Customer Reviews

Foreign Affairs

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Foreign Affairs wanders across nine tracks, exploring lonely souls, capricious youth, bar pick-ups, haircuts, and billboard advertisements for shaving. Through "traveling abroad" Waits refocused himself on America and that which is uniquely American. The open-road freedom of "Jack and Neal" is both a tribute to Kerouac and Cassidy and a tribute to the distinct freedom of the American road, the dreams that stretch out before one, and the promise of the West. The theme is revisited on "Burma Shave," where the promise of the horizon ends up a twisted wreck by the side of the road. The song, written as a tribute to Presley, is among Wait's finest creations. There's more here too. As a bouncer Waits often wrote down overheard conversations, and "I Never Talk to Strangers" with Bette Midler is precisely that, an everyday conversation set to piano and tenor sax. Likewise, "Muriel" is a lamentation over swizzle sticks and cigarettes for the one that got away. Waits along with Hopper, is the greatest chroniclery of American lonliness. The intimacy of his sound surpasses that of the printed word, and so draws the listener in that by the end of the CD you are sure your shirt smells like a stale barroom... END

It looks like Tom Waits just took a small break between creating two genuine masterpieces "SMALL CHANGE" and "BLUE VALENTINES". Giving this album 4 stars is a relief and a support for the listeners' objectiveness as one would feel uncomfortable and unfair rating all TW's albums 5 stars. "Muriel" is a beatiful ballad, the duo with Bette Midler sounds very nice but the true gem of "FOREIGN AFFAIRS" is, of course "Burma Shave" - a breathtaking song that sets the mood for the whole album.

I like 'Foreign Affairs' more every time I listen to it, and I get cravings for it when I haven't heard it for a while. Tom is at the pinnacle of his beat period, and his song-writing has matured very well. It is a truly a beautiful album.

I love every album Tom has made, but in my opinion this should be one of the last you buy. It's got some great songs (especially Burma Shave)but the album as a whole seems incomplete to me. More of a stepping stone from great albums to even greater albums. If you're looking for good old stuff get Small Change, Blue Valentine, Nighthawks first; then pick this one up.

Foreign Affairs seems to be a very fitting title for Waits' 4th studio album. As I noted earlier, Tom Waits perfected his shtick on Small Change. Foreign affairs is actually the start of the metamorphosis that would continue on his next two albums until a full fledged transformation with Swordfishtrombones(1983).
The first part(side 1 on the old vinyl record) finds Waits sticking to his guns. Cinny's Waltz is an is an instrumental, but this time we also see the addition of violins.
Muriel is another Waits song about a lost love. Although nothing is wrong with the song per- se it doesn't match Waits' earlier songs touching this subject.
I Never Talk To Strangers is a singles bar duet with Bette Midler and has a clever and funny text. Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassidy is remembered on the track Jack & Neal. One of the albums highlights comes next. A Sight for Sore Eyes starts with an intro that uses the notes from Auld Lang Syne and then catches on as one of Waits' most memorable bar stool ramblings of his career.
Then there is a change in direction. The almost 9 minute long Potter's Field is a quite different song a kind of jazz noir. On Burma Shave we find a traditional scenario: girl meets mysterious stranger and takes off with him in his Ford Mustang. But the roles are blurred. You're not really sure about who is leading and who is following. A great song with a tragic end. Barber Shop is a jazz beat song. Foreign Affair is a song that sounds like Bad Liver and a Broken Heart.
A lot of critics accused Waits of repeating himself on Foreign Affairs. I think they overlooked a new approach by Waits. This is especially apparent from Potter's Field and on. Waits seems to pick up on this new approach as it is followed up on his next album Blue Valentines.
Foreign Affairs isn't as strong as his previous albums. It might be that Waits, too, was a little tired of sticking to his old act. That is why the album seems a little confused. Any transitionally period is hard and despite the flaws Foreign Affairs is still a great album

