Ice cream man (Tom Waits) (LP 4797 - 4801)

Tom Waits  Closing Time (Vinyl, Asylum Records, 1973) ***  

Tom Waits  The Heart of Saturday Night (Vinyl, Asylum Records, 1974) ***  

Tom Waits  Nighthawks at the Diner (Vinyl, Asylum Records, 1975) *****  

Tom Waits  Blue Valentine (Vinyl, Asylum Records, 1978) ***

Tom Waits  Heartattack and Vine (Vinyl, Asylum Records, 1980) **** 

Genre: Folk, jazz, blues, alt rock

Places I remember: Marbecks Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Heartattack and Vine

Gear costume: (Looking for) the Heart of Saturday Night

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7; Part 8

Active compensatory factors: Typical of Tom Wait's sharp sense of humour that he'd call his debut album, Closing Time. The songs on it are often gentle folk songs - his voice was yet to develop his ravaged drawl. I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You is a good example. It sounds slightly cynical until the last line and the listener has a wry smile.

The highlights are that song, Ol' 55 which the Eagles covered in their smooth Southern Californian style, Grapefruit Moon, and Martha. All point to his way with a melody, his skewed world view and his potential. The rest though don't particularly do it for me and so the key feeling I have from the album is that it's a decent start, but much greater was to come.

Tom's early albums are on Asylum Records, home to The Eagles, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt and Joni Mitchell amid others. Tom is the outlier in this bunch with Closing Time pointing towards a jazzier, late night sardonic vibe.

That's certainly the vibe The Heart of Saturday Night, his second album. It's an improvement on the debut with some more fully realised songs like New Coat of Paint, Shiver Me Timbers and the title track. Overall, it's a bit patchy.

His next album was not patchy at all. Instead, Nighthawks at the Diner is a 'live' in the studio effort. I don't know why more artists don't do this - it's a brilliant way to record with a small audience. On Nighthawks, you get a juiced up but easy going ambience going conducive to a relaxed but controlled performance with a sympathetic jazz combo. Michael Melvoin is on piano, with Jim Hughart on bass, Bill Goodwin on drums and Pete Christlieb on sax. Tom also plays piano and guitar during the set.

In this instance Nighthawks sounds like an intimate jazz club where Tom does his best barfly beatnik poet's impression over four sides. He is hilarious too! The jazz setting and musical accompaniment suits him superbly, as he smoothly does his hipster jive routines and songs. 

There are plenty of highlights but I need to single out two of my absolute favs - Eggs and Sausage (In a Cadillac with Susan Michelson), and Big Joe and Phantom 309.

I missed a few of his mid seventies albums for some reason. In 1978 I was in my second undergraduate year, being paid in records while working at Marbecks Records during my holidays - which is where I listened to Blue Valentine. We played it a lot in the store and Roger loved Tom's version of Somewhere. RM has superb taste, so I needed a copy. 

It has its moments but it's inconsistant. The aforementioned Somewhere, Romeo is Bleeding, and A Sweet Little Bullet from a Pretty Blue Gun are all top efforts but some of the other tracks don't feel too inspired or committed. I notice this when those three songs come around.

I was again working my holidays at Marbecks when Heartattack and Vine was released. I didn't have to think too much about this purchase. Tom's last album in his Asylum years was also the last one in his beatnik persona. 

Although it's a transitional record, Heartattack and Vine should be enjoyed for what it is - a jagged rocky guitar based sound that matches his visceral vocals.

By this stage, thanks to a diet of cigarettes and alcohol, his voice was a deep rasp with overtones of Captain Beefheart/ Howlin' Wolf's more gutteral delivery. It makes Blue Valentine a tougher listen at times but it really suits the grittier approach on Heartattack and Vine. I love the album - along with Nighthawks at the Diner, it is my go-to Tom Waits album.

Where do they all belong? The Used Songs 1973 - 1980 compilation is a good in-point for his Asylum years. I did buy a few of his Island albums but I never listened to them much so I sold them off.