Tom Petty & Heartbreakers (1976)

US #55
UK #24

hit singles:
"Breakdown" US #40

"American Girl" UK #40
"Anything That's Rock n' Roll" UK #36

Side one
1. "Rockin' Around (With You)" (Petty, Campbell) 2:29
2. "Breakdown" (Petty) 2:43
3. "Hometown Blues" (Petty) 2:14
4. "The Wild One, Forever" (Petty) 3:03
5. "Anything That's Rock 'n' Roll" (Petty, Campbell) 2:24
Side two
6. "Strangered In The Night" (Petty) 3:34
7. "Fooled Again (I Don't Like It)" (Petty) 3:50
8. "Mystery Man" (Petty) 3:03
9. "Luna" (Petty) 3:58
10. "American Girl" (Petty) 3:34

What a great beginning.

The debut from Petty & The Heartbreakers is an obvious throwback for its time soaking up old Rock N' Roll and nods to The Byrds, Dylan, The Stones and others.

Somehow Petty and artists like Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe, Joe Jackson, etc got lumped into New Wave and I think the whole skinny-tie era is why. However, a song like "Strangered In The Night" actually does have a bit of that vibe which I think is why this album sounds vibrant today.

"The Wild One, Forever", "Fooled Again (I Don't Like It), "Rockin' Around (With You)", "Anything That's Rock N' Roll", "Mystery Man"-these are all cool songs and there is something slightly New Wave-ish about them.

But at heart, this is old time Rock N' Roll. The playing is excellent and these guys proved they were no slouches instrumentally, especially Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench.

"Breakdown" initially flopped as did the album in the US, but after taking off in the UK, the band found a new lease on life in 1977 in the States and "Breakdown" was reissued and became a Top 40 hit. A dark song with a memorable guitar lick, "Breakdown" is indeed a classic.

"American Girl" was a single that didn't even chart in the US (!), yet it is as legendary a song as you get in Rock. Campbell wails at the end with a great solo and the arrangements whole simple, are thoughtful especially the bridge and the outro. The jangly guitars certainly echo The Byrds.

Although way too short at 30 minutes, this debut is an excellent album from a band that knew what they wanted to do from the start-no confused first album jitters here. American Rock n' Roll baby!

2 really good songs....the rest is adequate for a new band.

the beginning of a long and fruitful career.

although, never really known as an "album" band, they were a hit single machine.

I'll have to listen to this one again. I don't remember anything except 2, 4 and 10, which ranks amongst the best of Petty (and which was famously featured in The Silence of the Lambs).

i think you find that about most of the albums that will appear in this thread.

American Girl, the long lost Byrds' track that I'd never heard before was the one that got me turned on to this album and band. I never looked back.

One of my favorite albums of that time. Side 2 gets dragged down a bit by "Mystery Man" and "Luna", but "American Girl" closed the record on about as high a note as you can reach. This remains one of my favorite albums of his.

Not one of my favorites, though there are 3 great songs & Breakdown is as classic as they come. The other 2 songs i hold in high regard are American Girl & Fooled Again.

I was in retail when many "so called new wave artists" started out that we now consider classic rock: Petty, Pat Benatar, The Cars, The Police, etc............ We used to even file "New Wave" in it's own section!

I wore this album out when it was new. Very few bands were playing music like this in its time. It was a relief to see hope for the future here.

I really enjoyed this debut album. it's a precursor of things to come.

You're Gonna Get It! (1978)

US #23
UK #34

hit singles:
"I Need To Know" US #41
"Listen To Her Heart" US #59

Side one
1. "When The Time Comes" (Petty) 2:47
2. "You're Gonna Get It" (Petty) 3:01
3. "Hurt" (Petty, Campbell) 3:16
4. "Magnolia" (Petty) 3:03
5. "Too Much Ain't Enough" (Petty) 2:56
Side two
6. "I Need to Know" (Petty) 2:24
7. "Listen to Her Heart" (Petty) 3:04
8. "No Second Thoughts" (Petty) 2:41
9. "Restless" (Petty) 3:24
10. "Baby's a Rock 'n' Roller" (Petty, Campbell) 2:53

You're Gonna Get It! was a fine sophomore effort from Petty & The Heartbreakers and in many ways, it was actually better than the debut.

"I Need To Know" has always been one of my favorite Petty tunes and it snarls along in the brief sub-2 1/2 minutes it has. Love the guitar solo and the eerie piano tinkles.

"Listen To Her Heart" is another classic and shows that Byrds influence again.

Lesser-known songs such as "Hurt", "Too Much Ain't Enough", and "Restless" are just great.

"Too Much Ain't Enough" has a cool shuffle and swampy guitar sounds and "When The Time Comes" is an excellent album-opener. Love that tune. "Restless" is another I really dig-what a cool groove. I guess this is one of those tunes which perhaps a bit of New Wave feel in it, but at heart it's just a cool in your face rocker with a gritty riff.

The title cut is a great song as well and clearly Petty and the Boys were just getting better and better. The production really works for the band as each instrument has quality separation, especially the appealing acoustic-based "No Second Thoughts" which also has some of Petty's finest lyrics on the album.

One gripe-28 minutes long? Are you kidding me?

That aside, a really cool album and one of my faves by the band.

my least favorite petty album.

trying too hard or so it seems, after this it is all uphill.

Another 2 song album for me (though they're 2 great songs): The 2 Pete mentioned: Need To Know (though I prefer Stevie Nicks live version), & Listen to Her Heart. Rest is ok, but not up to the standards of those 2 songs.

Wish my late friend Carol was still alive; she was a TP fanatic & she probably would have joined ICE to write essays on each of these albums!

This seemed like a snoozer after the first LP but there were a couple of strong tunes.

The only standout to me, other than 6 and 7, which I knew from Greatest Hits, is "When the Time Comes" which would not sound out of place on a GH album.

A guy in my college dorm won a copy of You're Gonna Get It! from the campus radio station. He gave it to me. His rational: "I don't like that punk rock."

Petty is one of those artists that I own the greatest hits and a few studio albums (Full Moon Fever/ Into The Great Wide Open/ Wildflowers) but I don't own them all like many other artists.
So yep, for me he isn't an album act but a singles act.

I respectfully beg to differ. Each of Petty's first two records has 5-6 really strong, memorable tunes (songs like "Too Much Aint Enough" especially stand out in live shows from that period), and Damn the Torpedoes is almost all killer / no filler.

I am baffled at the comments that Petty isn't an albums artist.

Even more so because people wanted to see a Petty albums thread far more than any of the other choices.

IMO, Petty has many fine albums as a whole and is anything but a singles artist.

Maybe people here haven't investigated the albums as a whole? To each his own, but there's so much more to Petty & The Heartbreakers than the hits.

I have the first album another listen. I think it's a pretty solid effort throughout.

Glad you gave it another chance, Paulo. Some of Petty's tunes can take a while to stick with you.

(btw, I was differing with Renny's generalization, not your comment. After all, you had admittedly only listened to it once )

No worries, NP. I didn't think you were talking about my post

I do wonder why the album failed to make an impression the first time, though. It's pretty good.

Did they ever release one of those box sets with all the albums included (that are so popular these days like the Alan Parsons or the Joe Satriani)?
Because Tom Petty is one artist I'm surely lacking (though I'm a big fan of his middle period starting with Full Moon Fever).

Anyone own every Petty CD?