Classic Albums: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Damn the Torpedoes

Written by Musgo Del Jefe

It's the fall of 1979 and disco is still dominating the airwaves. Releases such as Bee Gees and Donna Summer dominated the charts and relegated once powerful rock acts to reexamine themselves. Some chose to embrace elements of the disco sound like The Rolling Stones, Blondie, and even Queen. But others chose to retrench and get back to their roots. Out of this came Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' third album, Damn The Torpedoes.

Musgo has been a fan of Tom Petty's music for as long as he's followed music. Petty was always one of those artists I noticed - his songs always staples of the radio stations in my rotation. His music seems forever emblazened in my mind as relaxing summer-night music. It's really only been in the past 18 months that I've revisited his older albums and discovered how underrated he really has been. He doesn't have rock-star looks but he deserves the same attention as the greats.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers wear their influences all over their music. They're a southern-rock-influenced band from Florida that grew up on Phil Spector records and British Invasion bands. They moved to California - land of The Byrds and The Eagles - just as the band was developing their own sound. That blues-based rock, filtered through the laid-back, California sound of the Seventies was unfocused on their first two albums. But the addition of producer Jimmy Iovine brought a unique perspective to their band. It was exactly what both parties needed and they created a band that sounded like no other from that period. Jimmy would later take his magic touch for unique sounds to other artists that would sound like no others - Dire Staits, U2, Eminem and 50 Cent.

Eagle Rock Entertainment has released Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' Damn The Torpedoes on DVD and Blu-ray as part of their Classic Albums series. The series has examined the works of U2, Nirvana, Elvis Presley, and Jimi Hendrix. I find the entries in this series interesting and frustrating - as they break down the important tacks on the albums with the artists and producers. This album follows the same format.

"Refugee". The opening track to the album might still be my favorite Petty song. That guitar line followed by "We got somethin', we both know it / We don't talk too much about it", this is where the documentary is at its strongest. The story of the track is told by the people involved - there's never a narrarator. This song is broken down by guitarist Mike Campbell first - he shows the blues influence on his original riff. Interestingly, he plays a couple generic riffs until it morphs into the familiar guitar line from the song. And then Petty and Iovine talk about the problems coming up with a final mix - including taking a three-hour flight to New York just to see if it sounded different in a different studio. It didn't. Jimmy still doesn't think they ever finished a final mix of the song.

"Here Comes My Girl". "But when she puts her arms around me / I can somehow rise above it". The second track on the album isn't given as much of a look as it deserves in the main feature. You need to watch the 42 minutes of Extra Footage to get more info on this track. I found the attention paid to Petty's lyrics - especially the spoken parts - really interesting - more interesting in fact because so little is made of his unique sound in the rest of the doc.

"Even The Losers". Another solid song. I hear it so often now that it's hard to remember that it wasn't a hit single. But the sheer catchiness of the tune eventually caught up with programmers who seem to have it in heavy rotation this summer. "I showed you stars you never could see / It couldn't have been that easy to forget about me." This classically structured rock 'n' roll song shows how far away pop music had strayed from the heyday of rock by the end of the '70s. Oddly, we find out a nice nugget of trivia in a throwaway comment by Petty that this tune was written except for the title. And then it just came out when he was filling the spot during a take of the song. "Even the losers, get lucky sometimes."

"Don't Do Me Like That". The tune that was almost a J. Geils Band song. The song hadn't made the cut for the previous two albums and Petty was getting ready to let J. Geils record it. It turned into the biggest hit from the album and one of the songs most associated with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The song is unforgettable and as catchy as they come. It also gets the most in-depth discussion of the songs on the album. "I've had this feelin' inside night out and day in / Baby, I can't take it no more." Some of the breakdowns, especially with sound engineer Shelly Yakus get more technical than the average fan probably can grasp. But I think isolating portions of the track - piano, bass, and lead guitars gives an appreciation as to why the whole album is so appealing. Listening to the single again - I hear the sustain on the piano, the way the bass fits in under the drums and the way the drums are just a little off sync.

Lesser attention is given to other tracks on the album. Mostly they are used to accompany archive performances and footage from the time period the album was made. "Century City" reflects the legal battles they were going through with MCA before the album was released. "Louisiana Rain" (one of Musgo's favorites from their Live Anthology) shows their blues and country influences. And "What Are You Doin' In My Life" illustrates some of Petty's frustrations with groupies.

This episode of Classic Albums will be airing in the fall on VH1-Classic. But you'll only be getting 80% of the story. The 98-minute documentary really is fleshed out with the 42 minutes of extra footage. More attention is given to "Here Comes My Girl" and longer isolations of musical tracks are featured.

This fantastic album is perfect for this treatment. It's largely forgotten among rock fans who take him for granted. I would love to see the Blu-ray edition address my frustrations with the series. The archival footage is doled out in too small morsels. There's glimpses of footage that the viewer would love to see unfold over some of the music. The release would be improved with more bonus features like music videos and archival TV appearances and rare concert footage. In this case, the slightly different takes on both "Refugee" and "Don't Do Me Like That" from Saturday Night Live would have been an awesome addition. The album's nine songs are all a strong testament to the band's commitment to their craft. Thank goodness for releases like this to remind us.

Article first published as DVD Review: Classic Albums: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers- Damn the Torpedoes on Blogcritics.

When You're Strange: A Film About The Doors

Written by Fantasma el Rey

Whether you’re a fan of The Doors, have a slight interest, or just like good films then When You’re Strange: A Film About The Doors is a must-see. This is the first feature documentary on The Doors and it's going to be hard to beat this one. Fast paced, informative, and entertaining in its 96-minute run time, When You’re Strange is seriously a joy and a thrill to see more than once.

