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Rating: When we talk about Rock and the history of Rock, we also talk about him: Tom Petty. An American multi-instrumentalist musician, guitar virtuoso, and great songwriter as well as performer, he began his career in the mid-70s alongside his partner, strength, and very essence: "The Heartbreakers". A long-lasting and increasingly interesting musical journey that has led Tom and his band to extremely important heights from various perspectives.
"Damn the Torpedoes" is the third studio album and also a crucial point in his career. Firstly, as it was in direct artistic and commercial competition with what would become one of the greatest rock classics, "The Wall" by Pink Floyd, and secondly because it came after a second "new wave" album that had seen him established in the old continent and wrinkled some noses in the homeland. Remembering the style of the groundbreaking self-titled debut in '76 and especially the immortal "American Girl," Mr. Petty puts together, like pieces of a mosaic, what a true traditional rock purist would do to conceive an album that mixes great craftsmanship with "live" art. With traditional rock harmonies and constant references to Bob Dylan, in fact, this work features glimpses of southern rock and a freshness that created a totally new vibe.
Tracks like "Refugee" and “"Even the Losers", especially, denote a great breadth of vision in songwriting which therefore appears decisive, effective, and renewed in the characteristic style of the early albums. This work is indeed the link between Petty's first and second productions, the first hints of a stylistic mutation compared to the early LPs, yet still partly maintaining the emblematic style that most distinguished his early publications: as a result, we are faced with an album still bound to the essential and primary identity of Tom Petty, but with variants that cannot yet be likened to later works like "The Last DJ", considered by many too rough and daring. Definitely worth noting are two classics contained in this LP, namely "Louisiana Rain" and "Here Comes My Girl," the latter also chosen as a single. The commercial success is also important, indeed this album marked in some ways the real explosion of Tom Petty: double platinum in the homeland and above all, despite the British post-punk climate, excellent support from English friends who almost actively intervened in the promotion of the album thanks mainly to numerous interviews that we can find alongside other archival material in a deluxe reissue of the album published just a few years ago.
High-level music, consistency, quality: all of this is Tom Petty.
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