then one day the feelin just died: Tom Petty LONG AFTER DARK POLL

basically i think this is straight killer for the first 8 tracks. the last 2 are more like filler, but i don't mind them.

but my vote is i suppose sort of obvious...

(note to rogermexico: i just heard "you got lucky" this morning, on guess-which-rochester-rock-station.)

always thought it was sort of crazy that "Change of Heart" wasn't a big hit for Petty -- that song is just one great hook after another. it's not on his greatest hits is it?

No, but it did hit #20, I think. It's hard to believe that, discounting "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," he scored just two top tens; the rest of the ones you know are mostly top 20.

"You Got Lucky", but I only really know Petty as a singles artist. I'm working on changing this.

This has always been my favorite Tom Petty album, even though there are some pretty large clunkers. But the good songs are as good as anything he's ever done. Let's evaluate it track by track:

One Story Town: A doozy of an opener. Without the cussing, it coulda been a hit.
You Got Lucky: As his hits go, it's in the bottom half. There are better songs here too.
Deliver Me: Insanely catchy chorus. I love the "sometimes i wonder if this..." part.
Change Of Heart: In his top five alltime. My 2nd favorite here.
Finding Out: Another overlooked gem. How come this record is tooled on? Geez!
We Stand a Chance: First song that's not a stunner. But cool riff.
Straight Into Darkness: The winner. If you haven't heard this, do so now.
The Same Old You: Filler starts to creep in. But nobody bats 1.000
Between Two Worlds: The ambitious 5 minute plus song has never been TP's thing.
A Wasted Life: They can't all be fast.

For what it's worth Petty himself is pretty hard on this album. According to the (worthwhile) Conversations With..., a distracted Jimmy Iovine asked them to abandon several songs in favor of putative hit singles. Petty calls "You Got Lucky" a "perfect little song" with some disdain.

kinda cool -- a decent rendition of "straight into darkness" from a show i was actually at, lo these 23 years ago...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWqNPThaAIQ

"Finding You" is the great single-that-never-was.

*"Finding OUT"

TS: "you were the moon and sun/you're just a loaded gun now" vs "out the window of the 747/man there was nothin', only black sky"

Underrated album. I saw Petty on the tour for this album (The Plimsouls opened up, which was why I was there) and was pretty knocked out. "Change Of Heart" is a tremendous song that should be on all power pop mixtapes.

Voted "A One Story Town" - one of my faves.

(note to rogermexico: i just heard "you got lucky" this morning, on guess-which-rochester-rock-station.)

http://www.streetmachinesofrochester.com/logos/WCMFlogo.jpg

for some reason I feel that this is an important exhibit for the rock/class/bygone union heyday discussion here: So what is this BUTT ROCK, anyway?

dave kane is still on the air! and scott spezzano's still on pxy. rochester radio is like tuning into my adolescence. (and of course on cmf i don't think i heard anything released after about 1987.)

anyway, back on topic, i totally agree that "finding out" is the shoulda-been-a-single here. it's a barnburner.

from Wiki:

There was a song recorded for this album called "Keeping Me Alive", which Petty himself is very fond of but the producer, Jimmy Iovine, disliked. Petty has expressed that he feels the album would have turned out better if the song had been included on the album

xpost WCMF is like a satellite radio station just for people who have at least once PARTIED REALLY HARD backstage at a Styx show. I hope you heard some Duke Jupiter.

Coming back to topic, I'm still torn between Straight Into Darkness and Change of Heart. This isn't the best version ever, but I think the OP may have been there to see it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44N0twGYa9Y

Much better, from 1982:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMjReHV0IEk&feature=related

I don't know much about this album. I don't much like Tom Petty.

But You Got Lucky -- the song and especially the video -- is awesome. So that.

I love the synth fanfare after the drum opener: OH NOES THE HEARTBREAKERS ENTER THE MTV AGE.

I don't know much about this album. I don't much like Tom Petty.

But You Got Lucky -- the song and especially the video -- is awesome. So that.

