Tom Petty & Heartbreakers, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
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Free Music Notes for Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Free Music Review: The original and a classic
Hit: 4 Stars
From a rock history perspective, this was an important record in the 1970s. It introduced a band with a refreshing back-to-roots sound at a time when commercial music had become stale. It was also an alternative to the other alternatives, punk and new wave. Someone who grew up on late 60's music didn't have to acquire any new tastes to enjoy this recording. It was flawless, nearly every song became a staple of the Heartbreakers' live shows for a decade or more, and it deserves the 5-star reviews for all of that. Plus I personally love the record.I'm taking off a star off for 3 reasons. First, two better records emerged soon after this one (Damn the Torpedoes and Hard Promises), and this shouldn't be rated as highly. Second, the sound hasn't aged as well as it has on those other two records. The songs remain great and are performed with passion, but most sounded like oldies when I listened to them today. I may be as old as Petty, but I tend to pop something that sounds a little more modern into the CD player. If I'm honest with myself, I'm more likely to listen to Echo when I'm in a Heartbreakers mood, even though it's a flawed and minor recording, than to this classic. Finally, younger generations of Tom Petty fans who discovered him at the Full Moon Fever stage or later simply may not enjoy the earlier sound. There have been lots of other great back-to-basics sounds in the last quarter century of rock music, and this CD having changed things in the mid-70's likely doesn't mean much to those who weren't there.
The songs are still great, the album was a major breakthrough, and I can listen to it and enjoy it. This is a band and singer and songwriter that had it together in a major way, and this is an obvious essential to serious Tom Petty fans. But it hasn't aged as well as some other, better recordings from the 70's. Other than American Girl, which still gives me chills, this CD often sounds dated. I'd point those who are unfamiliar with his early work and who are interested in it to Damn the Torpedoes or Hard Promises before they paid for this one.
Free Music Review: This Is Where It All Began
Hit: 4 Stars
It took about a year from this album's November, 1976 release for it to reach me, but when it did, it brought joy. At the time, very little sounded like it, and I loved it.From the moody "Luna" to the flat-out, percolating "Rockin' Around (With You)" to the menacing "Fooled Again (I Don't Like It)" to the magnificent, chugging "Strangered In The Night" to the clipped, all-amped-up-with-nowhere-to-go energy that pervades "Anything That's Rock 'N' Roll", this album was almost too good, too developed, too fully-realized to be a debut. But it was.
And twenty-five years on, it still sounds fresh. Potent. Invigorating. And thankfully, it remains (with the possible exception of "American Girl" or "Breakdown") untouched by classic rock radio.
As Bill Flanagan notes in his wonderful essay, "The band went on to make lots of records, some better than this." But very few. Front to back, Tom Petty eclipsed this album perhaps two or three times in his Hall of Fame career.
I'm happy to report that the remastering is a vast improvement over the original's wooden sound, which was done on the cheap for a dying record company.
But, given that 'Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers' is barely thirty minutes long, I would've liked a demo or two, or some early live tracks added to this remastered edition. If memory serves, ABC/Shelter released an "official" bootleg of an early Petty show from the Paradise in Boston about this time, and it was hot stuff. Where are those tracks?
But the sheer joy of the music contained herein render those complaints minor at best. This album has lost nothing in the quarter-century since its release.
I only hope I age this well.
Free Music Review: You could hear it from the very beginning
Hit: 4 Stars
You knew Tom Petty was going to stay true to rock and roll from the very beginning. While not as sophisticated as his later work; TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS gives the listener every indication that this band was in it for the long haul. When you hear the first few notes of "Breakdown," you know there is a darkness here, along with the skill to grab a listener immediately. Sure there are two songs with "rock" in the title, (always a concern)and the band's sound is far from consistent, but you can't hide the energy. A fine debut recording for one of America's great bands.Free Music Review: Tom Petty's Debut
Hit: 4 Stars
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers for me, would be rated 4.5 out of 5."Strangered in the Night"& "Fooled Again" are not my favorites and a bit raw but still good. Other songs make up for that.
This really is an awesome album. Some songs are really fantastic: "American Girl" great music and lyrics. "Hometown Blues" fun & upbeat. "Anything That's Rock N Roll" says it in the title" & more...
This is not my favorite Tom album, but still needed for a Heartbreakers collection. Besides, it's Tom Petty, how bad can it really be?
Free Music Review: From the Shelter stable of rockers ....
Hit: 4 Stars
Classic meat and potatoes 70's rock / power pop. Would have been great to see these guys when they still played clubs. Compare "Strangered in the Night" with "Im on Fire" by Shelter labelmates Dwight Twilley of the same year.
(hint hint if you are looking for other solid 70's power pop!)