Tom Waits

[stip]

Rough ranking going in:

Rain Dogs
Blood Money
Bone Machine
Orphans 2
Mule Variations
Orphans 1
Real Gone
Frank's Wild Years
Swordfishtrombones
Heart Attack and Vine
Bad as Me
Blue Valentines
Heart of Saturday Night
The Black Rider
Alice
Orphans 3
Small Change
Closing Time
This One's From the Heart
Foreign Affairs
Nighthawks at the Diner
Night on earth


Current Ranking:
1. Closing Time

[epilogue]

From the old board, just for shits and grins:

okay, lets actually listen to this bad boy

Ol' 55: I'm not sure I know the eagles version of this. It's a pretty pleasant, unobjectionable song with a nice chorus. The whole thing is very soothing in a crack of dawn kind of way, especially with the lyric 'I'm on my way home from your place' which gives the song a really warm, morning after glow. If he wrote this song a decade later it would be a lot more interesting, but it's still a nice listen.

3.5/5

I hope that I don't fall in love with you: I really like this song. top 3 on the record for me, and quite possibly top 10 from the 70s. the lyrics are simple, as is the music and the mood, but there is something overwhelmingly authentic about this. It is really strong storytelling, especially with the closing 'i think that I just fell in love with you' lyric For such a gimmicky premise it just feels real. there is a hesitancy to the music that a less talented songwriter might have forgotten to put in it. you really feel like you're the guy in the bar arguing with himself about his own courage and worth, and there is an amiable sense of loss in the whole thing. This a song I would want to have a drink with on a night I was feeling a little sorry for myself and wanted to recognize, but not wallow in, my own imperfections.

4.5/5 for the simple magic of this song.


Virginia Avenue: Simple late night jazz number. I like the piano in here. It's fine for what it is, but it doesn't take me anywhere beyond the conventions of its genre. this is one of those songs he could get more mileage out of later in his career, since his voice transforms conventional songs into something utterly unique to him.

2.5/5

Old Shoes & Picture Postcards

Probably my second favorite song on this record. It's hard for me to figure out what i love so much about this song. the melody and music is pretty simple (as are the lyrics) but there is something incredibly satisfying about this song. it just hits all these simple moments in a perfect way. This is one of my favorite tom waits songs to sing along to. I really like the 'farewell to the girl with the sun in her eyes' lyric, as well as 'can I kiss you,and then I'll be gone?'

4.5/5

Midnight Lullaby: I had forgotten what this song sounds like until I listened to it. The whole thing sounds a bit cliched to me, plus isn't this basically just Virginia Avenue slowed down a little bit? I wonder if this is a lullaby for a child or an older person. It would be more interesting if it was the later but the song would need to make that clearer.

2/5 Nothing bad here but I can't imagine ever listening to this song unless I had closing time on in the background.

Martha: This (along with san diego serenade) are the two songs that got me into Tom Waits so I have a soft spot in my heart for this, but even with that I think this is a truly remarkable song, probably the most interesting moment in his catalog until Tom Traubert's blues. The piano sounds old and lonely, the strings give the song the schmaltzy quality of warm memories that you remember through a veil of regret, and there is simply NO way I believe that this song was written by some guy in his early 20s. this could only come from an older man who lived this. I believe every moment of this song (except possibly the 'all that matters then is that I was a man') and this song almost never fails to move me, especially the last lyric

'and I remember quiet evenings, trembling close to you'

wow

5/5

man, I can't remember the last time I listened to this album past Martha

Rosie: This song is basically Ol'55 with different lyrics, and not quite as good. More wistful, since it's an unrequited love,but this and Ol'55 (and virginia avenue and midnight lullaby) are embelmatic of why I am not a huge fan of the early records. They come across as a bit too samey to me. it's not a bad song, and tom's voice gives it character it otherwise wouldn't have, but there's also nothing all that interesting here.

3/5

Lonely: Lonely bores me. It starts to wallow and I cease caring about the singer. If the song ended after the 'I thought that I knew all that there was to' (or the 'I still love you' and just came to a cold stop it would be a lot more interesting. This is just too belabored for me as is. The two moments I mentioned above are nice, but not worth the payoff.

2/5

Ice Cream Man: This is a nice snappy little diversion on the record, but whoever said that this would be a great song if later tom got ahold of this is right. It's a clever song but it really benefits from being surrounded by so many slower low key numbers. This would probably get buried on a more diverse record.

3/5

A little trip to heaven: Ugh, this is the third iteration of what sounds like basically the same song. Maybe it's the sax, which kinda sounds like it came from the musical equivalent of Google stock footage, and TW isn't doing much of interest here.

Maybe people with a stronger background in jazz than my non existent one will get a lot more out of these songs. I need to go back and reread what platy and KD said about this.