― Daniel, Esq., Saturday, October 31, 2009 2:58 PM

This is like Civics Class Exhibit A. ILX, what a country!

what i think makes this album sort of a pivot point in the petty catalog is a general air of ... i don't know, maturity? resignation? the overall downbeat mood isn't exactly out of place with his earlier stuff, but songs like "american girl" and "even the losers" and "i need to know," there was a sense that it was possible to beat the odds. "something that is so close but still so far out of reach," yeah, but she was an american girl, she had a shot at it; "i don't know how long i can hold on," but the tone and energy of the song made it seem somehow likely that the girl was going to come back, choose him. because even the losers get lucky sometimes. whereas on long after dark, luck gets only a bitter mention, wielded against a girl who's already more than halfway out the door -- "you got lucky when i found you," that's not the sound of a guy who thinks she's ever coming back. "one story town," "change of heart" and "straight into darkness" are mostly grim too. "darkness" takes a stab at optimism in its last verse ("i don't believe the thrill is all gone") lacks conviction, a guy trying to talk himself up (or down from the ledge). even the i-love-you songs sound desperate -- "deliver me," "finding out" (""sometimes at night i've had to fight with this emptiness") -- or very provisional (maybe we stand a chance).

"the same old you" is a sort of half-mocking acknowledgment of the advancing years ("i remember you back in '72, with your david bowie hair and your platform shoes") and an easy rider fantasy of escape that you know will never happen ("we could buy a '62 cadillac, put a fender amplifier in the back, drive straight to the heart of america"). by the time the album fades on the last song, the pain and disappointment are taken as givens ("i know you have to feel a little used up, and no one can give you enough") and all he can offer is a little relief ("i'll come around and treat you nice") and some half-hearted cheer -- "don't have a wasted life." not exactly setting the bar too high. even if losers get lucky sometimes, it's obviously nothing to count on.

Christgau, never a Petty fan, says:

Petty's been complaining that he's tired, and this holding action--from a guy not noted for vanguard engagements when he's fit to fight--shows all the signs. In case you were wondering, he can't live with them and he can't live without them. C+

i think exhaustion is kind of a theme of the record. but i don't know how xgau somehow missed all the tunes...

...which he acknowledges in his one-line review of Into the Great Wide Open:

grant him this--he's a hooky sumbitch

xpost WCMF is like a satellite radio station just for people who have at least once PARTIED REALLY HARD backstage at a Styx show. I hope you heard some Duke Jupiter.

i love how parochial upstate ny classic rock stations are about this btw - i've been listening to tons of TK99, 95X, etc since moving back to syracuse and i haven't heard duke jupiter once! (a surprising amount of heaven and hell-era sabbath though - after all, they even named a street in cortland after dio)

voted "change of heart," which was one of my dad's favorite songs when i was a kid. this record soundtracked a million bad barbecue/aboveground pool parties growing up.

After much soul-searching... Elvis Telecom is OTM about "Change of Heart," plus it's up there with AC/DC in terms of reward to the lizard brain out of all proportion to difficulty to play. But I'm voting "Straight Into Darkness."

ps mosura-san my yootubez weren't loading so I completely missed that you'd already posted that rich stadium clip!

are we doing Southern Accents next? I'd love to read the discussion -- that's such an intermittently good, terrible record.

yeah southern accents would be a good poll. it's a weird record. i suppose the big single is the obvious favorite, but there's a coupla album-track classics on there.

"change of heart," which was one of my dad's favorite songs

my dad's too. he liked this album a lot.

(probably still does, i suppose. i haven't asked him if he still listens to any tom petty.)

i suppose the big single is the obvious favorite, but there's a coupla album-track classics on there.

"The Best of Everything" and "Rebels" are better than The Obvious Favorite, actually, about which I'll say little until the inevitable poll.

and "dogs on the run," but yeah i'll wait for that one.

duuuuuuude! so much love for "dogs on the run" <3 <3 <3

big single on Southern Accents >>> big single on Long After Dark but we can save that for the Petty Poll of Polls...

