When Tom Petty became the ruler of American radio
It was published on October 19, 1979 “Damn the torpedoes”the third album by Tom Petty. The album managed to climb to second position in the sales charts in the United States and marked the explosion of the American musician. What you can read in the lines below is the review of the deluxe edition of that historic album released on the market in autumn 2010.
In 1979, two future pillars of American classic rock, still less than thirty years old, were spitting blood to get back on track a great career undermined and put at risk by annoying legal disputes and miles away from their idea of music. And 31 years later, coincidentally, Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty find themselves side by side in the celebration of two fundamental records, “Darkness on the edge of town” and “Damn the torpedoes”. For the blond with the Rickenbacker over his shoulder, in particular, it was the third album, the one that would prove to be a gem for the critics and a nugget for the artist, going double platinum and consecrating him as the ruler of FM that summer away thanks to the success of the single “Don’t do me like that” – also in excellent company: “Refugee”, “Even the losers”, “Here comes my girl”…
Petty, despite his lightning-fast debut three years earlier (“American Girl” dates back to ’76), had experienced the typical ebb of the second album and was curiously pigeonholed into the ‘new wave’ category, almost wearing the role of a hero ( minor) for British and European fans while it came out strangely a little diminished at home. With hindsight it is difficult to understand the reason for that categorization and perception, if not by tracing it back to purely personal reasons. His musical mix, which emerged refined at its best precisely in “Damn the torpedoes”, was in fact something completely different: it included abundant doses of Byrds, some touches of southern rock, repeated references to
Bob Dylan and very traditional harmonies; instead, the way of proposing a certain background after the explosion of punk had minimized hierarchies, traditions and vices was fresh, almost brazen, casual. The fact is that old Tom was at the peak of his songwriting that year just as his Heartbreakers had broken up at the right point, thanks in particular to Mike Campbell who embroidered minimal and delightful riffs and solos and to a Benmont Tench at the level of Roy Bittan on keyboards. Today that album, remastered, sounds wonderful and returns with a very interesting entire bonus disc.
“Surrender”, very well-known live, arrives in a studio version for the first time, while there is no shortage of episodes in the opposite direction, such as the live version of a superclassic like “Don’t do me like that” or that of “Casa Dega” , a piece performed both in concert and in demo version. “Somethin’ else” is a cover-tribute to Eddie Cochran, while “Nowhere” is the real pearl of Disc 2: decidedly organic to the original album, it is one of those places where pop and rock blend perfectly, with the harmonies and choruses of the former sharpened by the guitars of the latter. Evidently it had no place in the analogue world of 1979, such was the level of competition within “Torpedoes”. The excellent booklet edited by David Fricke, in which the artist contextualizes a year that went from difficult to magical, makes you want to get your hands on vinyl.
