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August 30, 2024—Over four decades after its debut, a deluxe edition of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ groundbreaking but often overlooked 1982 album, Long After Dark, will be released via Geffen/UMe on October 18. Pre-order/pre-save here.
The Petty Legacy archives will share previously unseen newly remastered film and audio from 1982 to 1983 this year, beginning with a new video for the French TV version of “Straight Into Darkness” featuring footage of the band performing at the Record Plant by award-winning director Alan Bibby—watch here and listen here.
“There was some music recorded for Long After Dark that didn’t get on the record, that I thought would’ve made it a better album,” said Tom Petty. “I left off…four things that I liked quite a bit. And probably a few more written that never even got in the door.”
Looking back on their third and final album together, legendary rock music producer Jimmy Iovine reflects, “Long After Dark, we thought we had it. Sounded like Positively Fourth Street, sounded like one of those records, you know. By the way, I think it is!”
Despite it being a golden era of The Heartbreakers playing at the height of their powers, it is widely known as the band’s most misunderstood and underrated success. The album features an edgy collection of rock ballads and guitar anthems backed by the unmistakable sound of The Heartbreakers, including founding members Mike Campbell (lead guitar), Benmont Tench (keyboards), Stan Lynch (drums), plus the new addition of Howie Epstein on bass and backing vocals.
Long After Dark (Deluxe Edition) will feature the songs that were lost in the debate over the album’s original direction. Notable highlights include finding Petty’s version of “Never Be You”—which was a #1 country hit for Rosanne Cash—pop anomaly “Don’t Make Me Walk the Line,” and an up-tempo version of “Ways To Be Wicked,” which was previously covered by Lone Justice, recorded at Applewood Studios in Denver, Colorado.
Many of the additional tracks are taken from the French TV sessions, including acoustic gems, “Turning Point” and the Everly Brothers influenced “Keeping Me Alive.”
Long After Dark was a smash by the usual standards—Top 10 in Billboard, certified gold—and spawned three fan favorites, “You Got Lucky,” “Change of Heart” and “Straight Into Darkness.” Though it remains an unsung gem amongst its predecessors, Damn the Torpedoes and Hard Promises. “It’s a good little rock & roll record” but also “a tough record because I never knew if we were making the right decisions about songs,” Petty shared in Paul Zollo’s interview anthology, Conversations With Tom Petty.
Long After Dark (Deluxe Edition) features the newly remastered original album from the original analog master tapes, plus 12 rediscovered bonus tracks newly mixed by Petty’s longtime engineer Ryan Ulyate and boasts packaging designed by Grammy Award-winning designer Jeri Heiden, liner notes by legendary rock journalist and Tom Petty Radio host David Fricke, with commentary from Jimmy Iovine and Cameron Crowe and iconic archival photographs by Dennis Callahan, Neal Preston and Aaron Rapoport. The set will be released in a variety of configurations, highlighted by a limited edition TomPetty.com 2LP pressing on 180-gram red with black splatter color vinyl, housed in a numbered foil tip-on jacket with an exclusive lithograph; a 3-disc set featuring 2 CDs, and a Blu-ray audio disc with additional hi-res stereo and Dolby Atmos mixes of the album and bonus tracks, also mixed by Ulyate; a variety of additional vinyl options includes a 2LP on 180-gram black vinyl; a limited edition 1LP 180-gram turquoise color vinyl pressing (main album only) with double-sided lithograph of Blaze Brooks’ illustrations (available exclusively at indie record stores).
The album will also be available at all streaming, download and HD audio download partners.
For more info, complete tracklisting and to pre-order 2 LP versions and 3-disc set visit the official Tom Petty store.
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Robert Kinsler
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