Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers [RHINO]

Why you'll love it

This remastered 180g edition was pressed in Germany by Pallas. The debut gave the band their first US Top 40 single with "Breakdown," introduced "American Girl" and went gold in the US.

This edition

• 180g vinyl
• Remastered
• Pressed in Germany

About the album

Tom Petty and his band arrived from Gainesville, Florida, by way of Los Angeles, and cut their first album at Shelter Studio in Hollywood with producer Denny Cordell for his Shelter label. It came out in November 1976, and the first people to catch on were on the other side of the Atlantic.

After a UK tour the album climbed to No. 24 there and "Anything That's Rock 'n' Roll" became a British hit, and after nearly a year of glowing reviews it reached the US charts too, peaking at No. 55 in 1978. The songs were worth the wait: "Breakdown" is a slow-burning groove, "American Girl" is the jangling closer that became one of the band's signature songs, and "Rockin' Around (With You)," co-written with guitarist Mike Campbell, opens the record in style. Benmont Tench's keyboards, Ron Blair's bass and Stan Lynch's drums complete the original Heartbreakers line-up, all of them already sounding fully formed.

Ten songs in barely half an hour, and it still sounds like a band at full sprint. We've had tea breaks longer than this record, though rarely more rewarding ones.

Also at Kops: more Tom Petty on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Shelter / Reprise (cat# 518187-1), a reissue of the 1976 album.