2/5

grapefruit moon: this is a better song than the performance. TW doesn't really sell me on it (and some lyrics like the 'is more than I can hide' are just delivered flat out poorly), but the lyrics and melody are nice. The 'grapefruit moon/one star shining' combination is a very pretty image

3/5--like ice cream man,this 3 reflects the potential in the song more than its execution. This would get a lower rating on a better record. Same thing for ice cream man and rosie



Closing time: I have no memory of this instrumental, but given how people are raving about it I'm excited to hear it.

well that was kind of a let down. Background music. What was supposed to amaze me about that? That is not a hostile question,btw. I like when the strings come in around 2:30 and the piano is nice, but I am so sick of this sax and this feels like it should be playing over the credits of some movie, good enough to keep you in whatever headspace the movie (or album) created, but not good enough to make you linger over it.

2.5/5

5 stars: Martha
4.5: Old Shoes, I hope that I don't fall in love with you
3.5: ol' 55
3: grapefruit moon, ice cream man, roise
2.5: Virginia avenue, closingtime
2: little trip to heaven, lonely, midnight avenue

total: 3.13, but this is a little charitable, since those 3 star songs are all a bit inflated.

[stip]

thanks for sharing that. Pretty similar reaction. I think I liked it more this time, at least as an album.

[epilogue]

thanks for sharing that. Pretty similar reaction. I think I liked it more this time, at least as an album.

[stip]

I still have pretty much no memory of writing this

[stip]

Did I do this for every album?

[stip]

I have vague memory of there being some description of a song I had that McParadigm really liked - I took a little pride in that.

[epilogue]

Did I do this for every album?

Yep.

We did a full, board-wide, LAL Tom Waits catalog. A lot of people participated. You, Kevin Davis, Jorge, Me... a lot of people. It was great! I had such a blast doing it.

[stip]

Well then why am I the only person who listened to closing time today?!

[VinylGuy]

Well then why am I the only person who listened to closing time today?!

I listened last saturday i think. Its a beautiful album, one of my favorites for sure.

[stip]

DO IT AGAIN!

[VinylGuy]

Alright alright jesus...let me finish my work...and ...

[epilogue]

[oasisfan35]

Well then why am I the only person who listened to closing time today?!

I listened on the way in to work today, it's actually the only Waits album currently on that USB drive.

[stip]

Good morning. The sun is not quite up yet, so seems like as good a time as any for Heart of Saturday Night

New Coat of Paint: I've always liked this as an opener. Like all lounge jazz standards on these early records, it's not a song I seek out, but I enjoy its ever so slightly sleezy swagger, and the rough edge that is sneaking into his voice. There's a confidence here that wasn't always present in Closing Time

San Diego Serenade: This is arguably the best song of his 70s output (top 3, at any rate). So much wistful beauty, and a stunning amount of age and experience. This song is far too old to have been written and performed by someone so young. The melody is lovely, and the writing is gorgeous without being overwritten (but I've always had a thing for songs structured with this kind of repetition. See also: The Fixer). Some of that is the delivery and overall performance - the authenticity of it. For the most part it's not that these are his most memorable turns of phrase (though "never heard the melody until I needed the song is a great one), but the overall presentation is super moving. This was one of the first Tom Waits songs that dragged me in, which is kind of surprising because the Heart of Saturday Night aesthetic is far from my wheelhouse.

Semi Suite: I'd have to go back and look at the Closing Time tracks again, but is this the first/one of the first songs where he is narrating someone else's experience, instead of giving the perspective of the singer. This works well on the album - well within the late night jazz crooner singing the life story of the 3 people left in the bar feel of the record, and it is an effortless song, but it's also one I will forget the sound of after this is done (I didn't remember it coming in), like so many of the songs on these first few records - they are all of a piece that I don't readily differentiate.

Shiver Me Timbers: People don't write romantic songs about the sea any more, do they? I wonder if that's Deadliest Catch's fault? This is kind of a silly song, especially on such an urban album - though most of these are about vaguely lost souls. Still, it's a beautiful performance.

Diamonds on My Windshield: Only Tom Waits could pull this off without coming across like a complete twit. "it's colder than a well digger's ass". It's crazy that you can track a progression from a song like this to 'What's He Building?' This is a fun one

The Heart of Saturday Night Although you would miss San Diego Serenade, you could just listen to this song and skip the rest of the album. It encapsulates everything so perfectly it makes all the other songs irrelevant. He is such a masterful storyteller. You immediately know everything about the subject's hopes, insecurities, aspirations, and the picture is so clear. If we each closed our eyes and tried to narrate the scene in our mind I bet they'd be pretty close to identical. He has songs that are far more powerful, and far more important, but his effortless mastery of craft is totally on display here. It's why he can veer so far off the rails in his later work and still maintain total control.

Fumblin' with the Blues: Another barroom jazz number - the bite is back in his voice, which always makes me excited for what is coming. It sounds good, and there's some danger here that isn't present on the earlier songs (which are all a lot more mawkish) Like Semi-Suite, I'll probably forget this one tomorrow, but it sounds really good, and I'm sure it's a great example of its genre.

Please Call Me, Baby: This is a song I NEVER remember, but it's pretty good. It's not quite there though. There are moments that feel rushed and break up the melody, and (this is true of a lot of this earlier material) he doesn't always stick the landing on the emotional punctuation in the song, but there are moments that really hint at greatness and suck me in "I don't want you to catch your death of cold out walking in the rain". It's a song where you can tell that he still has a little bit to learn but it's clear how much raw talent is there.

