Anti Records announced today that they are repressing the first four releases from Tom Waits' Aslyum years (the beginning of his career) on limited edition 180-gram red vinyl, with each record being limited to 1000 copies. Records included in this repressing are Closing Time, The Heart Of Saturday Night, Small Change, and Nighthawks At The Diner. Each record is going for $26.99, except for Nighthawks At The Diner, which is going for $37.99. Now I'm too braindead to do the math, but superior guesstimation skills tell me that ordering all these records comes to a grand total of like, a billion dollars.
The only one of these albums I actually own is Small Change, and I have to say it's pretty damn cool. Tom Waits has this great way of timelessly making you feel like an old tin can sailor at the end of his rope, dying in a gutter somewhere. Whilst the jazzier numbers are fun to listen to, it's the slow piano songs that really make this album for me. It's the kind of album you don't mind listening to on an introspective Friday night by yourself with a bottle of wine.
I remember the first time I heard "The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me)", I was in a tiny bar with a friend of mine, without any real place to go or people to meet. We were sitting there when the song came on, and we both just started cracking up. There's something hauntingly sad about some of these songs, but at the same time they aren't without humor. Tom Waits manages to sound like a raving drunk singing about how the menus are all freezing, the piano tuner needs a hearing aid, the telephone is out of cigarettes, etc, all while capturing some shared human emotion that anyone who has been there (or even heard the song) feels.
"Tom Traubert's Blues" follows a similar vein, with Waits saying of his inspiration for the song "I went down to skid row ... I bought a pint of rye. In a brown paper bag... Hunkered down, drank the pint of rye, went home, threw up, and wrote 'Tom Traubert's Blues'".
I can't vouch for the awesomeness of the other albums, but if they're as good as Small Change, you can bet they're worth picking up.
Anyway, if you've never heard it, here's Tom Waits performing "Tom Trauberts Blues", as well as "The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me)" on various television shows from the 70's. The first video definitely captures the sad aspect of his music much more, while the second one captures his humor. The second video also includes one of my favorite interviews with him.
EDIT:
Records can be purchased from the Tom Waits official webstore:
http://kingsroadmerch.com/tom-waits/
Mr D, I must whole heartedly concur with you about the magnificent Mr Waits. I myself own three of the four vinyl imprints in question (and I own the fourth and a couple others on audio cassette, if you can imagine such a thing). I also have Heartattack and Vine, which is worth buying a vinyl factory to press for yourself.
ReplyDeleteFor my money, though it's the most expensive of the lot, the one to get is Nighthawks. There are few songs more brilliant than Emotional Weather Report and more simply beautiful and plaintive than Nobody. He also does his own rendering of Big Joe and Phantom 309 (satirized to death in Tim Burton's early film Peewee's Big Adventure) which is more than worth the price of admission.
Of course if you own Small Change, then you already are aware of the "leviticously deuteronomous" song Step Right Up. If there's was a song that more effectively dismantled its target, I can't think of it.
He went a bit off the rails for me when he started doing things like Swordfishtrombones, though I have a soft spot in my heart for Frank's Wild Years. His gravelly, cigarette and whisky saturated early lounge music wins for me every time.
Thanks for reminding me of these. I'll be pulling out my records this weekend...