Hard Promises (1981)
1. The Waiting
2. A Woman in Love (It's Not Me)
3. Nightwatchman
4. Something Big
5. King's Road
6. Letting You Go
7. A Thing About You
8. Insider
9. The Criminal Kind
10.You Can Still Change Your Mind
To the casual listener, distinguishing between Hard Promises and its immediate predecessor, Damn the Torpedoes, might prove difficult. Sonically, the two records are so closely aligned that one could be forgiven for mistaking them as twin volumes of the same creative chapter. But where Damn the Torpedoes was a triumphant arrival, Hard Promises feels more like a confident extension—less the sound of a band storming the gates, and more that of one staking a claim.
It is, naturally, an unfair comparison. Few records can stand shoulder to shoulder with Damn the Torpedoes without showing a few bruises. And yet, Hard Promises more than holds its own. The marquee singles—The Waiting and A Woman in Love (It’s Not Me)—earned instant residency in the Petty canon. Both display his trademark blend of jangling defiance and radio-ready melancholy. Dig deeper into the album’s grooves and one finds further riches: King’s Road bristles with roadhouse bravado, Letting You Go is wistful without being weak, and even the so-called filler has the decency to be tuneful, tight, and far superior to what most contemporaries were calling singles.
Of note is the appearance of Stevie Nicks, then at the height of her Fleetwood-powered fame, contributing backing vocals on a pair of tracks. In theory, this should have worked. In practice, Nicks’ singular voice—so effective in its own domain—proves to be a slightly intrusive presence here. Not by intention, of course. But her backing contributions tend to dominate rather than support, throwing the delicate harmonic balance just slightly off axis. A rare miscalculation in an otherwise well-calibrated production.
The album also came with its share of industry-side drama. Sensing a cash cow, the record label opted to raise the list price on the album—a tactic increasingly common with high-profile acts of the period. Petty, never one to roll over for commerce, resisted. The pricing dispute turned public, with Petty ultimately prevailing. But it wouldn’t be the last time he’d find himself sparring with the machinery behind the music. One could argue that such victories were costly—each a notch in a longer war over control and principle.
While Hard Promises may lack the sheer breakthrough force of its predecessor, it’s no mere echo. It is, rather, the sound of an artist refining a formula he helped perfect—a thoughtful continuation from a band not trying to reinvent the wheel, but making damn sure it still rolls like a dream.
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