Music Banter - View Single Post - Trollheart's Album Discography Reviews: Tom Waits

Trollheart · 02-02-2022, 02:14 PM

If I'm doing double entries on all other discographies to make up for being away from them for so long, it only makes sense that I do the same here. However, as we're now tackling two sort of in-between albums of hits as it were, I feel I may as well get both done now. So, as usual, Waits goes his own way, and perhaps like Trump, where everyone else gets two scoops, he gets three.

Unlike Trump though, he deserves to be treated differently. And so we will do so. Although both of these albums contain songs that have been released before, they are not simply greatest hits packages, as we will see.

The Early Years, Volume 1 (1991)

Although released in 1991, the songs on this album were in fact all recorded prior to the release of his debut in 1973. Some of them appear on that album, some on the second, but there are songs here too that never saw the light of day until now. It kicks off with “Goin’ Down Slow”, a lazy, laconic almost folk ballad played on acoustic guitar with some fine steel too. It’s typical of the kind of thing you’’d find on Closing Time, a song that sounds like it was just written as he waited for someone or for the day to end, or his glass to be refilled. Without a band at this point, Waits plays all the instruments here himself, and yet makes the album sound less acoustic than you would expect. “Poncho’s Lament” is another country/folk style swinging ballad with the great line ”I’m glad that you’re gone/ But I wish to the lord that you’d come home.”

His voice sounds less ragged and growly than it would later become, and the slightly embarrassed cough at the end, left on deliberately one must assume, really reinforces the idea of a man writing up his demo before trying for an album deal. The first song though that really shows the talent Waits would become famous for is “I’m Your Late Night Evening Prostitute”, where he considers the idea I guess of whoring out his music. It’s driven on soulful piano that would resurface in part on “A Sight for Sore Eyes” on the Foreign Affairs album. When he sings ”Drink your Martini and stare at the moon/ Don’t mind me: I’ll continue to croon” he’s singing for all the pianists and guitar players in bars and clubs who pour their souls out to an uncaring crowd and receive perhaps a smattering of applause if they’re lucky. Again, he would revisit this idea, though instrumentally only, on “In Shades”, nine years later on Heartattack and Vine. Back to Country slow bopping with the pretty hilarious “Had Me a Girl”, in which he lists all the places he’s visited and had romantic interludes: ”Had me a girl from France/ Just wanted to get in her pants” and "Had me a girl from Chula Vista/ I was in love with her sister.” I particularly love the idea at the end, when he runs out of ideas or just doesn’t care and sings ”I had me a girl from … mm. Mm.mm mm mm mm…” Classic!

Next we have the first of the songs that actually made it onto his debut, as we hear a stripped down version of “Ice Cream Nan”, pretty much the same melody but somewhat slower, played on the piano and guitar. “Rockin’ Chair” is another lazy ballad on acoustic guitar, kind of Delta blues feel to it, kinda sounds like it would have worked well on Nighthawks. “Virginia Avenue” is a slower version of the song which appears on Closing Time and as I mentioned earlier, a slight change in the lyrics makes ”What’s a poor boy to do” into ”What’s a poor sailor to do”, other than that it’s pretty much the same song. It’s followed then by “Midnight Lullaby”, which again is little different to the song that ended up on his debut.

“When You Ain’t Got Nobody” is a new song, as such, though, and highlights his cynical attitude towards life but shot through with the humour that would become his trademark. ”When you ain’t got nobody/ Anybody looks nice” he opines. ”Doesn’t take much to make you/ Stop and look twice.” Another piano solo piece, another slow song and one that could really have been a classic had he included it on the album. I love the almost-shocking ”I’ll be your Dick honey/ If you’ll just be my Jane.” People under a certain age won’t get that, but I smiled. Back to the early versions of songs that made it onto Closing Time with a slightly barebones “Little Trip to Heaven (On the Wings of Your Love)”, the lounge/bar-room idea filtering in here nicely; the whistled verse is nice. Maybe he couldn’t think of any more lyrics but it gives the song some new life and a personal touch. I think on the finished version there’s a sax solo there?

