If anyone ever needed proof that Tom Waits is an exceptionally gifted song writer in the traditional sense, they need only listen to Closing Time, his debut album. Released in the early 70's before experimentation and William Burroughs took hold, this album features Waits the barroom balladeer ... Read review
It starts with a sunrise, it ends with "one star shining", and in between Closing Time ... more
contains an honest year's worth (1973, to be exact) of sweet, melodic, vintage Tom Waits--minus some of the vocal growl and thematic grit of his later stuff (but ...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
It starts with a sunrise, it ends with "one star shining", and in betweenClosing ... more
Timecontains an honest year's worth (1973, to be exact) of sweet, melodic, vintage Tom Waits--minus some of the vocal growl and thematic grit of his later stuff (but yo...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
It starts with a sunrise, it ends with "one star shining", and in betweenClosing ... more
Timecontains an honest year's worth (1973, to be exact) of sweet, melodic, vintage Tom Waits--minus some of the vocal growl and thematic grit of his later stuff (but you can see it coming). Waltzes, lullabies, blues, jazz, you name it. Driving songs and drinking songs, even an honest to gosh country tune: "Rosie." There are torchers ("Lonely"), scorchers ("Ice Cream Man"), and back- porch senior citizen love songs ("Martha"): "Those were the days of roses/Poetry and prose, and/Martha, all I had was you and all you had was me." Other standouts are "I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love with You" (guess what--he does!) and "Grapefruit Moon", in which Waits croons: "Every time I hear that melody, something breaks inside." Hang on to your hearts and hats, folks.--Dan Leone
Postage & Packaging:£1.21 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: Great songs and Waits' voice is at it's most accessible Disadvantages: Some of funkier tracks add little to the whole
...they need only listen to Closing Time, his debut album. Released in the early 70's before experimentation and William Burroughs took hold, this album features Waits the barroom balladeer with smoky but palatable voice. Don't get me wrong, I love all of Waits' work and his voice, but I can appreciate that some may find it difficult to listen to. Here lies his most accessible work (along with Heart of Saturday Night) both vocally and melodically. ...the songwriting and lyricism. Evidence of this is apparent from the off with the opener Ol'55, soon to be covered with great success by The Eagles. Waits trawls through cocktail club lounge singer loneliness through to driving funk, saloon song to outright heart-wrenching balladry. An example of the latter is 'I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You' which in my opinion is one of the finest ballads and testaments to lost love ever written. more
If anyone ever needed proof that Tom Waits is an exceptionally gifted song writer in the traditional sense, they need only listen to Closing Time, his debut album. Released in the early 70's before experimentation and William Burroughs took hold, this album features Waits the barroom balladeer with smoky but palatable voice. Don't get me wrong, I love all of Waits' work and his voice, but I can appreciate that some may find it difficult to listen to. Here lies his most accessible work (along with Heart of Saturday Night) both vocally and melodically.
What shines here is the quality of the songwriting and lyricism. Evidence of this is apparent from the off with the opener Ol'55, soon to be covered with great success by The Eagles. Waits trawls through cocktail club lounge singer loneliness through to driving funk, saloon song to outright heart-wrenching balladry. An example of the latter is 'I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You' which in my opinion is one of the finest ballads and testaments to lost love ever written.
This is late night melancholy at it's very best. Songs are intriguing and narrative as in the case of the stunning 'Martha' or 'Closing Time'. Waits really succeeds with songs of love. I can leave the beat jazz or funk of 'Ice Cream Man' but leave me with Grapefruit Moon and I'll be weeping in my bourbon. A must for hopeless romantics and losers everywhere.
Advantages: catchy, beautiful songs with loveable rogueish characters Disadvantages: a little too mainstream considering who it's by
Closing Time was the very first album from Tom Waits, one of the most
noted and acclaimed songwriters in American history. Since its release, Waits
has spent more than thirty years making some of the most innovative and original
music in the world today. However, when Closing Time came out in 1971, Waits was
a practically destitute piano player, living out of cheap motels and spending
his last few dollars on cheap whiskey. This is an atmosphere ... ...eating the bottle. Back when Closing Time
came out, Waits had a fairly sweet voice, with an almost southern feel. Though
some of his mannerisms remain the same, the disparity between the two is
astonishing. Since this album doesn't feature Waits' trademark vocals and the tragic
romantic quality is less pronounced than on later work, it is probably best to
come at this album from a different perspective, disregarding Waits catalogue
and simply ...