Was there a poll on Hard Promises? (Even though I'd vote for "The Waiting" as many times as I possibly can)

i think full moon fever is the only previous petty album poll. (there was also a best-of poll.) we haven't even damned the torpedoes yet.

good live clip of "change of heart":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiYWzUjfXvE&feature=PlayList&p=A9E62F2CD285F01C&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=30

and for the sake of completism, the ridiculous but awesome 'you got lucky' vid.

"the waiting" is obv classic for all time but would i be the only one to maybe vote for "insider"?

"insider" and "woman in love" would be in the running for me. i think "insider" gets neglected because the other tom-stevie collaboration was the hit, but it's a pretty gorgeous tune. (and i didn't even know there was a video.)

haha this thread is turning into TOM PETTY TREE FORT

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Three for "One Story Town"!

"insider" and "woman in love" would be in the running for me. i think "insider" gets neglected because the other tom-stevie collaboration was the hit, but it's a pretty gorgeous tune.

OTM. It's still one of Petty's favorites. According to him, Jimmy Iovine asked him to write a song for Stevie Nicks, but Petty fell so in love with the tune that he apologized to Nicks for wanting to keep it.

lurkers ain't shit but hos and tricks

Totally up for a Hard Promises poll, since I'm not the biggest fan of "The Waiting."

THE RATING IS THE HARDEST PART: Tom Petty HARD PROMISES POLL

btw very tempted by TOM PETTY TREE FORT, but a guy can only have so many tom petty-derived usernames...

It was briefly mentioned on the Petty song-by-song thread. 100% here for this

https://www.loudersound.com/news/tom-petty-long-after-dark

More than 40 years after its release, an expanded, deluxe edition of 1982 album Long After Dark will hit stores in October. The double-disc edition, which contains seven previously unreleased recordings, will be available via Geffen/UMe on October 18, and is .and is available to pre-order now.

The unreleased songs include Petty originals Never Be You - a hit for Rosanne Cash in 1984 – plus Don't Make Me Walk the Line and Ways To Be Wicked, released as a single by Lone Justice in 1985. The other bonus tracks include four songs filmed for a French TV Special at the Record Plant in Hollywood, where much of Long After Dark was recorded. One of those tracks, the fan favourite Straight Into Darkness, has been released as a promotional video.

“There was some music recorded for Long After Dark that didn’t get on the record, that I thought would’ve made it a better album,” said Petty, who'd lost out to producer Jimmy Iovine during arguments over the album's direction. “I left off… four things that I liked quite a bit. And probably a few more written that never even got in the door."
The new edition of Long After Dark (Deluxe Edition) features remastered audio plus liner notes from journalist David Fricke, with commentary from Jimmy Iovine and filmmaker Cameron Crowe.

The set will be available as a double vinyl black splatter colour edition wrapped in a numbered foil tip-on jacket with a lithograph, a triple-disc set containing 2 CDs and a Blu-ray audio disc with additional hi-res stereo and Dolby Atmos mixes of the album and bonus tracks, plus a variety of other vinyl options including a 2LP 180-gram black vinyl edition and an indie-exclusive turquoise colour single vinyl pressing (without the extra tracks). Full tracklist below.

Long After Dark Deluxe Edition: Tracklist

Disc 1
1. A One Story Town
2. You Got Lucky
3. Deliver Me
4. Change Of Heart
5. Finding Out
6. We Stand A Chance
7. Straight Into Darkness
8. The Same Old You
9. Between Two Worlds
10. A Wasted Life

Disc 2
1. Stories We Could Tell (French TV)
2. Never Be You
3. Turning Point (Original Drums Version)
4. Don’t Make Me Walk The Line
5. I’m Finding Out (French TV)
6. Heartbreakers Beach Party (Extended Version)
7. Keeping Me Alive (French TV)
8. Straight Into Darkness (French TV)
9. Ways To Be Wicked (Denver Sessions)
10. Between Two Worlds (French TV)
11. One On One
12. Wild Thing