Is Hard Promises Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers best album?

I am a huge fan of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, They are probably my favorite American band. I love Damn the Torpedoes and their debut album, but I think that Hard Promises is their best album as a band. IMO, Hard Promises is their best album from top to bottom. Whats your opinion?

 

My opinion is contained in your post.

 

Hard to pick one. My comment is that "Long After Dark" is underrated.

 

Long After Dark is very underrated. It has some great songs on it.

 

It's tough to follow Damn The Torpedoes.

 

I'll still vote for the underdog LET ME UP (I'VE HAD ENOUGH). That one, front-to-back, is the most solid record of his career. I generally never hit the skip button. It doesn't have the hit singles of his other records but it's filler-free.

 

It is hard to pick just one. For me its a toss up between Damn the Torpedoes and Full Moon Fever. Hard Promises is the only TP album I own two copies of though; somehow I wound up with two promo copies.

 

I don't know if it's his best, tough to top Damn the Torpedos, but I seem to play Hard Promises the most.

 

Damn is probably the best. I love all the early ones, though.

 

Change of Heart rules!

 

+1. Hard Promises is a very fine album, and I agree with the OP about it sounding very much a band record. I love its sound and Greg Calbi's mastering. And my UK original vinyl on Backstreet/MCA has a lovely black and white photo/credits inner sleeve, and gatefold black and white photo/lyric inner foldout. But I doubt nevertheless that Tom Petty will ever top Damn The Torpedoes. It is maybe one of the best sounding rock albums ever, and the music still has that bit extra, for me.

 

I like both Damn the Torpedoes (DTP) and Hard Promises (HP) very much, and I have great difficulty choosing one over the other. DTP's greatness is largely contained in its killer 4-track opening sequence ("Refugee" through "Shadow of a Doubt [A Complex Kid]"), but the quality of the other songs are considerably lower. HP's songs don't reach the peak of DTP's best songs but are more consistent and all are generally good or better.

 

DTP is a once-in-a-lifetime masterpiece he'll never repeat.
I'd like to put in a plug for Into The Great Wide Open. I really love that record all the way through, more than Full Moon Fever.

 

I was going to simply like this post but it seemed somewhat lacking - such a good track and a massively underrated album. Possibly my favourite.

 

If Don't Don't Do Me Like That was on side one I would agree with you.

 

I personally prefer Long After Dark (save for You Got Lucky, probably my least favorite Petty song) to Hard Promises.

 

I love full moon fever although less heartbreakeridge on it

 

All those early albums are great, but I think Damn The Torpedoes is their best. But I'd like to give a shout out to the often-overlooked Southern Accents, I don't think it ever gets enough love.

 

The Debut and You're Gonna Get It then DTT for me in that order.

 

It baffles me why this album is so underrated. I love Damn The Torpedoes and Hard Promises (and most of his other albums), but I agree that Let Me Up (I've Had Enough) is a top tier Heartbreakers record, and most days will get my vote for favorite.

 

You can always rely on the title song on Southern Accents, which will stick around for a long, long time.

 

Hard Promises for me. Love that record.

 

I like a few of the songs on Southern Accents, but a lot of the record just seems dated for me. I'm not a fan of the 80s production.

 

Yes. I love the production of that album. It has a "dark" sound to it.

 

I rate them thus:


You're Gonna Get It
TP and HB debut
Long After Dark
Torpedoes
Hard Promises