Main » 2008 » November » 15 » TOM PETTY & The HEARTBREAKERS - Damn The Torpedoes Full Download
TOM PETTY & The HEARTBREAKERS - Damn The Torpedoes Full Download
12:55 Pm
n The TorpedoesYEAR: 1979
STYLE: CLASSIC ROCK/MELODIC ROCK/R'N'R/COUNTRY ROCK
COUNTRY: USA
FORMAT: mp3@320 kbit/s
SIZE: 85 Mb"If anything, it's too little of a rock'n'roll album - look
how much country and folk influence this one has! By 1979, Tom Petty
had pretty much squeezed out the last drops of the Punk In Him, and
that's kinda ironic considering that Damn The Torpedoes is often taken
as not only his most successful, but also his most angry and pissed-off
album, all due to lengthy battles with MCA over his creative freedom
(as if he was Captain Beefheart or somebody). And large parts of it are
angry, but certainly not in a punkish way. And somehow, with this mix
of moderately intelligent rock'n'roll, folk, country and the laidback
Southern vibe, he managed to hit the jackpot, with no less than four
big hits and an album that is now forever embedded as a "classic".
Along the lines of Exile On Main Street, prob'ly - it's not so much
the songs as the overall quality of the record itself that seduces
people so much. It seduces me, too, although the hooks are way too
unobvious on the album to garner more than a "default Petty rating"
from me. I mean, yeah, the guy was certainly the most obvious candidate
to step into the shoes of John Fogerty at this time, but very few songs
on here, if any, actually reach Fogerty quality. Ah well, still
something nice and fresh to relax to in the ominous dark days of 1979
when you neither wanted to hear the rambunctious New Wave of the Police
nor soddy Bee Gees disco nor the bland arena-rock of Foreigner.Five
songs out of nine really stand out in the subjective case of this
particular reviewer (not a bad percentage either, eh?). 'Refugee' is a
good album opener, cuz you know, you have to get something epic to open
your album once in a while, and here we have an ominous, threatening,
aggressive tune with a catchy chorus and a social message that Mick
Jagger later reprised in his immortal chef-d'oeuvre, the progressive
humanity anthem "Let's Work". Ah well, he was only taking away what was
his from the start anyway, because 'Refugee' sounds very Stonesy to me.
Like 'Heartbreaker', perhaps, or things like that.
Then there's 'Here Comes My Girl', where the actual hook is really
as simple as "let's scream out these verses as wildly and as
incoherently as possible, and then top it off with a gentle gentle
loving loving chorus and the contrast will do the trick" and the
dumbest thing happens, it actually does. This one could also pass for a
Stones song, though. You tell me Petty isn't trying to imitate Jagger's
sharpness with his vocals, and I'll tell you, if that's the case, then
nobody never imitates no-one at all. It's not that I care - I wonder
how many people would find the idea offensive anyway? Are there any
Stones haters in this world who love Tom Petty? And if yes, then why,
Daddy?
Then, some would probably bypass 'Shadow Of A Doubt (The Complex
Kid)', but hey, that wouldn't be me! It's got grit, it's got the edge!
It sounds very much like a classic Sixties popster, but there's some
little bit of that aggression that's typically Seventies, I reckon. The
'she got me asking questions, she got me on defense' line couldn't be
sung any better - a little Dylanish nasality, a little strain, a little
constipation, and there you are with an implanted hook, brilliantly
resolved with the 'she's a complex ki-i-i-i-e-e-a-a-ad' growl. You
can't really beat that. Unless you're playing 'Do Me Like That', the
most modernistic track on the album (all it lacks is the Cars'
keyboardist to play some diddly-doodly in the background instead of
that wimpy one-finger-on-the-piano thing) whose chorus could certainly
compete in catchiness with 'Shadow Of A Doubt'.Finally,
there's 'Louisiana Rain', with its weird quasi-avantgarde one minute
intro, and it's Tom's first and maybe best attempt at a 'Ramblin' Man
Reaches Sweet Virginia' kind of song - a sensitive country ballad with
a good beat and lots of slide guitar all over the place. Generic it may
be, but the exact melody isn't something that's overtly familiar to me,
really. However, I think the main factor here is still the vocal
delivery; and the fact is, Tom doesn't have an instantly recognizable
voice (unless you're his mother or his road manager, of course), but
he's fairly good at assuming somebody's style, and if his nasality were
just a little bit complemented with roughness and croakiness, nobody in
the world could have distinguished him from Dylan while singing
'Louisiana Rain'. And you know, a guy who's got the "Dylan streak" in
him (and that leaves you out, Mr Working Class Hero Bruce "Rambo"
Springsteen!) is instantly cool with me. And should be instantly cool
with you. That's an order.
I won't say anything about the other four songs - they're all nice,
but since I don't remember anything about them upon the fifth listen,
this really leaves me with two alternatives, either to leave 'em out of
my review or to write a 3000 page dissertation on why the hooks on
'Even The Losers' are weaker than the ones on 'Shadow Of A Doubt',
after which a smartass guy will come along and say, 'oh you know, piss
off with your subjective judgement'. So I just leave you with the first
alternative, nicely and surreptitiously washing my hands."TRACKLIST:
1. Refugee (3:22)
(Tom Petty/Mike Campbell)
2. Here Comes My Girl (4:26)
(Tom Petty/Mike Campbell)
3. Even The Losers (4:00)
(Tom Petty)
4. Shadow Of A Doubt (A Complex Kid) (4:25)
(Tom Petty)
5. Century City (3:45)
(Tom Petty)
6. Don't Do Me Like That (2:44)
(Tom Petty)
7. You Tell Me (4:34)
(Tom Petty)
8. What Are You Doin' In My Life? (3:26)
(Tom Petty)
9. Louisiana Rain (5:53)
(Tom Petty)
YEAR: 1979
Finally,
there's 'Louisiana Rain', with its weird quasi-avantgarde one minute
intro, and it's Tom's first and maybe best attempt at a 'Ramblin' Man
Reaches Sweet Virginia' kind of song - a sensitive country ballad with
a good beat and lots of slide guitar all over the place. Generic it may
be, but the exact melody isn't something that's overtly familiar to me,
really. However, I think the main factor here is still the vocal
delivery; and the fact is, Tom doesn't have an instantly recognizable
voice (unless you're his mother or his road manager, of course), but
he's fairly good at assuming somebody's style, and if his nasality were
just a little bit complemented with roughness and croakiness, nobody in
the world could have distinguished him from Dylan while singing
'Louisiana Rain'. And you know, a guy who's got the "Dylan streak" in
him (and that leaves you out, Mr Working Class Hero Bruce "Rambo"
Springsteen!) is instantly cool with me. And should be instantly cool
with you. That's an order.
