Tom Waits
Used Songs: 1973-1980
[Rhino/Elektra; 2001]
Rating: 8.8
So, here's the question: how do you go from James Taylor comparisons to being
mentioned in the same breath as weirdos Harry Partch, Captain Beefheart and
William S. Burroughs? And the answer is: I don't know. Ask Tom Waits. He'd
probably tip his hat back, mumble some lengthy convoluted story about how he was
born in the back of a cab, and go straight into how he was hired for his first
paying gig based solely on the shoes he was wearing. After which, he'll most
likely break into a wide, toothy grin, scoop up some confetti from his coat
pocket and sprinkle it over his head before he vanishes in a cloud of sawdust
and smoke.
Back before his days as demented carnival barker and the macabre stories of
butchers, German dwarves and the Eyeball Kid, Tom Waits was plying his craft as
a gravel voiced faux-beat singer plink-plonking his way around a piano and
writing songs about hookers, hobos and gangsters. Come to think of it, Waits has
been dancing around the same ideas, updating variations on the same characters
in his own twisted, offbeat mythologies since the mid-70s. It's just that when
1983 and Swordfishtrombones rolled around the songs transformed into
something much more carnival-esque, while the music drifted into the sphere of
Partch-like percussion and disjointed guitar riffs.
Up to that point, he'd (for
the most part) been working with mainly conventional melodies and dipping his
fingers into folk, rock and jazz. During that early time, he had a musical
persona that was street-smart swagger mixed with affection for all the losers
and down-and-outs. Throughout three decades of writing songs, he's always been
in touch with society's seedy underbelly, reserving a place in his songs for the
downtrodden and the beat. Whether you belong to an underground civilization of
dwarves or you're a down-on-his-luck bum sitting in a puddle of rain, you've got
a place in Waits' world.
What with the drastic musical makeover and label jump in the 80s, a distinctive
line was drawn between the later work and the 70s stuff. Ask pretty much any
longtime Waits fan what their favorite album is and they might just give you
two: one from his early drunken-lounge-singer years and one from his
post-1983-metamorphosis into ghoulish Vaudevillian ringleader. All this shifting
and change makes it frustratingly impossible to put together a career-spanning
single disc retrospective, so what Rhino and Mr. Waits have put together instead
is a hodgepodge of tracks from the Elektra/Asylum years.
Enough with the introduction, then. Let's get to the meat of the matter. What's
the track selection like? Are there rarities? Outtakes and demos? Live
obscurities? Well, as the title suggests, Used Songs is an assortment of
16 tracks spanning from Waits' first album, Closing Time, to 1980's
Heartattack and Vine. Everything that's to be had here is available on
the official releases from the period and much of it's been collected previously
on two separate anthologies. So everyone out there holding their breath for
unreleased tracks and live-only gems like "Hokey Pokey" and "Trash Day" can keep
their fingers crossed for next time.
What's obvious on first glance at the song selection is the lack of very early
material. Only three tracks from the first three albums appear, while the later
albums often get three or four tracks apiece. "Ol' 55," made famous by the Eagles,
is the only track on here from Closing Time and it's drastically different
than anything else, even though it might be the most recognizable to the Waits
novice. It captures Waits in his early years, his voice still smooth, and the
comparisons to James Taylor and the singer/songwriters of the period still apt.
By the time he'd recorded the rambling small-town beauty of "(Looking
for) The Heart of Saturday Night" Waits' voice was already exhibiting signs of
the gravel voice that would become so signature to his later sound. The only
live track available here is from Nighthawks at the Diner, the in-studio
recording documenting Waits' inclination to rambling offbeat stories, which
eventually segue into tracks like "Eggs and Sausage (In a Cadillac with Susan
Michelson)."
And then, somewhere around 1976, Waits found a new distinctive voice that blended
the sprawling myths of American culture and city life with the poetry and swagger
of beats like Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady. If you add to the mix his ability
to turn a line, an offbeat sense of humor and an increasing musical vocabulary,
the result was something completely enchanting. Tracks like the Elvis-inspired
strut of "Burma Shave" or the heartbreaking pair "Christmas Card from a Hooker
in Minneapolis" and "Blue Valentines" are windows into American life akin to the
heartbreak, desolation and simple warmth of an Edward Hopper painting. In the
jazz-poetry goof on the sleazy-salesman's "Step Right Up," Waits spits out a
sequence of hilarious one-liners: "It gives you an erection/ It wins the election"
or "Change your shorts/ Change your life/ Change your life/ Change into a
nine-year old Hindu boy/ Get rid of your wife."
An odd inclusion here is the duet with Bette Midler, "I Never Talk to Strangers,"
from 1977's Foreign Affairs. The track itself is a pretty standard jazz
duet, with banter between the two singers exchanged throughout. Even though
they're not included here, Waits went on to offer much more successful duets on
record, with Crystal Gayle (an even odder choice?) on the soundtrack to One
from the Heart. By the time Waits recorded his last album for Asylum in 1980
(Heartattack and Vine), rock was his primary musical influence and he'd
almost abandoned the neo-beat persona completely. Bruce Springsteen would later
take the sha-la-la's and tenderness of "Jersey Girl" and turn them into a hit.
Notice the trend in artists turning Waits-penned tunes into hits.
"Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets to the Wind in Copenhagen)" closes the disc.
Taken from 1976's Small Change, it's the perfect closer to the album and,
in my opinion, the best track available here. A downtrodden tale full of woe and
misfortune, it's one of those tracks that puts you right on the barstool, fifth
beer in front of you-- a portrait of loneliness and bleakness. It's a harrowing
romance from probably the greatest album of Waits' early years, which brings me
to my problem with the collection.
Small Change is sadly under-represented here, with only the amazing "Step
Right Up" and "Tom Traubert's Blues" on the roll call. So, my only complaint
about this record is the questionable absence of the gorgeous "Invitation to the
Blues." Other than that and some near-clunkers ("I Never Talk to Strangers"),
Used Songs is an exceptional gathering of Waits' material.
But I guess the question remains: is the compilation worth the investment? Well,
for Waits beginners, this and the recently compiled Beautiful Maladies are
perfect launching points into both eras of his career. Sadly, these are only
temporary fixes. It'll just make most people clamber for albums like Small
Change and Blue Valentines or Rain Dogs and Bone Machine.
But, for me and fellow collector scum, sets like this serve as additions to a
completists' collection. Finally, though, these two anthologies make it painfully
obvious that if anyone at all deserves the box set treatment (outtakes, demos,
live cuts and unreleased nuggets like "Alice"), Mr. Waits is easily the number
one contender.
-Luke Buckman, November 1st, 2001