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Unexpected Tom Petty "stamper" discovery

Did some New Years cull of Rock albums. Went through the Tom Petty catalog.

My faves are his first 3 albums, with my interest fading by his 5th, "Long After Dark"
I was a big fan, saw TP & the Heartbreakers perform arguably at their peak -New Years Eve, 1978 at the Santa Monica Civic.

Playing my 2nd least favorite album "Hard Promises," the great sonics kept me listening to it.

A quick Wiki revealed this, which I thought was cool:

"During the recording of the album, John Lennon was scheduled to be in the same studio at the same time. Petty was looking forward to meeting him when he came in. The meeting never occurred, as Lennon was murdered before the date of his planned visit the studio. Petty and the band paid tribute to the slain former Beatle by etching "WE LOVE YOU J.L." in the runout deadwax on early U.S. and Canadian pressings of Hard Promises."

After side 1 was finished, a quick inspection verified my suspicion-I have a Tom Port HOT STAMPER$$!!

All those Tom Port descriptors used for those $3-500 "WHITE HOT STAMPER" were heard!

Reality, I just thought the sonics were quite nice, so im keeping it. The album was a sealed copy. I found it during one of my neighborhood store, bin diving sessions years ago. It was played once back then, never saw daylight since.

Played side 2, then back on the shelf, where it likely won’t get played for another couple years.








tablejockey
tablejockey OP
3,914 posts
 
slaw-I've read somewhere that Tom was mindful of his recordings quality, and he was into listening to good hifi.
The "stamper" surprise did remind me, that album  several FM staples that took me back to a less complicated, simple period of time.

Bpd24-It's interesting how sometimes, albums were haphazardly made. I remember buying an album of a particular group,played the first side and rocked out. Flipped  over to the 2nd side... music of a completely DIFFERENT, unknown band that was awful!
Took the bus to Licorice Pizza for a new copy!I  believe we both have memories of that place.
This is the one I would hang out at:
http://nightflight.com/record-store-day-every-day-you-got-it-nicer-at-licorice-pizza-stores-in-the-7...
How about that list of sale albums?




tablejockey OP
3,914 posts
 
I meant to only link a couple of photos from that long, poorly written article.

http://nightflight.com/wp-content/uploads/LICORICE-PIZZA-42.jpg

http://nightflight.com/wp-content/uploads/LICORICE-PIZZA-121.jpg




minkwelder
255 posts
 
tablejockey,
I also got one of those mystery discs when I bought a copy of Stevie Wonder’s "Inner Visions" album. Side One was as it should be, but the flip side was from a completely different album by Yvonne Fair called "The Bitch is Black"!
At the time, I didn't know who it was. It wasn't until the internet came about that I was able to search with some of the lyrics to determine the identity of the artist.
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
In 1976 I was a Cougar freshman when another dormie started flipping out gushing about how he had discovered The Next Big Thing who he guaranteed was going to be the most prolific performer in rock for the next 10, 20 years at least. Well it was an awfully good debut album. Which day by day we all were saying, you know that ones good too, until in no time flat it was they are all great which is about what it took back then to put me over the threshold of spending that kind of money, I mean we're talking it must have been at least $5, maybe $6, serious money. And so it was I came to own an original issue Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

Still all great songs. Still his best work. Which is not a knock. Almost nobody gets to create a masterpiece, TP at least had one. But I haven't had a listen in a while and now all this talk about him caring about quality has got me keen to go home and see just how good it sounds. 

Thanks!

PS- Marty, you were right!
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
Thinking about this got me curious, don’t want people thinking I’m cheap or a tightwad or anything. So I looked it up. Even worse than I thought. A new album in 1976 was $7! No wonder I was so picky. Those things were even more expensive than I thought!
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