I'm Heavy Duty!

• Artist: Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
• Title: Damn the Torpedoes
• Year: 1979
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 10
• Owner: Mary
• Acquired: 1979 – Fort Bragg Post Exchange
• Keeper: Yes

I’m not sure about writing this review. I don’t know much about Tom Petty or the Heartbreakers. I can’t compare it to their other work because I only own one other LP by them and it’s a CD. However, Tracy insists I’m the one for this job because: 1) it’s my album, 2) it is the first album I ever bought, and 3) I play it a lot.

It is my album, and when Tracy and I united our vinyl together in holy matrimony, there was no duplicate for Damn the Torpedoes. In fact it was our only Tom Petty record.

It is the first album I bought. I had been living in Germany where ABBA ruled. They were all I heard except for my sister’s cassettes in the car. She is six years older than me, and she forced Ted Nugent, Kiss and Queen on my younger sister and me at high decibles.

When we moved back to the USA my sister moved out to CA, leaving me in a musical void. The radio played disco (it was 1979) and the rock station (there was only one) played a lot of Jimmy Buffet.

One day my friend and I walked to the base PX (post exchange) where she wanted to buy the latest record by The Babys. Maybe I felt pressure to buy a record too – or maybe I was desperate for something better than the radio, or the Firefall and Toto cassettes my sister left behind. I specifically remember picking up an REO Speedwagon album at the store, something with Tuna in the title, but I bought Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ Damn the Torpedoes instead (Thank you, Jesus).

Looking back, I think I went with TPHB because of the album cover. It looked fresh. It didn’t look like anything my older sister had, and after years of being called a “copycat” by her, the last thing I wanted was more of her music. I mean, I was about to go into high school, I had to be me (Thank you, Marlo Thomas).

I do play this record a lot. I’ve liked it since the first listen. To me, it has a lot of energy, and in 1979, it sounded new and we all needed something other than Supertramp and Pink Floyd (we still do). The Babys were new too, and I liked my friend’s purchase, but I was always glad the Tom Petty record came home with me. I began to wonder if I was a musical geinus to select such a record with out knowing anything about the band.

There are nine songs on this record. I love eight of them. The ninth, “Louisiana Rain”, is a little too ballad-like for me, yet it is the chorus to “Louisiana Rain” that I am always singing when the album is over. Songs like “Refuge” still sound fresh, but my favorite song has to be “Even the Losers.”

• Artist: AC/DC
• Title: Highway to Hell
• Year: 1979
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 10
• Owner: Tracy
• Acquired: Used somewhere, not sure when
• Keeper: Yes

Despite what you fans of the Brian Johnson-era think, you know who you are, Highway to Hell was the peak for AC/DC. It’s unfortunate that it was also the end of the Bon Scott-era, and Bon Scott the man. But what a way to go out! The album opens with the title track and a classic bare bones Angus Young riff, followed by one of the greatest kick drum sounds ever recorded. “Highway to Hell” goes on for two verses with nothing but one guitar, drums and vocals. That simple sound is so rocking though, and what’s better is that you know they are holding back until the chorus. After that one ends and you’re looking for your socks they kick into the more frantic “Girls Got Rhythm.” There are some other hits and plenty of great songs on the rest of the album. One of my favorites is the side two opener, “Shot Down in Flames.” Another great one is “Touch Too Much.” It contains these amusing lyrics:

She had the face of an angel
Smiling with sin
A body of Venus with arms

Who knows if Bon Scott was trying to be funny with that? Either way, it’s hilarious.

• Artist: The Jam
• Title: Setting Sons
• Year: 1979
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 7
• Owner: Mary
• Acquired: 1986? Used at Plan 9?

I don’t care what the critics say, this is not my favorite record by The Jam. Setting Sons has some excellent songs, but overall it just seems a little flat. I’m hoping we have things out of order in the collection because the three albums before this are fantastic. They must be in there somewhere. After doing some reading I was surprised to see they charted in the US with this one, for the first time.

My favorite song is the last one, “Wasteland.” I’m a sucker for the recorder or flute in rock, think The Troggs not Jethro Tull. Wikipedia lists the side two songs first, but don’t believe them, believe me! I’m looking at it right now and “Wasteland” is last.

Read more about The Jam, and Setting Sons.

• Artist: Gang of Four
• Title: Entertainment!
• Year: 1979
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 10
• Owner: Tracy
• Acquired: ? Just glad to have it.
• Keeper: Yes

The problem of leisure
What to do for pleasure
Ideal love a new purchase
A market of the senses
Dream of the perfect life…

Those are the first five lines of “Natural’s Not In It” from “Entertainment!”, Gang of Four’s debut album. I read a quote by Bono where he describes Andy Gill’s lyrics as “…a smart bomb of text that had me ‘at home feeling like a typist.’” The latter part of that sentence is, of course, a pun referring to the song “At Home He Feels Like a Tourist” which is also on this album. That song is an all-time favorite of mine, although I like almost every song on this record just as much. It’s just that good.

I never got to see them live in their prime, but I did go stand outside a small club in Virginia Beach to hear the muffled songs rumble through the concrete walls at one Gang of Four show. It was tragic, but I was an under-age teenager and couldn’t get inside. They’re just that good.

If you’re not familiar with the band, know that they are definitely one of the most important “rock” bands ever and have influenced more artists than you would believe.

A very interesting article about “Entertainment!”, including its packaging, at Wikipedia.

Van Halen -- Van Halen II

• Artist: Van Halen
• Title: Van Halen II
• Year: 1979
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 9
• Owner: Tracy
• Acquired: ? Bought it used…
• Keeper: Yes

Oh man, the unpacking continues. But tonight I got my priorities straight and finally set up the stereo. And what was the first record to rock the house? That’s right, “Van Halen II.” Considering that we bought this house from a woman in her 80s who lived here since the 1960s I think it’s safe to say tonight is the first time Van Halen shook these walls. My daughter Paris came downstairs and said: “Mom, stop dancing. And can you guys turn it down some?” We couldn’t help rockin’ out.

As I mentioned before, Van Halen is one of a very few popular rock groups to have the guts to perform covers on their proper albums. This time they open the record with one, “(Baby) You’re No Good” by Clint Ballard, Jr. This song was popularized by Linda Ronstadt a few years earlier. My mother likes to tell a story about how my brother as a child heard Linda’s version in the car one day and started crying because that lady was saying mean things to a “baby.” Sorry G, had to tell that.

Other hits include “Dance the Night Away” and the most awesome “Beautiful Girls.” My favorites include “Somebody Get Me a Doctor” and acoustic solo “Spanish Fly.” Tonight when “D.O.A.” started with Eddie’s chunk-chunk-chunk guitar riff Mary said “that’s sooo rock ‘n’ roll.” Yes it is.

This site about Van Halen has the scoop about every song on this record.