A man who would appear in later songs, and inform a full album, “Frank’s Song” is the first we hear of him, whether he’s the same one we are introduced to later or not I don’t know, but Waits here approaches the whole idea of marriage as he does on Nighthawks as he declares ”We used to go stag/ Now he’s got a hag.” It’s a short, acoustic ballad which leads into one of the best on the album, the hilarious “Looks Like I’m Up Shit Creek Again”, with a slow Country flavour that ticks along really nicely and presages the likes of “Ol’ 55” and “Hope That I Don’t Fall in Love With You”, perhaps why he didn’t include it. Certainly wouldn’t have got any radio airplay! I love it though; it just drips self-pity and recrimination. The album ends on “So Long I’ll See Ya”, showing the beginnings of the guitar style he would develop and the vocal slightly more loud and a little manic, pointing the direction he would go in over the years. It also features some of the scat singing he would use in the, um, early years.

TRACK LISTING

* indicates song later included on another album

1.Goin’ Down Slow
2.Poncho’s Lament
3.I’m Your Late Night Evening Prostitute
4.Had Me a Girl
5.Ice Cream Man*
6.Rockin’ Chair
7.Virginia Avenue*
8.Midnight Lullaby*
9.When You Ain’t Got Nobody
10.Little Trip to Heaven (On the Wings of Your Love)*
11.Frank’s Song
12.Looks Like I’m Up Shit Creek Again
13.So Long I’ll See Ya

You could say this is bad value for money, seeing as four of the thirteen tracks on it are ones you would by now have already heard - that’s a third of the album - but although those four songs are not really sufficiently different from the final versions to really merit inclusion, the other songs are all new and this album opens an interesting and unique window into the thought and songwriting processes of a man who was at the time struggling to find his voice and make a name for himself. So historically at least, this is an album that any Waits fan should really want to hear.