Depot Depot: Heart of Saturday Night loses me a bit on the back half, where it all starts to get a bit samey - maybe even more than Closing Time? I like horn part, and it's a charming scoundrel song. It's so hard not to root for all his characters. This is the kind of song I'd really take note of if I was listening on shuffle and this popped up amidst his larger body of work. But at this point it's too much of a minor variation on a theme.

Drunk on the Moon: This one doesn't do much for me (although it's perfectly agreeable, I suppose). It's overlong and is probably the song on this album that feels the most in need of an identity. Not sure there is anything on here that wasn't already covered elsewhere on the record. Having said that "I'm drunk on the moon" is a great phrase.

The Ghost of Saturday Night:I think a lot of the worst tendencies in his early work (most readily apparent in Nighthawks, if I recall correctly) are on display here. This is just way too overwritten. The details become distracting. It really highlights how deft his touch was in Heart of Saturday Night.





Album highlights: San Diego Serenade, the Heart of Saturday Night
Near Highlights: New Coat of Paint, Shiver Me Timbers, Diamonds on my Windshield
Pretty Good: Please Call Me Baby,
Don't Need: Semi Suite, Fumblin' with the Blues, Depot Depot
Don't like: Drunk on the moon, Ghost of Saturday night

I'm not totally comfortable with that Don't Need assessment. I liked pretty much all those songs as they were on (which is the power of the album format) but I other than the horn part of Depot Depot I really can't recall most of them, and I JUST finished listening to this.

Closing Time has more highs, but if I was going to put one of these on from start to finish I'd go with Heart of Saturday Night, which is just a bit more consistent from front to back - at least until the end. This album really does let itself down at the end, though. Hmmm...

[stip]

Rough ranking going in:

Rain Dogs
Blood Money
Bone Machine
Orphans 2
Mule Variations
Orphans 1
Real Gone
Frank's Wild Years
Swordfishtrombones
Heart Attack and Vine
Bad as Me
Blue Valentines
Heart of Saturday Night
The Black Rider
Alice
Orphans 3
Small Change
Closing Time
This One's From the Heart
Foreign Affairs
Nighthawks at the Diner
Night on earth


Current Ranking:
1. Closing Time
2. Heart of Saturday Night

I really like the first side of Heart of Saturday Night, but I forgot how little I don't need the second half of it. I think Closing Time might edge it out.

[stip]

Alice just came on shuffle after ghosts of saturday night, and it just struck me that there are probably a lot of parallels between Alice and Heart of Saturday Night as albums - different set of characters, and a very different asthetic, but a similar set of (mostly) stripped down stories about loners and losers.

Komminezsuspadt might break that comparison, though

[Kevin Davis]

Not sure I'll be able to keep up on a full-scale LAL but I did listen to Closing Time and Heart of Saturday Night yesterday and today, not in that order. I'm glad he got weirder, glad his voice got gravelier, glad he started drawing up full character sketches, etc., but I really enjoy both of these albums. Closing Time has so many elements of roads not taken -- listening to this you could easily imagine Waits going the direction of '70's MOR singer-songwriterdom, or a more palatable version of back alley lounge jazz, along with some things that subtly hint at the path he'd eventually choose. And some songs -- "Ol' 55," "Rosie," "Grapefruit Moon" -- are really successful in that mold. I really like the trumpet in "Midnight Lullaby." I used to really like "Martha" but it felt almost unbearably schlocky to me this time around -- married old man calls married old woman and professes undying love for her out of the blue, uses many cliches -- blech. "Old Shoes" had some Dylanesque leanings I'd never really paid mind to before -- when he says "s'clear," and "farewell to the girl..." -- those things make me think of early acoustic Dylan outtakes, and Waits feels like he's playing dress-up a bit, but the song is certainly catchy. And I think "Ice Cream Man" is a ball -- I'd love to hear it in a latter-day incarnation.

Heart of Saturday Night is better still, arguably one of the most unified albums of his whole career, and really does his "early years" sound as well I could imagine it being done without overstaying its welcome. I really don't dislike any of the songs on here, though I agree that there are probably fewer that would have made suitable singles, Eagles covers, etc. The album has a kind of double staying power for me, as it will always take me back to the time when I was first getting into it (early 2002 or so), which was also right around the time that I was closest to the kind of after-hours social life the album describes. So it really hits a sweet spot. I think his later '70's stuff hits higher highs but I don't think he'd make another album that plays through from beginning to end this cohesively until...man, I don't know, maybe Alice. Not a knock on anything that comes between at all, he just really nails a specific sense of time/place here. It's never an album I'm disappointed to have grabbed off the shelf whenever I feel so compelled.

[VinylGuy]

Heart of Saturday Night is one of my favorites for sure. And i love his voice there, but specially the overall vibe the whole album has. Its not just a few songs, but the whole album has this bluesy, chill, blue vibe and i just love it.

[Jorge]

NO SURPRISE that I disagree with Stip again but my favorite Heart of Saturday Night song is "Drunk on the Moon" and one of my least favorites is "San Diego Serenade". I still like it though. The whole album is good