Record Review
Youngstown Vindicator - Tuesday, December 7, 1982
"Long After Dark" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (Backstreet Records).
Confirmed atavist Petty continues to mine a Byrd's lead voice over neo-classic, Springsteen-E Street Band riffs, slightly pared down. His craft is faultless, his production superb.
Petty's latest lost in the dark
By Ron Yeany
The Daily Collegian - December 8, 1982
"Long After Dark," Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Backstreet, BSR-5360
"I'm for standin' up, I'm for breakin' free/I don't want fate handed down to me." For one of music's thoroughbreds, tough and lean that is, this seems to be the motto of Tom Petty. Petty, who has not followed conventional paths to fame and fortune in the music business, who has fought with record companies over the prices charged for his albums, and who has fought his way to the top nonetheless, has now issued a reversal in theory.
Music Opinion: Petty Gets Back To Basics
By Joel McNally
The News and Courier - Saturday, December 11, 1982
It is nearly impossible to teach someone how to sing in a good rock voice. It sounds like grinding sausage.
There are rules like: First, you kind of scrunch up your vocal chords. Them, you sort of squeeze the lyrics out.
The end result is that instead of coming out all smooth and boring like the singing of all those horrible old crooners, rock singing has all sorts of interesting textures.
Petty back in the charts
The Sydney Sun-Herald - December 26, 1982
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers hit their stride in 1979 with their Damn the Torpedoes album.
It was a breakthrough record of refreshing, finely crafted rock and roll songs. Three tracks were turned into hit singles and the album itself was one of the best selling of the time.
The group's next album, Hard Promises, was another winner, though not in the same class as Torpedoes.
Their latest album, however, is. Called Long After Dark, it is currently Number 12 with a bullet on American Cashbox Magazine's chart. The single off the album, called You Got Lucky, is Number 21 with a bullet.
The top 10 albums of 1982
By Don McLeese
The Courier - December 28, 1982
Ranking records has long been a subjective exercise. One man's "cross-cultural breakthrough" is another's "it's got a good beat and it's fun to dance to."
Even so, I have a hunch that there'll be even less of a consensus within 1982's year-end lists than in any year since I've been compiling them. As the scene has become increasingly fragmented, different listeners are listening for different things in different records.
Here, then, are the albums that made one listener feel most alive in 1982:
2. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, "Long After Dark": Petty and band do little that is new here, but they do everything more powerfully than before. A mainstream masterpiece that plays for keeps, from a classic rocker who has finally outgrown his influences.
Pop Shop: Top twenty musical gems to crown a year of plenty
By R.S. Murthi
New Straits Times - Friday, December 30, 1982
TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS: Long After Dark (Backstreet Records BSR-5360): Petty gets witty while wallowing in self-pity. Breezy West Coast rock, fine singing, smart songs and fine instrumentation.
Petty's a diamond only in the rough
By Jim Angell
Tri City Herald - December 31, 1982
Long After Dark. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Backstreet Records. ★★
Raw rocker Tom Petty is filing off some of his rough edges as he grows older, creating a slicker -- but not necessarily better -- sound than the one which brought him to fame with "Refugee."
It would seem Petty would get tired of the same old love ballads and stories of the street featuring the same repetitive lyrics and simple melody lines. Because everyone else is.
Rock '82: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
By Alison Power
Ogdensburg Journal - Sunday, January 2, 1983
The Good
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers -- The "Dragnet" band of rock and roll -- just the facts ma'am, just the facts. But they're presented well, and with 1982's "Long After Dark," this band has again provided me with an album that I can actually play through on both sides. Petty's music is not fancy, but it's good, basic, straight ahead rock and roll. I love these guys.
People
Compiled by Dave Haynes
Winnipeg Free Press - Tuesday, January 4, 1983
Yet another rock band has linked up with a manufacturer to hype a rock tour. When Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers start their scheduled three-month concert tour, it'll be with advertising and tickets promoting Tom and Tecate Beer. The brewery, trying to boost its popularity in the late-teen sales bracket, is following the lead of The Rolling Stones, The Who, Rod Stewart and other big acts. Tecate is reportedly spending a fortune for the tie-in and it suits Petty just fine, as attendance is down at rock concerts these days because of dwindling disposable teen incomes and rising ticket prices.