Product Description Rhino celebrates Waits' halcyon Asylum years with this new single-disc collection of barroom ballads and coffee-shop croons. Sixteen early essentials, including "Ol' 55," "Jersey Girl," and "Tom Traubert's Blues." .com Those only familiar with Tom Waits's experimental post-Swordfishtrombones music on Island are often surprised and delighted to discover the singer-songwriter's pre-Swordfishtrombones work on Elektra. A sampling of Waits's nascent recordings is spotlighted on this Rhino compilation. Offering up a beat "hobo" persona that's part Jack Kerouac and part Charles Bukowski, Waits delivered a more traditional American musical persona back then. In fact, some of his melodies approached Stephen Foster territory (witness the absolutely gorgeous "Heart of Saturday Night"). "Ol' 55" became famous via an Eagles cover, Bruce Springsteen would immortalize "Jersey Girl," and "Whistlin' Past the Graveyard"--which highlights his Louis Armstrong-meets-Captain Beefheart vocals of the period--still rocks. But while it's an excellent introduction, tracks like the beautiful "Tom Troubert's Blues" will only make the more newly initiated want to hear albums like Small Change in their entirety. --Bill Holdship
Trustpilot
2 months ago
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