Classic Albums: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers –
Damn The Torpedoes (2010/Eagle
Blu-ray)
Picture:
B- Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Documentary: C+
Tom Petty
& The Heartbreakers are survivors of the Rock genre and in the music
business, but never became a big fan of the band or their work and would argue
that they remained so inconsistent that they failed to remain the band they
started out as. Damn The Torpedoes is their best and most successful album to date
as well as likely being the bets album they will ever make, so it is no
surprise that it is the choice of focus for the latest installment of the Classic Albums series.
It could
also be considered the last album of their original, vintage period before they
started experimenting with Dave Stewart of Eurythmics and that work (like the
1985 hit Don’t Come Around Here No More)
happened in part because Petty was in an accident and Stewart stepped in to
help play instruments on the album. The
result seems like a big gap of unfinished work lost and/or we will never hear
resulted and all moved onto different projects (like Travelling Wilburys)
meaning Petty never finished the original trajectory of this band. That makes this album the end of the original
band in some sad, profound way.
This is
the second Classic Albums title to
make it to Blu-ray (after Black Sabbath
– Paranoid, reviewed elsewhere on this site) and is the slightly
better-looking volume presented here in a 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High
Definition transfer that has the usual mix of stills, older film and analog
video footage and new HD-shot interviews.
It can be a choppy mix and run on longer than it needed to and the
tracks and hits (Refugee, Don’t Do Me Like That) get good time,
but this installment did not explain or show enough why this is an important
album and if it really is.
The PCM
2.0 Stereo is also a mix of old and new audio, usually in stereo, but while the
hit songs sound good, one wishes for multi-channel versions as it rolls on. When Image handled the series on DVD in older
season, they had PCM 2.0 Stereo as well, so why the series has not moved onto
more tracks is odd, but something they should consider soon.
Extras
are a TV ad for the album (remember when the industry used to do that?), Beat The Mix, The 12 String Rickenbacker, Even The Losers – The Guitar Orchestra,
Here Comes My Girl – Drum Sound, Benmont
Tench’s Hammond, Don’t Do Me Like That – Vox Organ and What Are You Doin’
In My Life – Shelly, Shelly, Shelly Yakus.
- Nicholas Sheffo