to read the entire review! - Elusive Disc

My review of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers "Damn The Torpedoes" ORGvinyl 2-disk set - Steve Hoffman"Ah, fond memories of 1979. A great album, one of my faves of all-time, actually.Now, courtesy of ORG, we have a deluxe vinyl edition that is well worth the 45buck asking price.First, you get the first vinyl cutting of this album from the true master tapes sincethe BACKSTREET first cut back in 1979. The original first press was cut by ol'Greg Calbi at Sterling in New York. This is BACKSTREET MCA-5105, the"compromise" that was arrived at when MCA bought ABC and threw the groupinto turmoil. At any rate, why go in to all that? A great album was created and ithas stood the test of time.You've seen the selling points for this new ORG release? No? Well, take a look:• Mastered from the Original Analog Master Tapes at Bernie Grundman Studios• Pressed on 180g 2LP at Pallas in Germany, One of World's Best Plants• Deluxe Edition Contains 9 Bonus Tracks (7 Previously Unreleased)• Liner Notes, Lyrics, Rare Photos Round Out Gorgeous Package• First 15,000 Copies Include Free High-Resolution DownloadA monumental breakthrough, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' Damn theTorpedoes stands as a towering accomplishment of album mastery, finesongwriting, incredibly tight performance, and clean, timeless production. Repletewith hook-led singles, arena-rock choruses, Mike Campbell's biting guitar playing,and snarling attitude, with plenty of musical references to the Byrds and RollingStones peppering the originals, the 1979 record established the blueprint that theiconic band would follow for decades to come.And if instantly recognizable songs such as "Refugee," "Here Comes My Girl,""Even the Losers," and "Don't Do Me Like That" weren't already enough, Damnthe Torpedoes has just been given a deserved upgrade, with this deluxe editionfrom ORG adding nine bonus tracks (seven previously unreleased) andphenomenal mastering from the original analog master tapes done at BernieGrundman Studios. It's also pressed at Pallas in Germany, arguably the bestvinyl plant in the world. This is not to be missed.The highlights of the newly uncovered bonus material include two studio tracks,"Nowhere" and "Surrender," both written by Tom Petty and recorded andcompleted during the Damn The Torpedoes sessions. The never-before-heard"Nowhere" was thought to have been lost in 1979 when the tape boxes werebeing moved daily to avoid the possibility that court bailiffs would claim them aspart of Petty's assets in the lawsuit at the time. Recording engineer Ryan Ulyaterecently found the song while he was listening to tapes searching for alternateversions of songs to be included on the current release. "Surrender" was a

So, how does it sound? Great, actually. I happen to have my originalBACKSTREET Demo-Not For Sale 1979 pressing that I compared to this oneand they both have good qualities. The 1979 first pressing is nice but slightlyhollow sounding, with less bass than this version. It's still a great pressing but thisnew version can easily replace it if you don't have the old version. Heck, even ifyou do, this new release (and bitchin' bonus cuts) offer our ears a nice, excitingpresentation that just reminds us (as if we didn't know) how wonderful this album(still) is.So grab this and groove. You won't be sorry..."