"...Please Stand By Me..."
Tom Petty’s astonishing
self-titled debut album was released November 1976 in the USA (40 years ago
this year) – but would take until September of 1977 to register with the buying
public. Even then it only managed No. 55 on the US LP charts despite its now
iconic status as a genuine 70ts Rock Classic. But for my money his
better-recorded and ludicrously hooky follow-up "You're Gonna Get
It!" from two years later has always been an equal-to unsung hero for me –
the sort of album that got lost – especially in good old Blighty which was in
the throws of Punk and all things 'New Wave'.
Which brings us to this
rather excellent - if not a little threadbare - 2002 CD reissue/remaster -
finally ridding us of a naff 80ts MCA CD with the all the aural and aesthetic
appeal of a gone-off banana. Here are the details you need to know...
UK and Europe released May
2002 - "You’re Gonna Get It!" by TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS on
Gone Gator/Warner Brothers 8122-78178-2 (Barcode 081227817824) is a straightforward
CD transfer of the original LP and plays out as follows (29:30 minutes):
1. When The Time Comes
2. You're Gonna Get It
3. Hurt
4. Magnolia
5. Too Much Ain't Enough
6. I Need To Know [Side 2]
7. Listen To Her Heart
8. No Second Thoughts
9. Restless
10. Baby's A Rock 'n' Roller
Tracks 1 to 10 are his
second studio album "You’re Gonna Get It!" - released May 1978 in the
USA on Shelter/ABC DA-52029 and in the UK on Island/Shelter ISA 5017. DENNY
CORDELL, NOAH SHARK and TOM PETTY produced. The album reached No. 22 in the
States and No. 34 in the UK.
TOM PETTY – Lead Vocals, 6
and 12-string Guitars and Piano
MIKE CAMPBELL – 6 and
12-string Guitars (Solos)
BENMONT TENCH – Piano, Organ
and Vocals
RON BLAIR - Bass and
Acoustic Guitar
STAN LYNCH - Drums and
Vocals
GREGG GELLER has produced
the reissue and the gatefold slip of paper that passed as the MCA inlay is now
upgraded to a 16-page booklet with new liner notes from BILL FLANAGAN. Inside
are details of how 1974's Mudcrutch from Gainesville, Florida (Petty's original
band) became 1976's Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers with a new sound, new songs
and a razor's edge. There's also discussion as to why Radio didn't take to the
new record like they did the old - angry lyrics, drug references and heavier
riffs. The booklet provides lyrics for the first time (didn't come with the
original LP) with its Inner Sleeve is reproduced in varying places and there
are period photos followed finally by detailed recording/CD reissue details.
But the big news for all
fans is new JOE GASTWIRT Remasters carried out at OceanView Mastering in
California. This CD sounds awesome - full and punchy - alive without being too
over-trebled - I love it. The guitars - the drums - the overall aural wallop is
something to behold (as it is with the debut album "Tom Petty And The
Heartbreakers" - also released in a 2002 Gastwirt Remaster – see review).
Compared to the rough and
tumble of the debut two years earlier - right from the off you can so hear how
the Production values were upped dramatically. Each of the predominantly
rocking tunes packs a huge sonic punch and the remaster accentuates that big
time. Side 1 opens with the brilliant almost Byrds-jangle of "When The
Time Comes" - and man can you hear those chugging guitars and that
keyboard underpinning. "You're Gonna Get It" feels like a track from
his 1982 LP "Long After Dark" - lyrically hard-hitting but with that
great hooky riff. As "Hurt" floats in on a sea of pings, acoustic strums
and drum beats - it then goes into a tremendous guitar jangle. But that's
nothing to the clarity on "Magnolia" which sounds amazing - a song
about a girl he never did give his name too - but her ways stayed within
memory. Side One ends on the fantastic rolling slide of "Too Much Ain't
Enough" - an out-and-out rocker that jabs at a precocious someone who just
can't be pleased.
Side 2 opens with the
fantastic rocker "I Need To Know" - an irresistible chuck of riffage
complete with an economic Chuck Berry-like solo. Perhaps the most Byrds jangle
on the album and probably most people's go-to track - "Listen To Her
Heart" is fabulous Petty and The Heartbreakers. The lyrics "...You
think you're gonna take her away with your money and cocaine..." probably
kept this - the album's most catchy song - off A&M Radio and lost the whole
album momentum. The acoustic moment arrives in the tabla and 12-string shuffle
of "No Second Thoughts" - a song I've always found strangely positive
even though it takes about darkness. The LP ends on two punchy neck-jerking
rockers - "Restless" and "Baby's A Rock 'n' Roller" -
although I wished he hadn't featured that false audience noise all the way
through "Baby's..." Other than that - the whole album is satisfying.
And from here it would be through to the breakthrough record "Damn The
Torpedoes" in 1979.
I played this 1978 album
side-to-side when I lived in bedsits back in the day and loved every satisfying
inch of it. Petty's "You're Gonna Get It" is one of 'the' great
lost-albums of the 70ts in my books - and presently selling for fewer than six
miserly squid - this brill 2002 remaster is the one to own.
"When The Time
Comes" - TP sings on the opening song. I'd argue it has...
