Tom Waits Alice

Unquestionably the definitive recording of Waits' early period, SMALL CHANGE brings his beatnik/grifter/gruff, poetic piano man persona into sharp, defining focus. Waits' blues/jazz/'40s pop amalgam is at its most cohesive here, as he's backed by three West Coast jazz vets and an occasional (never overweening) string section. "Tom Traubert's Blues," later covered by Rod Stewart, is a milestone, and one of the greatest cry-in-your-beer tunes of all time. Waits plays the down-and-out, alcohol-ravaged troubadour to perfection here as well as on "Invitation to the Blues" and the devastating "Bad Liver and a Broken Heart," where one can almost smell the cheap whiskey on his breath…

Tom Waits' debut album is a minor-key masterpiece filled with songs of late-night loneliness. Within the apparently narrow range of the cocktail bar pianistics and muttered vocals, Waits and producer Jerry Yester manage a surprisingly broad collection of styles, from the jazzy "Virginia Avenue" to the up-tempo funk of "Ice Cream Man" and from the acoustic guitar folkiness of "I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love With You" to the saloon song "Midnight Lullaby," which would have been a perfect addition to the repertoires of Frank Sinatra or Tony Bennett…

If Closing Time, Tom Waits' debut album, consisted of love songs set in a late-night world of bars and neon signs, its follow-up, The Heart of Saturday Night, largely dispenses with the romance in favor of poetic depictions of the same setting. On "Diamonds on My Windshield" and "The Ghosts of Saturday Night," Waits doesn't even sing, instead reciting his verse rhythmically against bass and drums like a Beat hipster. Musically, the album contains the same mixture of folk, blues, and jazz as its predecessor, with producer Bones Howe occasionally bringing in an orchestra to underscore the loping melodies…

Far and away the season's best cabaret show… Sometimes, something remarkable can grow from the most unexpected juxtapositions. At 28, Marissa Mulder has a voice like a spring morning and a face to match. Her singing frequently puts experienced cabaret-goers in mind of Blossom Dearie's little-girl innocence, and therefore the least likely material she could tackle would be the gin-soaked, hard-luck, grimy inner-city stories of Tom Waits. No, she doesn't take the easy step of addressing the songwriter's lighter material, nor does she try to brighten up any of Mr. Waits's infamously dark, rumpled anthems. Instead, she takes his darkest and most profound songs and looks them straight in the eye. Complementing Ms. Mulder's starkly honest interpretations is pianist Jon Weber, who helps her extract the majestically dysfunctional beauty of texts like "Broken Bicycles" without merely prettying them up.

Tom Waits - Used Songs 1973-1980 (2001) {Elektra–Rhino 8122-78351-2}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 402 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 184 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 40 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1973-80, 2001 Asylum / Elektra / Rhino / Warner | 8122-78351-2
Rock / Blues / Blues Rock / Singer-Songwriter

Rhino's fine 16-track collection Used Songs (1973-1980) chronicles Tom Waits' first seven albums, all recorded for Asylum Records. This contains pretty much all his staples from the '70s – "Heartattack and Vine," "Burma Shave," "Ol' 55," "Jersey Girl," "(Looking For) The Heart of Saturday Night," and "Tom Traubert's Blues" among them – sequenced not chronologically, but sequenced for maximum impact. Given the sheer amount of music Waits made for Asylum, it shouldn't be surprising that there are some fan favorites missing, but there are no complaints with what is here, and this provides a near-perfect encapsulation of his pre-Island years, especially for those only familiar with the Island recordings.

In the 1970s, Tom Waits combined a lyrical focus on desperate, low-life characters with a persona that seemed to embody the same lifestyle, which he sang about in a raspy, gravelly voice.