Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unfairly overlooked, March 12, 2005
Seems like this is the closest that Tom Petty ever came to releasing a Lost Album. For whatever reason, even as they stuck around to pick up the comparatively dull _Wildflowers_ and the aptly-named _Echo_ so many years later, not a lot of his fans picked this one up.
I'm not quite sure why this is, because as many times as I've listened to _Long After Dark_, I fail to hear what's so wrong with it. There are some wonderful melodies and powerful lyrics here. Maybe it's that the pseudo-dissonance in the verse of "You Got Lucky" (or all those synthesizers) turned a few too many people off, or that "Change of Heart" was a little too obvious. After all, it's the singles that make or break an album commercially. Still, to leave it at that is to miss wonderful songs like "A One Story Town," "Finding Out," "We Stand a Chance," "Straight Into Darkness," and "Between Two Worlds."
Oops. Looks like I just mentioned half the album there. What can I say? It deserves it.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
What's wrong with this album?, July 8, 2006
I'm with most everybody else in the reviews section - what's wrong with this disc? I recall it was panned when it came out, and it's been lumped with the "lower-tier" of Petty's work (Echo, Let Me Up, She's The One). My ears hear something else. This has got a lot more spunk and energy than nearly all the tracks on Hard Promises. The Mike Campbell riffs are solid throughout, and Petty didn't lose any of his ability to write a good melody. You Got Lucky (anybody get tired of watching that video on MTV? - I did), One Story Town, Change of Heart, Deliver Me, and Straight Into Darkness all hold up pretty well after 20 plus years. Sure, Long After Dark isn't Wildflowers or Full Moon Fever or Damn The Torpedos, but if you have a hankering of for a straight slice of American rock, this should meet your needs.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The beginning of the end of an era, November 13, 2003
By A Customer
"Long After Dark" is the sound of a band in transition and perhaps just past its youthful peak. Not far past it - if you like the band's early sound, already have "Damn The Torpedoes" and "Hard Promises", and perhaps the first two albums, you may want this one in your collection for variety if not for quality. It's a definite step down from earlier work. Not way down, and it's aged better than the first album to my ears. But this would not make my list of Tom Petty's 5 best CD's. I'd buy it only for the sake of completion - it's the last recording (except for bits of Echo) that featured the band's original sound. If you're primarily a fan of the "Full Moon Fever"-and-later Petty, this one may not be for you at all.The sound is occasionally a bit harder here than on earlier albums, and as such may have some appeal to those who (unlike me) are fans of "Let Me Up (I've Had Enough)". Jangling guitars give way here and there to power chords. Sometimes, as in "Change of Heart", this makes for a great sound. But something is missing. The lyrics are lighter than on "Hard Promises", the level of emotion reduced. The band tries to sound tough, but the passion sounds artificial, the songs overly crafted with perfect hooks, and there are often catchy choruses with nothing very interesting between them. This was the first of their CD's I didn't think was consistently good all the way through. Most of the songs sound like "Damn the Torpedoes" material to some extent. "One Story Town", "Deliver Me", "Finding Out", "Straight Into Darkness", and "The Same Old You" could have fit into that album musically, though the lyrics are less inspired. "Change of Heart" is probably the best song here, but even good lyrics don't sound as heartfelt as on "Damn The Torpedoes" or "Hard Promises". "You Got Lucky" is the synthesizer-laced song (there's only the one - not sure why some reviewers here go on about synthesizers) that just doesn't fit in. It ruins the flow of the CD for me and I didn't like the 80's pop sound, but it was a hit and odds are that you like it and won't find it as annoying as I do. That new guitar style comes out a bit on "We Stand A Chance" and "Between Two Worlds", and the album closes nicely with "A Wasted Life", a lovely gentle song with a catchy chorus and maybe even some earnest feeling. I see "Long After Dark" as the first sign of a really great band starting to slip toward mediocrity. Some consider the following two albums, "Southern Accents" and "Let Me Up (I've Had Enough)" to be a brilliant concept album and a return to a great hard rock sound, respectively. For those of us who consider "Southern Accents" a largely-failed effort with a few great moments, and "Let Me Up (I've Had Enough)" a dismal and misguided attempt to recapture the band's youth, "Long After Dark" is the first sign of the band's gradual decline before a a delightful comeback and a new grown-up sound on "Full Moon Fever".
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by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers 
