Sounds on Sound
Clarion's Call - Friday, September 11, 1981

Tom Petty and Heartbreakers - Hard Promises - One of the best albums of the summer; Petty's songwriting ability is improving with each album, showing more and more dimensions of his personality. Some critics knocked this album because of its drop in intensity from "Damn the Torpedoes," but they seem to have forgotten that the contractual, financial, and personal problems that plagued TP during the recording of "Torpedoes" had since then been resolved. ON songs like "The Waiting" and "A Woman In Love," Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers never sounded tighter or more confidant. If you like the Petty, Stevie Nicks duet on "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," check out the soulful ballad, "The Insider" on "Hard Promises."