Damn the Torpedoes by Tom Petty/Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers (CD, 1979)

4988031187975

6050216435

Tom Petty/Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Donald "Duck" Dunn

CD

1979

Hard Rock

Damn the Torpedoes

Rock

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Tom Petty (vocals, guitar, harmonica); Mike Campbell (guitar); Benmont Tench (keyboards, vocals); Ron Blair (bass); Stan Lynch (drums, vocals). Additional personnel: Donald "Duck" Dunn (bass). Recorded at Sound City in Van Nuys, California and at Cherokee Studios, Hollywood, California. All songs written by Tom Petty except "Here Comes My Girl" and "Refugee" (Tom Petty/Mike Campbell). It is encouraging to note that in compiling the superlative GREATEST HITS, four tracks from this blinder of an album were included, more than from any of his others. This is the ideal starting point for Petty students, (and then you can acquire all his other albums). For those unfamiliar, he is a rock 'n' roll Roger McGuinn. Those who are already aware of him will know that he has the knack of writing some of the best middle eight hooks ever heard, plays a Rickenbacker, and that he has an addictive voice and a knock-out supporting band. Is that enough?

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Rolling Stone (4/11/02, p.134) - 5 stars out of 5 - "...Ineluctable roots rock that's built for the modern world..." Rolling Stone (p.83) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[I]t starts with the Heartbreakers' defining track, 'Refugee' - the closest thing to an anthem they'd yet recorded - and doesn't lose its stride after that." Q (8/01, p.154) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...A mus-have...This is Petty at the height of his powers and slowly on the turn..." Uncut (p.108) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he playing is raw, the emotion likewise, Petty's first person songs starting to take on a classic universality....While Springsteen conjures the details of heartland America via an extensive libretto, Petty unshowily puts you right there." CMJ (1/5/04, p.6) - Ranked #4 in CMJ's "Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1980". Pitchfork (Website) - "DAMN THE TORPEDOES is the peak of Tom Petty's songwriting with the Heartbreakers. Slick, big, and immutably classic, the album is a front-to-back feat of production and songwriting."