Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Hard Promises (MCA)

WITH THE release of 'American Girl' back in '76, Tom Petty asserted that ability to articulate a native territory – both inherited and imagined – which occasionally makes the phrase 'rock star' more relevant than the average arbitrary partnership of nouns. Since then, through business ups and downs, and through a sometimes overly-florid, occasionally banal output, he's continued to nurture two strong assets.