TOM WAITS-Blue Valentine-'78 ASYLUM BLUES ROCK-NEW LP

$

43

Tom Waits

Blue Valentine

NEW SEALED LP

REISSUE

Blue Valentine is the sixth studio album by American rock musician Tom Waits, released in September 1978 on Asylum Records. The album was recorded over the course of six sessions from July to August 1978 with producer Bones Howe.

The woman pictured with Waits on the back cover is Rickie Lee Jones, another singer/songwriter with whom he was having a relationship at the time. This album peaked on the Australian charts in late 1978 at #42.

This album is one of THOSE albums, ie the ones that make you feel a deep pity for those who don't dig them or haven't yet discovered them. Tom Waits gives 'West Side Story' a make-over with a broken whiskey bottle and a flick-knife. He explores that dark world that surrounds all of us, many of us not noticing it's there; the world of poverty and the dispossessed, the world of the black market and the addict, the world of the predator and the tough-guy-dying-young, the world of broken dreams and crushed souls. And he does it with the utmost, heart rending sincerity. The concept of this work of art could so easily have led to schmaltzy, sentimental cartoonery, but in Waits' hands we get the sublime rather than the ridiculous. His musicians are perfect for the job, and the production is near-perfect and does not call attention to itself, (admittedly, on the first track there are thick waves of gushing strings, but this serves to set up the dark mood for the rest of the album perfectly) . The songs are...simply brilliant!

 Tracklist
A1         Somewhere (From "West Side Story")

    Written-By – Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim

    3:50    
A2         Red Shoes By The Drugstore

    Bass – Byron Miller Drums – Rick Lawson* Electric Guitar – Roland Bautista

    3:11    
A3         Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis     4:30    
A4         Romeo Is Bleeding

    Bass – Jim Hughart Congas – Bobby Hall* Drums – Chip White Organ – Charles Kynard Tenor Saxophone – Frank Vicari

    4:50    
A5         $29.00

    Bass – Byron Miller Drums – Rick Lawson* Electric Guitar – Roland Bautista

    8:12    
B1         Wrong Side Of The Road

    Bass – Jim Hughart Drums – Chip White Organ – Charles Kynard Tenor Saxophone – Frank Vicari

    5:11    
B2         Whistlin Past The Graveyard

    Bass – Scott Edwards (2) Drums – Earl Palmer Guitar – "Shine" Robinson Piano – Harold Battiste Tenor Saxophone – Herbert Hardesty*

    3:14    
B3         Kentucky Avenue

    Arranged By, Conductor [Orchestra] – Bob Alcivar

    4:47    
B4         A Sweet Little Bullet From A Pretty Blue Gun

    Bass – Scott Edwards (2) Drums – Earl Palmer Guitar – "Shine" Robinson Piano – Harold Battiste Tenor Saxophone – Herbert Hardesty*

    5:34    
B5         Blue Valentines     5:50    



Credits?

    Art Direction, Design – Ron Coro
    Electric Guitar – Tom Waits (tracks: A4 to B2, B4, B5)
    Electric Piano [Electric Grand Piano] – Da Willie Gonga* (tracks: A2, A3, A5)
    Engineer – Bones Howe
    Engineer [Assistant] – Geoff Howe, Ralph Osborne*
    Guitar – Ray Crawford (tracks: A4, B1, B5)
    Mastered By – Terry Dunavan
    Photography – Elliott Gilbert
    Piano – Tom Waits (tracks: A3, B3)
    Producer – Bones Howe
    Typography [Hand Lettering] – Bill Franks
    Vocals – Tom Waits
    Written-By – Tom Waits (tracks: A2 to B5)