Search - Tom Petty & Heartbreakers :: Damn the Torpedoes

Though easily as consistent as their first two releases, it was Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' third release, Damn the Torpedoes, that catapulted Petty and company into the first rank of American rock acts. It's not hard to understand why. With a slate of driving songs destined to become FM staples ("Refugee," "Here Comes My Girl," "Even the Losers," "Don't Do Me Like That"), it's an album that plays much like half a greatest-hits collection. Fusing a rootsy sensibility heavy with Dylan and Byrds affectations with his own pop instincts (honed by early stints with Mudcrutch and Dwight Twilley) and coupling them with one of rock's most consistently underrated powerhouses, the Heartbreakers, Petty's throwback traditionalism oddly found him riding the crest of the new wave in the late '70s. All tracks on this new edition have been sonically upgraded via state-of-the-art digital remastering. --Jerry McCulley