Tom Waits: Closing Time (2LP, 50th anniversary, limited edition, clear vinyl, 45rpm, Abbey Road half-speed master) [ANTI]

Why you'll love it

Spreading the album over four sides at 45 RPM, from a half-speed master made at Abbey Road, gives Waits's piano and stand-up bass room to breathe. "Ol' '55" was covered by the Eagles, Tim Buckley and Bette Midler recorded songs from it too, and it has been certified gold in the UK.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Clear vinyl
• Cut at 45 RPM
• Abbey Road half-speed master
• 180g vinyl
• 50th anniversary edition
• Limited edition
• Remastered
• Stereo mix

About the album

Before the gravel, the carnival and the junkyard percussion, there was a young man at a piano in West Hollywood. Tom Waits played the Troubadour's Monday hootenanny nights and worked the door at a San Diego coffee house until, in 1972, David Geffen heard him sing "Grapefruit Moon" and signed him to Asylum within a month.

Producer Jerry Yester, formerly of the Lovin' Spoonful, heard a folk record while Waits heard a jazz one, and the gentle tug between the two is a big part of the charm. "Ol' '55" and "Martha" are tender, "Virginia Avenue" and "Midnight Lullaby" lean late-night and jazzy, Waits insisted on a stand-up bass (Bill Plummer got the job), drummer John Seiter came up with the harmony line on "Ol' '55," and the instrumental title track came from a final session Yester called the most magical he'd ever been involved with.

The sessions at Sunset Sound ran from ten till five every day because the evening slots were booked. That makes this the most nocturnal album we know of to be made during office hours.

Also at Kops: more Tom Waits on vinyl · browse Singer-Songwriter

Tracklist

Listen

On Anti- (cat# 87974-1), a reissue of the 1973 album.