Search - Tom Petty & Heartbreakers :: Long After Dark

The beginning of the end

11/14/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

""Long After Dark" is the sound of a band in transition and perhaps just past its youthful peak. Not far past it - if you like the band's early sound, already have "Damn The Torpedoes" and "Hard Promises", and perhaps the first two albums, you may want this one in your collection for variety if not for quality. It's a definite step down from earlier work. Not way down, and it's aged better than the first album to my ears. But this would not make my list of Tom Petty's 5 best CD's. I'd buy it only for the sake of completion - it's the last recording (except for bits of Echo) that featured the band's original sound. If you're primarily a fan of the "Full Moon Fever"-and-later Petty, this one may not be for you at all.

The sound here is occasionally a bit harder here than on earlier albums, and as such may have some appeal to those who (unlike me) are fans of "Let Me Up (I've Had Enough)". Jangling guitars give way here and there to power chords. Sometimes, as in "Change of Heart", this makes for a great sound. But something is missing. The lyrics are lighter than on "Hard Promises", the level of emotion reduced. The band tries to sound tough, but the passion sounds artificial, the songs overly crafted with perfect hooks, and there are often catchy choruses with nothing very interesting between them. This was the first of their CD's I didn't think was consistently good all the way through.Most of the songs sound like "Damn the Torpedoes" material to some extent. "One Story Town", "Deliver Me", "Finding Out", "Straight Into Darkness", and "The Same Old You" could have fit into that album musically, though the lyrics are less inspired. "Change of Heart" is probably the best song here, but even good lyrics don't sound as heartfelt as on "Damn The Torpedoes" or "Hard Promises". "You Got Lucky" is the synthesizer-laced song (there's only the one - not sure why some reviewers here go on about synthesizers) that just doesn't fit in. It ruins the flow of the CD for me and I didn't like the 80's pop sound, but it was a hit and odds are that you like it and won't find it as annoying as I do. That new guitar style comes out a bit on "We Stand A Chance" and "Between Two Worlds", and the album closes nicely with "A Wasted Life", a lovely gentle song with a catchy chorus and maybe even some earnest feeling.I see "Long After Dark" as the first sign of a really great band starting to slip toward mediocrity. Some consider the following two albums, "Southern Accents" and "Let Me Up (I've Had Enough)" to be a brilliant concept album and a return to a great hard rock sound, respectively. For those of us who consider "Southern Accents" a largely-failed effort with a few great moments, and "Let Me Up (I've Had Enough)" a dismal and misguided attempt to recapture the band's youth, "Long After Dark" is the first sign of the band's gradual decline before a a delightful comeback and a new grown-up sound on "Full Moon Fever"."

Petty was never better

Robin E. Palmer | 01/21/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Hardcore TP fans know that he was embroiled in a contract dispute at the time he made this album -- the dollars involved were laughable compared to what's being made today -- and of all the Petty albums I own (which is all of them) this one gets the most speaker time. The album starts slowly ("One Story Town" educates the uninitiated to Tom's personal history, while "You Got Lucky" is the obvious radio hit), but then TP goes deep. The guitar riffs on "Deliver Me" and "Change of Heart" (punctuated with Tom's trademark "A-W-W-W-O-A-H") are pure audio adrenaline, and the song cycle on side 2 is Tom seeing his marriage and career fall apart...and having only the music to hang onto. So, after the the last valentine of "We Stand a Chance," he whips out the 12-string electric and beats on it for 3 straight glorious songs. "Straight Into Darkness" might be the most complex song Tom's ever done, and the Heartbreakers have never sounded better. "The Same Old You" is the bitter bridge that leads to Tom's most honest vocal, the crushing "Between Two Worlds." In my mind, this was Petty's most difficult album to make -- and he separates himself from the pretenders by ending it on a weirdly upbeat note (the almost lullaby-ish "Wasted Life"). This album was Petty at a pivotal moment in his life -- there may not be blood on the tracks, but there are more than a few beads of sweat and tears."

This is probably the best Tom Petty made

mike phillips | wilmington,de | 05/16/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"While Damn the Torpedoes might have been Petty's breakthru, this was definitely his most hard driving and riveting Cd. One story Town & You Got Lucky might make you think this is going to be a slower Cd, but it takes off after this and barely lets up with rockers like Deliver Me,Change of Heart, Finding Out, and one of my favorite classic rock 80's tunes Same Old You. It's a departure from the typical Petty sound, and who can't like lyrics like "I remeber you back in 72, with your david Bowie hair and your platform shoes, your part time job selling fast food, but out on the street you were nobody's fool?" So cool!This was sadly one of his last great rock Cds before he went a little more adult oriented w/Southern Accents and Into the Great Wide Open, nevermind those agonizingly slow solo projects!Let's remember him by this CD!"