I get what you're saying about "Born to Run", but don't agree with you about "Damn the Torpedoes". It's revelatory to watch the documentary about the making of that Tom Petty album - Iovine talking about how they'd do 30 takes of a song, with 30 different guitars, just to determine which one gave them the "right" tone for that song, or how adding the barely-heard shaker to the background of "Refugee" made all the difference.

It's that attention to minute detail that made the best albums from that era so great, and it's something that desktop computer recording studios, Autotune, and the condensation of MP3s have made virtually extinct, unfortunately. Iovine at his best (Patti Smith's "Easter" album is another great example) was unbelievable.