You’re Gonna Get It (1978)

You’re Gonna Get It (1978)

Riding the surprise success of their debut album, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers were eager to justify all that love with a strong follow-up. Steered again by producer Denny Cordell, You’re Gonna Get It finds Petty and Campbell, now seasoned studio vets, confidently experimenting with drum loops, tape delays, hand drums, and layers of atmosphere. Petty’s knack for writing hooks is window-displayed throughout You’re Gonna Get It; there are pre-choruses and bridges here that could have built entire careers. “I Need To Know,” based on Wilson Pickett’s “Land Of 1000 Dances,” is fierce and pushy; “When The Time Comes” imagines Roger McGuinn ghostwriting for Cheap Trick; and the title track comes on like some spaced-out, hayseed Hall & Oates. Elsewhere, there are stormy rockers “Magnolia” and “Too Much Ain’t Enough” as well as the homewrecker-rebuffing “Listen To Her Heart,” a song that probably sold a thousand Rickenbacker guitars. Because it bridges the gap between an extraordinary debut and a career-defining third record, it’s easy for You’re Gonna Get It to get lost in the shuffle, but if this is what a sophomore slump sounds like, rock and roll could use a few more of ‘em right about now.