Sunday, August 12, 2007

339. Tom Waits - Nighthawks At The Diner (1975)
















Track Listing

1. Opening Intro
2. Emotional Weather Report
3. Intro
4. On a Foggy Night
5. Intro
6. Eggs and Sausage (In a Cadillac with Susan Michelson)
7. Intro
8. Better off Without a Wife
9. Nighthawk Postcards
10. Intro
11. Warm Beer and Cold Women
12. Intro
13. Putnam County
14. Spare Parts I (A Nocturnal Emission)
15. Nobody
16. Intro
17. Big Joe and Phantom 309
18. Spare Parts II and Closing

Review

If you ever need an album for a night in with yourself and a bottle of bourbon or a poker night, or a pretty decadent dinner party, this is definitely the perfect album. Tom Waits has a little kind of live show on this album, it is all artificial of course, it is actually recorded in a studio with an audience, but it does work surprisingly well.

Waits is very funny throughout and the ambience of a smoke filled dive works to perfection with the themes that go all the way from depression to masturbation, while always giving you a little smirk.

This is one of those rare thing called a perfect album. No matter what oyu think of the artificiality of it, it works tremendously well and few other albums are as evocative as this amazing piece of art. Tom Waits is a genius and I am looking forward to reviewing plenty of his other albums here.So get this today! Really.

Track Highlights

1. Better Off Without A Wife
2. Warm Beer And Cold Women
3. Eggs And Sausage ( In A Cadillac With Susan)
4. Nighthawk Postcards (From Easy Street)

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The name is inspired by a 1942 painting by American Edward Hopper that is titled Nighthawks but commonly called Nighthawks at the Diner.

The album was recorded "live" in the studio, in front of a small invited audience. This gives the record a distinct charm as Waits spends time telling stories, jokes and explaining the stories behind his songs through seven separate introductions.

Skip to 5.36 for Better Off Without A Wife:

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