Written and directed by Tom DiCillo and narrated by Johnny Depp, the film recounts the roller-coaster ride that was the five-year lifespan of The Doors. You may have read the books and seen the bio-pic, but this documentary truly brings to life the twisted, dark dream-like world of Jim Morrison and The Doors’ music. The documentary is put together using film from those hectic, exciting days, much of it never before seen which makes the tale told here even more enveloping. The real photos, footage, and audio of the stories and events that are legendary are all here.

Archival footage rolls from the get-go as we see how director DiCillo cleverly blends scenes from a film Jim Morrison made and Jim Ladd's breaking news of Morrison’s death. The great footage from the period never ends as we follow along as two UCLA Film School guys (Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek) get together with a jazz drummer (John Densmore) and a classically trained flamenco guitarist (Robby Krieger) to put poetry to music. Along the way people and places come and go, introduced to us through the classic film and photos, so we see them as they were in days past. We hear and see people and concerts that we have read about or only seen clips of before. Not only did the cameras follow the on-stage antics but the behind-the-scenes moments in the recording studio as well as slices of everyday life with family and friends. We are with them in conflict and closeness, times together and time apart, watching as the band pulls together to pull Jim back down to earth.

When You’re Strange is more than a documentary; it’s a doorway through time that allows you to take part on the adventure through the classic years of The Doors. DiCillo puts you there as it happened and lets you get a feel, no matter how slight, of what it must have been like in those days bordering creativity and madness, through the dizzying highs and scary crashes. Depp’s calm voice and love for the band only intensifies the ride and keeps you watching with wonder and delight as we watch the events unfold like it was only yesterday they took place or last night you had this dream of old friends and strange days. The music is picked to match the scene perfectly and brings the film to life that much more. It’s easy to see why so much hype and acclaim have been showered on this film.

The DVD has only one real bonus feature but it’s enough as it is an exclusive interview with Admiral George C. Morrison, USN (Ret.) Jim’s father, who has never discussed his son’s life on camera. A very interesting look at the man that we had only slightly heard about, and mostly negative things at that. Here we see a man that may be looking back and finally seeing what it is his son was trying to do as a performer and artist.

When You’re Strange is a reminder that at a time when sunshine and flowers were the order of the day The Doors where there to remind us that there is and always will be a dark side to the world. So sit back for an hour and half and let the drama, tragedy, comedy, and of course, the music of The Doors take over and race you down the highway on a voyage where one hopes the doors of perception will be cleansed and we can see the world as it is, infinite


Article first published as DVD Review: When You're Strange: A Film About The Doors on Blogcritics.

John Fogerty: Revival

Written by El Conquistadorko

Back in the 1960s, John Fogerty and his band Creedence Clearwater Revival churned out an incredible series of swampy blues and folk songs so convincingly rootsy that a lot of people still think the band hailed from somewhere in the deep south. Of course, the band was actually part of San Francisco’s psychedelic rock movement and none of its members had even been south of the Mason Dixon Line when they got famous. But what made Creedence truly genius was John Fogerty’s epic lyrics. In anthems like “Effigy,” “Bad Moon Rising,” “Fortunate Son,” and “Who’ll Stop the Rain?” — Fogerty captured the turbulence sweeping America without once singing the words “Vietnam,” “Richard Nixon,” or “flower power.”

Oh what a difference four decades makes. Now, 40 years after the Summer of Love, Fogerty has released his best solo album to date, a straight-forward collection of electric blues and rockabilly-inspired tunes that sounds a lot like Creedence in its heyday. A lot of Revival sounds like pure nostalgia. “Lookin’ out across this town/ kinda makes me wonder how/ all the things that made us great/ got left so far behind,” Fogerty sings in “Gunslinger.” A few songs later, in a song called — groan — “Summer of Love,” Fogerty seems to be trying to say something important about the decade that shook the world, but it’s not clear what. “It was the Summer of Love/ so many people on the move/ flower children lookin’ for the truth/ will they find it or just excuse.”

Huh? Just excuse what? Fogerty never really explains, and instead moves on to more current events in songs like “Long Dark Night.” “Georgie’s in the jungle/ knockin’ on the door/ come to get your children/ wants to have a war.” The rest of the song references Hurricane Katrina — “Brownie’s in the outhouse/ Katrina’s on the line/ Gulf is a disaster/ but Georgie says its fine” — and rips on Bush’s cabinet — “Rummie’s in the kitchen/ messin’ with the pans/ Dickie’s in the back/ stealin’ everything he can.”

Things don’t get a whole lot better on “I Can’t Take it No More,” the album’s closing track. “You know you lied about the casualties/ you know you lied about the WMDs/ you know you lied about the detainees/ all over this world,” Fogerty wails. “Your daddy wrote a check and there you are/ another Fortunate Son.”

It’s hard to disagree with Fogerty’s politics and the music’s pretty damn good, but what America needs now are artists like Fogerty was 40 years ago, folks who can write a good tune and come up with lyrics that reflect the crazy shit that’s happening today, instead of trying to be cute and sounding like an intern at MoveOn.org.

The closest he comes to doing this is on “Don’t You Wish it Was True,” the album’s first song. “I dreamed I walked in Heaven/ just the other night/ there was so much beauty/ so much light/ don’t you wish it was true.” Yes, we do. We just wish the rest of Revival was more like this, and less like John Fogerty trying so hard to be like John Fogerty.