At the age of 21, Tom Waits signed with manager Herb Cohen who also managed Tim Buckley, Lenny Bruce, Alice Cooper, and Frank Zappa among others. After several attempts in the recording studio, Tom Waits, working with Jerry Yester, finally came out with his debut Closing Time.
Closing Time is an album best played during the dark of the morning when the calendar shifts from Saturday to Sunday without notice. Mr. Waits collects a series of lonely ballads, remorseful blues, and contemplative jazz strung together by his rough, drunken croon and soft melodies. The album is quiet and subdued and acts as a retrospective on the memories of the days before while dwelling on those lingering emotions as the night deepens.
Here is the discography surrounding Tom Waits's debut album:
Closing Time
Ol' '55 (1973 single)
The Early Years, Vol. 1 (1991 compilation)
The Early Years, Vol. 2 (1993 compilation)
The two "Early Years" albums are a collection of two recording sessions done for Herb Cohen's Bizzare/Straight record labels in August and December of 1971.
Remember to throw your recommendations for the next band this way. The next band has to be connected to Closing Time era Tom Waits in some way.
Hey Cal,
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying the journey, and I think that I am ready to contribute. I am not sure if this is the type of thing that you are interested in or not, but I figured that it can't hurt to share.
While investigating my itunes for a Tom Waits connection, I found that he covered a song called King Kong that was originally done by an artist named Daniel Johnston. I don't know much (or really any) of Daniel Johnston's original stuff; however, I do own part one of a two cd set that he released called Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered with features a lot of really great artists (Beck, Death Cab, M.Ward, Guster, and of course Tom Waits) covering his stuff. Anyways, I recommend checking out that cd at least, and if you are interested look more into Daniel Johnston himself; he seems pretty interesting.
With great admiration,
Carley
As much as I'm digging the idea of going to Daniel Johnston, the connection can't be made to the Closing Time album. =/ It's close though and I hope to get more contributions from you. =)
ReplyDeleteI wanted so badly to connect Closing Time the album to the song by Semisonic, but I couldn't. I kinda doubt you'd want to delve into that area anyway, but it was fun trying.
ReplyDelete-Ryan