NeilG1 20.09.2005
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Closing Time - Tom Waits
This is Tom Waits 1st album, and is radically different from his later work in that it's actually sung rather than rasped, and you'll also recognise all the instruments.
Hopefully that opening statement will open the eyes of all people who haven't bought any of his albums because they've been put off by his reputation for a difficult listening experience.
This is definately late night music when all you want to do is mellow out, sounding like a ...
brownp1 20.11.2000
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Closing Time - Tom Waits
Originality
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Quality and consistency...
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Advantages: There are even more songs to be discovered than the ones I tried to describe. Disadvantages: It's no use trying to describe a Tom Waits song. You just can't. Never ever.
.
This may not be TomWaits' best or most coherent album. Surely, he has written songs that are both more accessible and weirder; and wholesale collections of songs that you will listen to in one session only - because they have these perfect flaws that TomWaits lovers love Tome Waits for. Having said that, TomWaits will always be TomWaits. And having said THAT, TomWaits lovers will still love TomWaits for still coming up with pieces that will stick immediately to their ear-drums. Such as 'Misery's the river of the world', maybe, with its imperative "EVERYBODY ROW!" booming along, or 'Coney Island Baby', a quaint little love song reminding TomWaits lovers vaguely of his early masterpiece "ClosingTime" and the simple beauty of that album's folk ballads; even though it shines with a dimmer light, here - which makes it even ...
Advantages: Compilation of all of Waits greatest early work Disadvantages: Doesn't include The Piano Has Been Drinking, Not Me
I first discovered TomWaits a month ago. It was a cold, dark Friday night, late as the dawn. The bar we were in was striped and strobed in blue neon; gun-metal blue in the shadows. We didn?t meet, as such, there were no introductions. This strange looking, lived-in, suitcase of a man lay his hat down beside me at the bar; took my arm, and then my ear, and began to whisper stories as old as the world.
I?ve been back to that bar every night since. He tells me the same stories, but I always learn something new from them.
You may know the name, TomWaits, you may even know some of his songs. He?s been around since his debut, ?ClosingTime?, released in 1973, and been covered by such artists as Bruce Springsteen (?Jersey Girl?), Rod Stewart (?Tom Traubert?s Blues?), even Meat Loaf (?Martha?, on Welcome to The Neighbourhood). He is ...
Product Information for "Closing Time - Tom Waits" »
Product details
Title
Closing Time
Performer
Tom Waits
Genre
Rock & Pop
Sub Genre
Singer/Songwriter
Release Date
02/1993
Recomended Retail Price
7.99 GBP
Original Release Year
1973
Label / Distributor
WEA / Cinram Logistics
Engineer
Richie Moore
Producer
Jerry Yester
Pieces in Set
1
Studio / Live
Studio
Stereo
Stereo
Format
Performer
EAN
75596083621
Catalogue Number
7559608362
Additional notes
Album Notes
Personnel includes: Tom Waits (vocals, piano); Jesse Ehrlich (cello); Tony Terran (trumpet); Arni Egilsson (bass); Johnny Seiter (drums). Recorded at Sunset Sound, Hollywood, California. The 1973 album that introduced a young singer-songwriter to the world at large is a far cry from the wonderfully twisted sonic lanscape that would define SWORDFISHTROMBONES a decade later. The Waits of CLOSING TIME was a barroom balladeer too, but one who rarely strayed from the early-'70s folk-rock paradigm (hell, the Eagles covered the opener "Ol' '55"). The arrangements are straightforward, piano-based affairs that present the songs with a minimum of fuss. Waits voice isn't the deep, gravelly instrument that would bellow its way through RAIN DOGS, but a smoky, measured one, devoid of artifice. Accordingly, the song structures are simpler, and the best ("Martha," "I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love With You") attain a timeless feel. For all his relative conventionality on this debut though, Waits is still closer in spirit to the great American songwriters of the '40s than any '70s California rocker.
Album Reviews
Q (10/92, p.101) - 3 Stars - Good - "..a straightforward start to Waits' career.."
Titles on disc 1
1.
Ol' 55
2.
Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You
3.
Virginia Avenue
4.
Old Shoes
5.
Midnight Lullabye
6.
Martha
7.
Rosie
8.
Ice Cream Man
9.
Little Trip To Heaven
10.
Grapefruit Moon
11.
Closing Time
12.
Closing Time
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20/11/2000
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