Petty and Heartbreakers Release New Album
By Susan Fielwald
The Lowell - November 9, 1979

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers have lost their heart insignia, but they haven't lost their touch. Their new album, Damn the Torpedoes, is destined for success.

The group has a new label, Backstreet, and a new producer, Jimmy Iovine. Along with these changes, they have changed the style of their album cover.

It is no longer black with a large heart and arrow as the other two Tom Petty albums were. Instead, it is bright red with a picture of Petty on the front and one of the band on the back.
Now that you know how to identify the album, don't miss it. The new material is better than ever. Petty wrote all the songs except for two which he and Mike Campbell co-wrote. All of the songs are in the same Tom Petty style with which the band has made two big hits, "Breakdown" and "I Need To Know."

One of the best songs on the album is perhaps the first one. It is called "Refugee" and is one that Campbell and Petty co-wrote. The song is rather brief, but it is packed with some very well crafted guitar and keyboard sequences. It also has the typical, but very effective Heartbreakers' chorus in which the band echoes Tom Petty.

Another song which may be heading for the charts is "Don't Do Me Like That." The song is very fact paced and danceable. Although it is the shortest song on the album, its catchy tune makes it one of the best.

One other song to note in the album is "Louisiana Rain." The song is a first for Petty because it is almost a country-western tune. Petty, however, succeeds in his first effort, and the song is very well done.

Throughout the album are little sections of sound effects which vaguely resemble those of submarines and torpedoes. These little interpretations are the least professional part of the album, which might have been better without them. Fortunately, this is the album's worst fault, and it is not a major one.

All in all, it's lucky for the listener that Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers damned the torpedoes and went full speed ahead with this, their latest, greatest album.