Small Change [Import]

Tom Waits | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Elektra / Wea
• ASIN: B000002GY9
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (73 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,081 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Limited vinyl LP repressing. Released in 1976, Waits recorded Small Change at Wally Heider's studio in Hollywood. The album opens with "Tom Traubert's Blues," one of the singer's most enduring songs, and features memorable cuts such as "I Wish I Was In New Orleans," "Bad Liver And A Broken Heart" and "The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me)." Warner. --This text refers to the Vinyl edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Waits' Most Haunting Tunes is Here.................., October 5, 2004

By 

K. Brown "El Rudo Lucky Pierre!" (Walnut, Ca USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Small Change (Audio CD)

First off, I think this entire album is excellent, from the tormented "Tom Traubert's Blues" to the hysterical "The Piano Has Been Drinking" to the mellow "Jitterbug Boy." But even if abovementioned tunes did nothing for me, it would be made with the title track.

"Small Change" is one of the most chilling tunes I have ever heard. The combination of Waits' raspy voice, the instrumentals being a lone saxophone, and the bleak lyrics describing the crime scene and the gunned down gambler are more haunting than any ghost story you were told as a child. This is Tom Waits at his poetic best.

The bonus is that while this song steals the show, there is plenty to enjoy on the rest of the cd. The mood of the album gravitates toward the down & out pool hallers, hucksters, and all-around tormented souls. From heavy to humorous, this release has it all.

"Pasties and a G-String" is a hysterical salute to the old burlesque haunts, and the dancers and droolers that inhabit them. Like "Small Change," the focus is on one instrument, the drums, albeit in an entirely upbeat manner.

Other standout pieces are "Jitterbug Boy," a rare calming piano piece, singing the Jitterbug Boy's unlikely claims of places he's been and people he's met; "The One that Got Away," another hard-boiled hard-luck song showcasing some wicked saxophone, and "Invitation to the Blues."

This is easily one of Tom Waits' greatest efforts, though you can't go wrong with any of his earliest albums. Like I said, everything here is excellent, but "Small Change" alone is worth the money.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another class work by one of The All-Time Greats, August 28, 2005

By 

Bud Kinch (Lovers Lane, Tipperary) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Small Change (Audio CD)

Sometimes Tom Wait's 70's stuff sounds something like if you read Jack Kerouac over Kind Of Blue-era Miles Davis. If that's not enough to tempt you, he also has ballads that are musically rich, lyrically depthful and heartbreakingly beautiful all at once. Small Change is probably the most all-round example of this. If you want extremes, buy Nighthawks At The Diner for the former and Blue Valentine for the latter. Lot's of these tunes are already the stuff of legend - Tom Traubert's Blues, the title track, I Can't Wait To Get Off Work - but a lot of the gems on this you probably haven't heard of. I Wish I Was In New Orleans is perfection, no other word for it. Some may call this music too maudlin, too schmaltz - including Waits himself - but if you ignore the cynic inside of you, what you'll find is something that's not like any other record out there. There is no such thing as a bad Tom Waits record, and I'm not usually one to make such fanatic claims. Nowadays he's doing this great, mysterious, musically challenging and innovative thing. In the 80's he was mutating his 70's work into something very unique and magic indeed. In the 70's he was making music that made his world yours, completely sensational. Every song on Small Change is like a novel, every note is like gold. Listen to Invitation To The Blues, Bad Liver & A Broken Heart, Step Right Up - from ballads to beat, this guy is a heavyweight. Always has been, always will be.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Takes me to another place, March 8, 2004

By 

Rollie Anderson (Forney, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Small Change (Audio CD)

On this album Tom takes the listener to the same place "Notes from the Underground" takes the reader. It's a real world that daylight doesn't penetrate and heartbroken loners like Mr. Waits portrays wander the darkened streets alone. Anyone with a broken heart can relate to "Tom Taubert's Blues" and enjoy the fact that misery loves company and the singer is sharing a bench with you. In other words, this ain't no party cd. This is for listening and learning about another way of life.