Small Change was the culmination of Tom Waits's piano/strings/barstool philosopher hijinxs, and Foreign Affairs, his next album, is more of a transitional album than it is given credit for. Waits clearly felt the need to branch out somewhat, as he did less subtly on his next two albums leading up to the full-on re-invention of Swordfishtrombones. He had been delivering Beat-worthy jazz raps for several albums by this point, but Foreign Affairs was the first album where the music seemed to matter quite as much as the lyrics. It opens with the beautiful instrumental, Cinny's Waltz, and the music is strong throughout - from the tinkling piano of A Sight For Sore Eyes to the lush orchestrations of Potter's Field. As I mentioned, Tom was branching out a bit at this point, and, thus, the album is a bit schizophrenic by nature. The first half of the album mostly consists of fairly concise (for Tom, anyway) ballads - such as the quaint Muriel; the duet with Bette Midler on I Never Talk To Strangers (on which her vocal is horrendus in my opinion, but doesn't ruin the clever lyric); and the nice song A Sight For Sore Eyes. The second half of the album, on the other hand, consists mostly of long, drawn out acid jazz raps - such as the 8 and 1/2 minute schizo freak-out masterpiece Potter's Field, and the witty, Burma Shave. Jack & Neal (the title characters being two of Tom's more obvious Beat predecessors) is another one of these songs. It is true that, if you like any of Tom Wait's 70's album, then you will enjoy all of his records at least through Heart Attack & Vine (my advice if you like them is to just grab 'em all up: you'll be addicted), but this is a particularly nice, and somewhat distinctive one, for several reasons. It's perhaps the best of his early albums musically, and it features perhaps his best free-form jazz raps - including some of his most hilarous lyrics (Jack & Neal being an absolute "laugh out loud.") Reccommended for any Waits fan.

Even though I wouldn't rate this as Waits' best work, it's still a must-have. Of course, I think that all of his work is worth owning; he is the greatest songwriter living today. I guess what I like least about this album is the general lounge-lizard sound of most of the performances. Probably the only album that I like less is Big Time, but I still wouldn't consider my collection complete without either of these; there are real treasures on both CDs that make them worth owning.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS is one of Waits's most engaging jazzy albums...its lyrics are so dark and poetic, you'll be drawn in instantly, recognizing immediately within yourself the heartache these characters are going through. If nothing else, you can fall back on the hometown hopelessness of "A Sight For Sore Eyes" (which opens with "Auld Lang Syne"), or the gin-soaked romantic banter between Waits and Bette Midler on "I Never Talk to Strangers" (a tune which would inspire the future Tom Waits-Chrystal Gayle masterpiece ONE FROM THE HEART album). There's the cool "Burma Shave" and the catchy "Jack & Neal" (that sax intro will grab you by the ears and haul your butt in). FOREIGN AFFAIRS is one of the best "early" Waits albums, and showcases why this masterful singer/songwriter deserves a pedestal in the Musicians Hall of Fame. We'd better put him in a far, back corner, though...he might scare off the uninitiated.

Yea, Tom Waits really nailed Small Change in '76. Everything including the cover.......ESPECIALLY THE COVER, is just so BOSS. It's where Waits, the songwriter hits his stride. Indeed Small Change was a tough act to follow, but Foregin Affairs released in '77 is almost as interesting. I've come back to it of late, and it does have at least three of TW's best compositions (Muriel, Cindy's Waltz and Foregin Affairs and I'll throw in I Never Talk To Strangers).

Cindy's Waltz is the opening track, much the way Waltzing Matilda opens up Small Change. Barber Shop also sounds like Step Right Up from SC, only it's not as manic. Foregin Affairs is a beautiful ballard and allows TW to really show off his pipes.... Well almost. It explores one of TW's most universal themes, wonderlust. Here he really nails, what might be considered the quintessential Tom Waits song...Just beautiful! So tasty! Much has been written here of the wonderful duet with Bette Midler, I Never Talk To Strangers. Not even Louis Armstrong and Villma Middleton could have had more fun with this number. Overall FA ranks pretty high in the Tom Waits catalog. It's kinda' like Tom says in Never Talk To Strangers, "I'm not a bad guy once you get to know me".

I'd rate this right up there with Blue Valentine as the best of the pre-Swordfish records. The first side, especially, can be listened to over and over again (the first side ends with Sight for Sore Eyes. in case you're wondering).

Burma Shave is the only good song on the second side, if you ask me, but you're doing pretty well if you can come up with even one "Burma Shave" per record.

Strong melodies, lush arrangements, and, in my opinion, the first truly great Waits vocal performance - where he really gets a handle on his very peculiar gift - are all reasons to buy this disk.