Rating: 8.0/10

02-02-2022, 02:14 PM	#42 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	If I'm doing double entries on all other discographies to make up for being away from them for so long, it only makes sense that I do the same here. However, as we're now tackling two sort of in-between albums of hits as it were, I feel I may as well get both done now. So, as usual, Waits goes his own way, and perhaps like Trump, where everyone else gets two scoops, he gets three. Unlike Trump though, he deserves to be treated differently. And so we will do so. Although both of these albums contain songs that have been released before, they are not simply greatest hits packages, as we will see. The Early Years, Volume 1 (1991) Although released in 1991, the songs on this album were in fact all recorded prior to the release of his debut in 1973. Some of them appear on that album, some on the second, but there are songs here too that never saw the light of day until now. It kicks off with “Goin’ Down Slow”, a lazy, laconic almost folk ballad played on acoustic guitar with some fine steel too. It’s typical of the kind of thing you’’d find on Closing Time, a song that sounds like it was just written as he waited for someone or for the day to end, or his glass to be refilled. Without a band at this point, Waits plays all the instruments here himself, and yet makes the album sound less acoustic than you would expect. “Poncho’s Lament” is another country/folk style swinging ballad with the great line ”I’m glad that you’re gone/ But I wish to the lord that you’d come home.” His voice sounds less ragged and growly than it would later become, and the slightly embarrassed cough at the end, left on deliberately one must assume, really reinforces the idea of a man writing up his demo before trying for an album deal. The first song though that really shows the talent Waits would become famous for is “I’m Your Late Night Evening Prostitute”, where he considers the idea I guess of whoring out his music. It’s driven on soulful piano that would resurface in part on “A Sight for Sore Eyes” on the Foreign Affairs album. When he sings ”Drink your Martini and stare at the moon/ Don’t mind me: I’ll continue to croon” he’s singing for all the pianists and guitar players in bars and clubs who pour their souls out to an uncaring crowd and receive perhaps a smattering of applause if they’re lucky. Again, he would revisit this idea, though instrumentally only, on “In Shades”, nine years later on Heartattack and Vine. Back to Country slow bopping with the pretty hilarious “Had Me a Girl”, in which he lists all the places he’s visited and had romantic interludes: ”Had me a girl from France/ Just wanted to get in her pants” and "Had me a girl from Chula Vista/ I was in love with her sister.” I particularly love the idea at the end, when he runs out of ideas or just doesn’t care and sings ”I had me a girl from … mm. Mm.mm mm mm mm…” Classic! Next we have the first of the songs that actually made it onto his debut, as we hear a stripped down version of “Ice Cream Nan”, pretty much the same melody but somewhat slower, played on the piano and guitar. “Rockin’ Chair” is another lazy ballad on acoustic guitar, kind of Delta blues feel to it, kinda sounds like it would have worked well on Nighthawks. “Virginia Avenue” is a slower version of the song which appears on Closing Time and as I mentioned earlier, a slight change in the lyrics makes ”What’s a poor boy to do” into ”What’s a poor sailor to do”, other than that it’s pretty much the same song. It’s followed then by “Midnight Lullaby”, which again is little different to the song that ended up on his debut. “When You Ain’t Got Nobody” is a new song, as such, though, and highlights his cynical attitude towards life but shot through with the humour that would become his trademark. ”When you ain’t got nobody/ Anybody looks nice” he opines. ”Doesn’t take much to make you/ Stop and look twice.” Another piano solo piece, another slow song and one that could really have been a classic had he included it on the album. I love the almost-shocking ”I’ll be your Dick honey/ If you’ll just be my Jane.” People under a certain age won’t get that, but I smiled. Back to the early versions of songs that made it onto Closing Time with a slightly barebones “Little Trip to Heaven (On the Wings of Your Love)”, the lounge/bar-room idea filtering in here nicely; the whistled verse is nice. Maybe he couldn’t think of any more lyrics but it gives the song some new life and a personal touch. I think on the finished version there’s a sax solo there? A man who would appear in later songs, and inform a full album, “Frank’s Song” is the first we hear of him, whether he’s the same one we are introduced to later or not I don’t know, but Waits here approaches the whole idea of marriage as he does on Nighthawks as he declares ”We used to go stag/ Now he’s got a hag.” It’s a short, acoustic ballad which leads into one of the best on the album, the hilarious “Looks Like I’m Up Shit Creek Again”, with a slow Country flavour that ticks along really nicely and presages the likes of “Ol’ 55” and “Hope That I Don’t Fall in Love With You”, perhaps why he didn’t include it. Certainly wouldn’t have got any radio airplay! I love it though; it just drips self-pity and recrimination. The album ends on “So Long I’ll See Ya”, showing the beginnings of the guitar style he would develop and the vocal slightly more loud and a little manic, pointing the direction he would go in over the years. It also features some of the scat singing he would use in the, um, early years. TRACK LISTING * indicates song later included on another album 1.Goin’ Down Slow 2.Poncho’s Lament 3.I’m Your Late Night Evening Prostitute 4.Had Me a Girl 5.Ice Cream Man* 6.Rockin’ Chair 7.Virginia Avenue* 8.Midnight Lullaby* 9.When You Ain’t Got Nobody 10.Little Trip to Heaven (On the Wings of Your Love)* 11.Frank’s Song 12.Looks Like I’m Up Shit Creek Again 13.So Long I’ll See Ya You could say this is bad value for money, seeing as four of the thirteen tracks on it are ones you would by now have already heard - that’s a third of the album - but although those four songs are not really sufficiently different from the final versions to really merit inclusion, the other songs are all new and this album opens an interesting and unique window into the thought and songwriting processes of a man who was at the time struggling to find his voice and make a name for himself. So historically at least, this is an album that any Waits fan should really want to hear. Rating: 8.0/10 __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018