Following up a breakthrough album is one of the trickiest bits of business in the world of music. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers faced down that challenge on their 1981 album Hard Promises, coming as it did on the heels of Damn the Torpedoes, the record that made Petty a superstar.
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Petty and his stellar band rose to the occasion with a set of songs just as strong as the one on his preceding album. Let’s count down the best of the best on Hard Promises.
5. “You Can Still Change Your Mind”
Even as he was hitting new levels of success, Petty was starting to chafe a bit about being confined to a somewhat limited rock-song range by the early ’80s. You can hear a bit of his desire to break out of it on this, the closing track of the album. Petty was going after a Pet Sounds-vibe on the recording, although his drawling vocals make it hard to imagine “You Can Still Change Your Mind” as a Brian Wilson homage. In any case, it’s a well-measured slow one, with plenty of open spaces in the arrangement to allow some of the bittersweet emotions of the lyrics some time to luxuriate.
4. “The Waiting”
Petty allegedly had every part of this song but the chorus in place for a while, before a lightning bolt of inspiration struck. There’s something that’s so relaxed about the song, which is unusual for a hit single. Which brings us to another point: This was an important song in the Petty story, in that it kept intact the commercial success the singles on Damn the Torpedoes had enjoyed. The Heartbreakers’ knack for arranging songs for maximum impact on radio was unmatched by any of their peers, and it’s evident here in the yearning instrumental intro that becomes yet another hook in the song.
3. “Something Big”
Petty wrote story songs unlike most other songwriters of his generation. Many other writers would have filled in all the details to try and make all the motives as thoroughly delineated as possible. In “Something Big,” Petty gives us just about everything but the details. The main character is defined by two verses that describe events that aren’t even really tangential to his main focus. By the final verse, he’s gone, with only his unassuming hotel room left behind him. Petty realizes the other stuff isn’t as important as the situation itself, whatever it is that pushes people to the edge of wisdom and reason to realize their dreams.
2. “A Woman in Love (It’s Not Me)”
Petty got grief in some critical circles for focusing too much on love-gone-wrong songs in his early years. The argument against this view is he constantly came up with new ways to express this scenario. And not just lyrically. The music for “A Woman in Love” was written with Mike Campbell, who had a knack for creating interesting instrumental settings for Petty’s storytelling. This one goes from wide-open verses to frenzied choruses, with a cool circular guitar figure tying it all together. Great work as well from Stan Lynch, snapping everyone to attention on drums, and Benmont Tench, lurking beneath it all on keyboards.
1. “Insider”
A fascinating story behind this one. Petty had become friendly with Stevie Nicks, who was constantly hounding him to write a song for her. Petty obliged with “Insider,” but he liked it way too much upon completion to give it away. She “settled” for “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” which turned into a massive hit once she sang on it over the Heartbreakers’ demo. In any case, Petty was right: “Insider” is the better song, a devastating tale of lost love, and probably one of the 10 best he’s ever written. The performance pushes it over the edge. Nicks harmonizes beautifully, but the way Petty loses it slightly in the most emotional moments of the lead vocals is what really cinches it.
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