Riding high on the back-to-back Top Five platinum hits
Damn the Torpedoes and
Hard Promises,
Tom Petty quickly returned to the studio to record
the Heartbreakers' fifth album,
Long After Dark. Truth be told, there was about as long a gap between
Dark and
Promises as there was between
Promises and
Torpedoes. There are a few new wave flourishes here and there, but the band hasn't really changed its style at all -- it's still
Stonesy,
Byrds-ian heartland rock. As their first four albums illustrated, that isn't a problem in itself, since they've found numerous variations within their signature sound. With its swirling, minor key guitars, "You Got Lucky" is a classic and "Change of Heart" comes close to matching the peaks of
Promises and
Torpedoes. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine