Tom Waits' debut album is a minor-key masterpiece filled with songs of late-night loneliness. Within the apparently narrow range of the cocktail bar pianistics and muttered vocals, Waits and producer Jerry Yester manage a surprisingly broad collection of styles, from the jazzy "Virginia Avenue" to the up-tempo funk of "Ice Cream Man" and from the acoustic guitar folkiness of "I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love With You" to the saloon song "Midnight Lullaby," which would have been a perfect addition to the repertoires of Frank Sinatra or Tony Bennett. Waits' entire musical approach is stylized, of course, and Read more on Last.fm.
Waits debut was recorded fast. The songs were the craft of a studied young writer, skilled in the know how of blues, rock n roll and jazz. None of these styles is represented separately here, though. In their place is a late night lounge band singing songs about long evenings, drunken romance and costly living. It’s brilliance is its anti-thesis of trying to be cool because it knows it is.