music.

‘No Second Thoughts’

‘No Second Thoughts’ is a mid-side (as was) change of mood. Acoustic guitar, prominent bass, subtle sustained keyboards, and plenty of percussion underpin Petty’s eloquent tale of a couple starting out on a possible future together, ‘She threw down her golden band, crushed it with her feet into the sand, took her silent partner by the hand’.

Midway through the track, there is a pleasing instrumental section featuring an understated guitar melody followed by a repeat of the preceding bridge section, ‘We’ll drive for the line now, there’s nothing to be lost, you and I will cross over with no second thoughts’.

The third verse features a harmonised vocal line, with Petty once again conveying much by saying little: ‘Dreams fade, hopes die hard. She cups her eyes and stares out at the stars. Somehow I feel we’ve travelled very far’. The song concludes with the thrice repeated ‘yeah’ refrain and a subtle end.

‘Restless’

It’s a return to tension after the positivity of the previous two songs with this grittily rhythmic funky track which, at 3.22, is the album’s longest number.

Petty’s sardonic lyrics, ‘I don’t belong to no one, I don’t belong at all, got my face in a corner, got my back to the wall’, blend with the spacious arrangement where all the instruments have a part to play.

The second sing-a-long chorus is followed by an inventive bridge section at 1.30 which splits the lyrics between Petty’s ‘restless sleep’ and the backing vocals’ ‘restless dreams’. This trick is repeated with ‘moving targets’/’silent screams’ before the vocals join in the climatic build up into the atmospheric instrumental section, where less, again, proves to be so much more. After the third verse and chorus, the song grooves away to a fade, with Tench’s keyboards gradually taking centre stage.

‘Baby’s A Rock ‘n’ Roller’ (Petty, Campbell)

This throwaway, good-time boogie track feels rushed in the writing. Built around a chugging rhythm and a guitar and bass riff, the intellect-dodging chorus is matched by some inane verse lyrics, ‘Man, she don’t care about the United Nations, my baby’s gone on a rhythm sensation’, and ‘She don’t want to be no dental assistant, man she got the rhythm and she can’t resist it’. I guess everybody’s entitled to an off-day.

The best section of the song is the instrumental after the second chorus with its off-beat guitar chords and prominent keyboards, followed by Campbell’s typical rock’n’roll style solo. After the final chorus, the song grooves away to a fade amidst more guitar fills, and Petty reminding us, frequently, that his baby is, indeed, still a rock ’n’ roller. Good to know.

Compared to the quality of everything that has preceded it, this track is a letdown, but nine out of ten isn’t a bad pass rate in anybody’s book. Any worries that Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers hadn’t got what it took to become a significant musical force were completely wiped out by this otherwise consistently excellent collection.

Chapter3

Damn The Torpedoes

Personnel:

Tom Petty: vocals, rhythm guitar, harmonica

Mike Campbell: electric and acoustic guitars, keyboards

Benmont Tench: keyboards and backing vocals

Ron Blair: bass guitar

Stan Lynch: drums and backing vocals

Guest musicians:

Donald Dunn: bass on ‘You Tell Me’

Jim Keltner: shaker on ‘Refugee’

All songs by Tom Petty except where noted

Recorded at Sound City, Van Nuys, and Cherokee Studios, Hollywood, California Mixed at Cherokee and Record Plant Studios, New York City, New York Engineered by Shelly Yakus

Produced by Tom Petty and Jimmy Iovine Released: 19 October 1979

Highest chart position: US: 2, UK: 57

The band’s third album propelled them into the major league but it wasn’t easy going. ‘Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead’ (a quote attributed to naval commander David Farragut during the American Civil War in 1864) was an entirely appropriate title.

The band’s record contract with Shelter Records was transferred when Shelter’s distributor, ABC Records, was purchased by MCA in 1979. Petty reacted strongly, resisting the idea that their music was a product to be traded without his permission. When MCA sued him for breach of contract Petty declared bankruptcy as a method of voiding the agreement. Eventually, he signed to Denny Bransdon at Backstreet Records, a separate division of MCA, which would be the band’s label for the next thirteen years.

Against this tense backdrop Petty, and the similarly focused producer Jimmy Iovine sought to make his best album so far. It was Denny Cordell who suggested Petty work with Iovine. Cordell felt that he had done all he could for the band and, having heard the drum sound Iovine had captured on Patti Smith’s ‘Because The Night’, Petty wanted to work with the Italian New Yorker. Iovine came with his own engineer, the painstaking and gifted Shelly Yakus, and it was this trio who would hone the record’s famous, and soon to be quintessential Heartbreakers sound.

But it was a long, hard struggle. Iovine, the taskmaster’s taskmaster, wanted every song to be a single live take. There were to be no edits, no overdubs, no ‘drop-in’s; everyone had to be at the top of their game every time. This exhausting approach rubbed Stan Lynch up the wrong way to such an extent that he left the band. Other drummers were tried out, including P J Wilson (Procol Harum) and Phil Seymour, but the consensus was that nobody sounded like Lynch, and he was persuaded to return to the fold.

What finally emerged was a magnificent collection of songs lifted by the finest recorded sound the band had achieved to date. Damn The Torpedoes is full of energy with beautifully crafted and arranged tracks played with passion and precision. Again Petty’s on-the-surface simple songs displayed complex undercurrents with timeless themes. Heartland American rock’n’roll collided joyfully with Byrds-style jangle and Rolling Stones rhythms to produce the unique sound of a band firing on all cylinders whilst still staying true to their Southern roots. It was a compelling combination, and Damn The Torpedoes gave Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers the breakthrough they deserved. The album lasted just under 37 minutes, a decent length for a single vinyl release at the time.

‘Refugee’ (Petty, Campbell)

One of Petty’s career-defining songs began life when Mike Campbell was guitar- doodling, having listened to Albert King’s ‘Oh Pretty Woman’. Inspiration struck and soon, a complete chord sequence, including the now-iconic short introductory melody, was presented to Petty, who fashioned an anthem which those who felt exiled by their teenage angst immediately took to their hearts.

Whilst ‘Refugee’ was quickly written, it required many takes in the studio before the producers were satisfied. Lynch’s enormous drum sound alone took days to find, even after Yakus had taken Lynch drum shopping for a superior kit.