The Official Needles and Grooves 1001 Album Generator Project (aka Preachin’ about the Preachers if today’s selection sucks)

Lee Newman said:
5/16/23

TomPettyDebutCover.jpg


Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers



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Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Tom Petty & th... | AllMusic

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Tom Petty released in 1976. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and mo...
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Is 'American Girl' that 'American Girl'?

WE SHALL SEE!

(I really don't know Tom Petty, at all!)

Yes it is. (I'm sure I have heard a cover that's about 10000000 times better than this.)

That's about it, really.

I can't see myself lying back in bed, knowing I have listened to this album, and feeling ready to die.

2 / 5 stars.
 
Hot takes thread, this morning I see.

This is a solid album by one of the most consistent bands in American music. I mean Power Pop wasn’t even really a thing yet but you had Petty, Big Star and Dwight Twilley making it a thing. This album is a concoction of southern sensibilities and Punk aesthetic. They made better albums for sure but the sneer was never the same & there was never the same sense of urgency. Sure, almost 50 years later this sounds like classic rock radio but this was fresh and new and slightly dangerous in its day. If nothing else, it has Breakdown and American Girl which are stone cold classics. It’s amazing to think they were this fully realized from the get go.

4 stars.
 
Lee Newman said:
Hot takes thread, this morning I see.

This is a solid album by one of the most consistent bands in American music. I mean Power Pop wasn’t even really a thing yet but you had Petty, Big Star and Dwight Twilley making it a thing. This album is a concoction of southern sensibilities and Punk aesthetic. They made better albums for sure but the sneer was never the same & there was never the same sense of urgency. Sure, almost 50 years later this sounds like classic rock radio but this was fresh and new and slightly dangerous in its day. If nothing else, it has Breakdown and American Girl which are stone cold classics. It’s amazing to think they were this fully realized from the get go.

4 stars.
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I know I have only been lurking/silently participating here, but thank you for saying this; I’m calmed down now
 
Lee Newman said:
5/16/23

TomPettyDebutCover.jpg


Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers



www.allmusic.com

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Tom Petty & th... | AllMusic

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Tom Petty released in 1976. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and mo...
www.allmusic.com www.allmusic.com
Click to expand...


Lee Newman said:
Hot takes thread, this morning I see.

This is a solid album by one of the most consistent bands in American music. I mean Power Pop wasn’t even really a thing yet but you had Petty, Big Star and Dwight Twilley making it a thing. This album is a concoction of southern sensibilities and Punk aesthetic. They made better albums for sure but the sneer was never the same & there was never the same sense of urgency. Sure, almost 50 years later this sounds like classic rock radio but this was fresh and new and slightly dangerous in its day. If nothing else, it has Breakdown and American Girl which are stone cold classics. It’s amazing to think they were this fully realized from the get go.

4 stars.
Click to expand...

@Lee Newman pretty much sums up my thoughts, and then some, above. This was part of a Columbia House stack of discs my mom got me with my first CD player back in '93, and being then only familiar with "Mary Jane's Last Dance" and "Free Falling" my first response at 13 was, "What the fuck is this?!" but the more I listened to it, the more I loved it - especially the sneer that disappeared. (I'm also fine with the fact that it didn't stay because what came after was great, but I really do love the sneer here. 4/5
 
I love Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (and his "solo" stuff too naturally). This is an assured debut, but they would only live up to their full potential on later albums. The run from Damn the Torpedoes to Long After Dark is pretty perfect power pop bliss and Into the Great Wide Open and Wildflowers are two of the best albums from the 90s. So, I'm not really getting why they picked this particular Petty-album for this list, save two or three solid and classic songs. Score: 3 stars
 
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Lee Newman said:
5/16/23

TomPettyDebutCover.jpg


Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers



www.allmusic.com

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Tom Petty & th... | AllMusic

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Tom Petty released in 1976. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and mo...
www.allmusic.com www.allmusic.com
Click to expand...

This isn’t his best record overall but it’s still pretty great and one heck of a debut. Summer is Tom Petty season, perfect soundtrack to sippin’ a beverage on the back patio or driving around with the windows rolled down.
 
Wes C. Attle said:
I know I have only been lurking/silently participating here, but thank you for saying this; I’m calmed down now
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Yeah, surprised Tom Petty could be thought of as boring. I still remember walking into my local record store in my early 20s (Waiting Room Records in Bloomington, IL) and the owner, Jared was about 10 years older than me, an emo/punk guy, thick rimmed glasses, half-zipped hoodie over a band punk t-shirt, lots of tattoos was blasting Tom Petty. It wasn’t strange for him to be playing music that didn’t fit with his personal taste but it typically wasn’t something that he would crank. I asked him about it and he said someone had recently traded in the CD Boxset of TP & Heartbreakers discography and he initially planned on listening to it just to check on the condition but he got sucked in and discovered he LOVED Tom Petty, he was surprised at how many of the songs he already knew but was even more surprised at how great the non-single tracks were.

Anyways, I always think of that when people are down on Tom Petty, I just assume they haven’t given him an honest chance with open ears.
 
Joe Mac said:
Also I’m so glad I don’t listen to the radio all that much, especially classic rock radio. I’d hate to be burned out on something this good!
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One saving grace for me with bands I heard overplayed on classic rock radio whenever I was in the truck with my stepdad growing up was that they only usually played the greatest hits, so once I started digging into albums the overplayed stuff was nicely spread out to only one or two songs per album (not a Tom Petty specific observation)
 
Joe Mac said:
Also I’m so glad I don’t listen to the radio all that much, especially classic rock radio. I’d hate to be burned out on something this good!
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Funny thing is I have nostalgia for Classic Rock radio as it was something that was on in many car growing up but something I have rarely listened to since becoming a driver and taking control of the car stereo. Stuff that was overplayed as a kid is now stuff that I will seek out, partially for nostalgia and partially because it is fantastic.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
Funny thing is I have nostalgia for Classic Rock radio as it was something that was on in many car growing up but something I have rarely listened to since becoming a driver and taking control of the car stereo. Stuff that was overplayed as a kid is now stuff that I will seek out, partially for nostalgia and partially because it is fantastic.
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Funnily enough my dad, a bit like me, was more into tapes, and later CDs, in his car. The radio I listened to growing up was myself in my room so usually radio one evening sessions and the chart countdown on a Sunday. Tended to mean more new music.

If I ever have the radio on now it’s more often than not channels that are mid 90s to mid 00s in focus. I do still stream albums and playlists more than that!

Also our geography is so much smaller that even our longest family road trips, East Midlands of England to west coast of Ireland, were trifling in comparison to yours!
 
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