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Product Details
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| 1. Ol' '55 |
| 2. I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You |
| 3. Virginia Avenue |
| 4. Old Shoes (& Picture Postcards) |
| 5. Midnight Lullaby |
| 6. Martha |
| 7. Rosie |
| 8. Lonely |
| 9. Ice Cream Man |
| 10. Little Trip To Heaven (On The Wings Of Your Love) |
| 11. Grapefruit Moon |
| 12. Closing Time |
Tom Waits gave us a nice collection of tunes with this album. "Martha" is beautiful. "Lonely" is what it is. It's funny... Mention Tom Waits to most people, and - if they even know who he is - they'll just see him as this Charles Bukowski guy with a hoarse voice. The early Tom Waits gave us some of the most beautiful ballads. He paints a picture that few (Springsteen, Nick Cave are the only ones that come to mind) could ever rival. His work is infused with poetic grace; his is a drunken ode to melancholy.
This album, like "Frank's Wild Years", is a perfect introduction to his music. Check it out...
Once upon a time it was a great late night drinking album, one my friends and I would listen to on cassette while driving from DC to Baltimore and back on a Saturday night. Later, during a phase I'll only mysteriously hint at, because that will give me a cool, artistic aura that drives chicks crazy, it was a late night drinking LP for me and me alone. Still later, it was a great CD to sing along to as I tried to get my newborn son to sleep. He still likes these songs.
There is so much great music here that I won't even waste your time with a track-by-track review. My personal favorites are "Old Shoes(& Picture Postcards" and "Grapefruit Moon," but this is a near-perfect record, from open to close. Anyone who saw Bette Midler's teary version of "Martha" on Saturday Night Live a few generations ago could see the effect Waits songwriting had on his L.A. contemporaries.
By the way, Waits version of "Ol' 55" proves that the Eagles, who covered it on their first LP, could kill even the greatest of tunes.