#231 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, 'Damn the Torpedoes' (1979)

Previously #315

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers’ third album was a real breakthrough for the band and quite possibly my favourite record by them. The album kicks off with ‘Refugee;’ a Stan Lynch drum fill, followed by the sound of Benmont Tench’s massive keyboards and Mike Campbell’s familiar guitar riff. Soft verse, huge chorus and angelic harmonies. This is the sound of The Heartbreakers and despite its frontman’s major presence, this band is so much bigger than Tom Petty. I read a review that Petty’s voice was like Dylan’s but in tune. I found that hilarious. His nasal voice does share some qualities with Dylan. One thing’s for sure, though, Petty had a knack for melody. ‘Here Comes My Girl’ starts in a very similar way. If it weren’t for the different tone of the snare, you’d think it was a copy/paste job. These two songs were singles 2 and 3.

The lead single was ‘Don’t Do Me Like That,’ the band’s first Top 10 hit. Petty wanted to give the song to The J. Geils Band, but the band’s new producer convinced him to keep it. That producer was Jimmy Iovine, a sound engineer who had established himself by working on John Lennon’s ‘Walls and Bridges’ and Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Born To Run.’ He was riding high off the back of Patti Smith Group’s hit single, ‘Here Comes The Night’ and a producer on the rise. He’d go on to be the “it’ producer in the ‘80s, eventually founding Interscope Records and becoming a co-creator of Apple Music. This album, for me, is a 5-star record. With songs so strong, it could pass for a ‘Greatest Hits’ collection. It ends with ‘Louisiana Rain,’ a song that fills me with such a sense of nostalgia for a time that I never lived through in a place that I never lived in. The power of a good song and a great record.

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