Tom Petty’s ‘Long After Dark’ Gets a New Day in the Sun: Adria Petty on Curating the Deluxe Reissue and Sensitively Mining Dad’s Vault
variety.comChris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers’ 1982 “Long After Dark” album probably doesn’t count as one of the band’s “tentpole albums,” in terms of being one of their biggest blockbusters, or a seismic shift in direction — but it’s also a record that probably no real fan would want to do without.
Tom Petty in so-called maintenance mode beats almost anyone else reinventing the wheel. And the sound of him writing and recording great rock songs on the crest of his band’s initial wave of success is, album title notwithstanding, a sunny place to revisit.
To that end, there’s a new deluxe reissue of “Long After Dark” that contains a bonus LP’s or CD’s worth of additional tracks, including several previously unheard studio takes that Petty seriously considered putting on the original album.
Adria Petty, Tom’s eldest daughter, has taken the lead in steering archival projects like this one toward release, working closely with Petty producer-engineer-vaultkeeper Ryan Ulyate and the two mainstays of the Heartbreakers from start to finish, guitarist Mike Campell and keyboard player Benmont Tench.
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