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Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Long After Dark Audio CD

A fair review of the Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers "Long After Dark" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers reviews here, or go back to the Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers tabs.

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Band: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
Title: Long After Dark
Rating:
Release Date: 2001-03-20
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: One Story Town 2: You Got Lucky 3: Deliver Me 4: Change of Heart 5: Finding Out 6: We Stand a Chance 7: Straight into Darkness 8: Same Old You 9: Between Two Worlds 10: Wasted Life

Underrated? You bet!
Like so many other reviewers - without an agenda - who have actually taken the time to LISTEN to this album . . I think it's just great! It's the very first Tom Petty album I ever bought, or even listened to in its entirety, and I still think it's his overall best - the songs are so very listenable, from beginning to end. I knew Petty songs before I got this album, and I liked them well enough, to be sure - but for years I've felt that almost every single song on this album ranks right up there with his acknowledged classics.


Change of heart, WHERE IS IT ON TOM's HITS CD ?
WHY?? This song is very good . Great song, but not on tom's GREATEST HIT CD. Better than the other songs on his HITS. Deliver me, another song, is as well. This may be tom's secret album. . . . . . the one everybody forgets about. . . THEN. . . . listens to and loves. Dirty trick tom petty. But we love, the album. SO it worked !!!!!!.


Tom Petty's Underated 5th.
It had made them a first-class rock band with a distinct sound, and it had pushed them close to burnout. Four terrific albums and non-stop touring had done two things to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. After the breakthrough of both Damn the Torpedoes and Hard Promises, the backslide was inevitable, and "Long After Dark" was it.

In the old days of LP's with a side one and two, I remember wearing the A-side of this album to the groove. The first five songs are vintage Petty, with "Deliver Me" and "Change Of Heart" both songs that should have been hits. "One Story Town" is a classic rocker that would have fit on any previous Heartbreakers album, and "You Got Lucky" was probably the last gasp of Petty's 'new-wave' connection to the 80's. It would have made a full five star EP.

However, the second half of the album shows its wear and tear. Only the sardonic "The Same Old You" and the glorious "A Wasted Life" hold up with earlier material. The other three songs are a tad generic, with "Between Two Worlds" and "Straight Into Darkness" sounding like leftovers from better work. Still, Petty's off-line songs can still whup a mediocre band with a guitar string tied behind its back. Even a tossed of lyric (from "The Same Old You") can merit a smile:

"I remember you back in '72
with your David Bowie haircut
and your platform shoes. "

It is one of the reasons why I feel that "Long After Dark" is unjustly under-rated. Petty had been on a hot streak for so long, that less than stellar material felt like a gigantic let down. To me, this was the final moment in Petty and the Heartbreaker's early chapter. The prolonged break between this album and the slick and more Southern Rockish Southern Accents marked a distinct and sharp divide in style. (Well, with Let Me Up (I've Had Enough) being a coda to that era. ) It's still a superb album, and marks a transitional point in Petty's career.


Best Ever !
If I choose "The Best of Tom Petty"; it would be this CD, really moves you.


2001 HDCD Remaster Version Of A Forgotten 1982 Classic!
Tune after tune smacks you in the gob with their economy and brilliance - all of it is just great. Released in November 1982 "Long After Dark" seemed to slip through the cracks - no-one seemed to notice it - especially here in the UK - when it's actually a brilliant rock album with all the great Petty trademark hooks and catchy choruses.

But the reason for this review - and it's pricey value on the open market of the CD hard copy - is that this issue is not the crap 80's CD initially issued, but the 2001 HDCD version (High Definition Compact Disc) - and the difference in sound couldn't be more pronounced.

Remastered by Joe Gastwirt at Oceanview Digital from the original analogue master tapes - the sound on this issue is just stupendous - clear, rockin' and so loud, you may have to turn the stereo down! A truly fantastic remaster job.

The booklet is ok - reproducing the lyrics the original inner sleeve had - and the back inlay picture is different to the 80's issue, but that's about it. Doesn't really matter that because the sound is just so gobsmacking.

An absolute blinder of an album - and not nearly as dated as so much Eighties cack is. Thoroughly recommended - even at a price.


You can see a complete list of all Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers discography, or go back to the Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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