Damn the Torpedoes

Damn the Torpedoes offers two different entrances in its first two tracks. Refugee establishes a firm recurring figure; Here Comes My Girl lets a conversational voice move towards a more openly melodic refrain. The instrumental family is recognisable, but the songs do not ask the singer to enter in the same manner. Clarity makes those differences easier to hear.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released their third album in 1979. Jimmy Iovine and Petty produced it, with Shelly Yakus engineering. In a later interview, Mike Campbell recalled bringing Iovine and Yakus into the project after admiring the sound of Patti Smith’s Because the Night. Translating the band’s force in a room into a recording became a demanding part of the work.

An immediate result took time

Campbell remembered spending weeks on songs and days on a snare sound. Refugee proved particularly difficult: finding the desired sound and groove took enough work that he temporarily left the sessions. The recollection is useful without treating a remembered number of takes as an exact session log. An apparently straightforward song can require considerable experimentation with balance, attack and recorded perspective.

Two writers, different entrances

Petty and Campbell share the writing credits for both opening songs. Their different vocal approaches give the sequence variety before Even the Losers arrives. Campbell also recalled using his Broadcaster on Here Comes My Girl and Even the Losers. A common instrument does not prescribe a single expressive role: its relationship with the singing and surrounding parts changes from song to song.

A compact centre and a longer ending

The sixth song, Don’t Do Me Like That, is the shortest at approximately two minutes forty-two seconds. After two intervening tracks, Louisiana Rain supplies the longest span, nearly six minutes. The latter sequence therefore moves beyond compact efficiency towards a more extended conclusion. Following that route gives the famous opening songs a larger setting and makes the album’s proportions part of its appeal.