Underrated Tom Petty Album Gets Reissued

Deluxe edition of Long After Dark due out Oct. 18th

September 6, 2024September 6, 2024 Ron Hart 0 Comments 1982, Backstreet Records, Deluxe Edition, Long After Dark, Reissues, Tom Petty, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, UMe, You Got Lucky

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers 1982 (Image: Aaron Rapoport)

Tom Petty was the quintessential artist who had that uncanny knack for balancing on that razor’s edge between Americana and New Wave.

And arguably no other album in his catalog signifies that duality like 1982’s Long After Dark, the groundbreaking fifth LP from Petty and the Heartbreakers that ushered the band into the modern music landscape in a major way. Yet when speaking of the Petty discography, it rarely gets the mention it deserves for its daring and innovation at the time save for its biggest hit “You Got Lucky,” the innovative, Road Warrior-invoking video of which became a smash on MTV in its infancy.

VIDEO: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers “You Got Lucky”

Now, over four decades after it first hit the local Record World/TSS, Long After Dark is finally receiving its retail flowers with the upcoming release of a deluxe edition of the album that will be out on October 18th via Geffen/UME.

This new version of the LP will feature a bonus disc of songs that were recorded but left off the final tracklist, sometimes to the chagrin of Petty himself.

“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 Petty in Paul Zollo’s interview anthology, Conversations With 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.”

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 numbers “Turning Point” and the Everly Brothers influenced “Keeping Me Alive.”

Backing Petty as the Heartbreakers for Long After Dark include founding members Mike Campbell (lead guitar), Benmont Tench (keyboards), Stan Lynch (drums), plus the new addition of Howie Epstein on bass and backing vocals.

“It’s a good little rock & roll record,” said Petty, “a tough record because I never knew if we were making the right decisions about songs.”

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Long After Dark, Backstreet Records 1982

Long After Dark (Deluxe Edition) contains the newly remastered 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 three-disc set featuring two 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).

See below for the full tracklisting and check out 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.

LONG AFTER DARK DELUXE EDITION—TRACKLISTING

DISC 1