All right, I've listened to this album three times in the past four days and am going to forget everything I want to say about it if this thing doesn't get moving, so I'm going to, you know:


I'm assuming Stip's magic powers extend to being able to alter my thread title whenever he wants to move on to a new album, so hopefully he doesn't feel like I'm stealing his thunder by getting the ball rolling.

Starting in about 1999, my junior year of high school, I became completely in awe of all things Bob Dylan, lapping up every release I could and using him as a jumping off point to explore other artists. But Dylan is a dangerous artist to do this with, mostly because he's accepted by a lot of circles, and like it seems is the case with a lot of young people who become enthralled with him, I made the mistake of attributing what I liked about him to the most cliched component of the songwriting format he embodies, rather than the charisma and singularity he brought to it. As a result, Dylan pointed me down the road of Jim Croce, Cat Stevens, Billy Joel, etc. "singer-songwriter solo artists who write singer-songwriter-type songs and therefore must be exactly like Bob Dylan, right?" Each of these artists maybe had 1-2 songs I enjoyed, but for the most part I found them all majorly disappointing. Yet for some reason I felt compelled to keep trying, and one night I found Closing Time on a display rack in Coconuts Music and Movies, which was going out of business. I'd heard of Waits, most likely from reading Five Horizons and seeing the occasional reference to him in the Concert Chronology. Everything was 50% off, so I figured what the hell, and bought it for about $6.

The cover of Closing Time--Waits, in a dark room, staring down at the piano, as though he's telling it his troubles--embodies a lot of what the album sounds like--which is to say, painfully unironic singer-songwriter fare that seems too impressed by its own sensitivity, which is very much what I'd come to expect from this kind of thing, given the Jim Croces and Billy Joels and whatnot looming in the background. This is probably the single Waits album where the sense of humor that makes him such a large fraction of what he is is completely absent. But the two things that struck with me from it, things that never registered in anything by those other guys, were melody and heart. The other guys all seemed to have either one or the other, but never the right combination to make it work in any sustainable dosage. Even on Waits's debut, which belongs distinctly in the canon of "'70's singer-songwriter music" a lot more distinctly than it belongs in his own catalog, he sets himself apart by keeping sight on what makes the music tick--the tune and the man rendering it. The second Waits album I got was Mule Variations (the then-newest one), and it completely threw me--after a month of living with Closing Time, I'd come to expect the kind of smooth, whiskey-soaked slur of the voice on that record, so suffice it to say the alternate universe occupied by that record took a little warming to. But once it happened, it completely reordered what I started expecting and wanting out of music. I never played those Billy Joel CD's again, and Closing Time seemed archaic and bland by comparison. But it was enough to hook me, so it would be unfair to say that there's not enough going on there to comment on.

Now a decade into a love affair with the guy's music, Closing Time, despite rating as one of his weaker efforts artistically, does have a kind of charming "Picasso's first doodle" vibe to it--it sounds like a folkie's idea of what jazz music should sound like, which I think informs what feels to me like a pretty unapologetic attempt to make a kind of lounge-lizard, after-hours piano bar record. The only thing close to a five-star song is "Ol' 55," which definitely has one foot in Eagles-readymade dross but is still a song I have a really soft spot for. Considering that the five-star songs are going to be things like "Goin' Out West" and "Alice" and "Tango Till They're Sore," giving "Ol' 55" five stars feels disingenuous. But I think it manages to do what it sets out to do better than any other song on Closing Time, and live versions over the years have been great. There's a great version from Healdsburg '96 that I'll upload later if I remember.

Other favorites are "Virginia Avenue" (I like the kind of low-budget detective movie feel it has--it seems like the image should be of a guy in a fedora and a trench coat walking down a rainy downtown street, with a voice over saying something like, "She was a sultry dame..."), "Grapefruit Moon" (maybe the best melody on the album--it was my favorite for a long time, but "Ol' 55" has won out over the years) and "Ice Cream Man," which is the only thing that I think hints at the more theatrical directions Waits's music would take as he evolved. Like I said in the other thread, if he played this live now, with Marc Ribot playing those trebly guitar licks, it would be a showstopper--its humor would come out a lot more in Waits's current arrangement than it did in the sullen, earnest context of Closing Time. "Midnight Lullaby" is better than I remember it, and "Old Shoes (and Picture Postcards)" is worse--it represents the kind of wallpapery folk sound that we're lucky he moved beyond, and it makes me glad we're not doing the 'Early Years' releases. I never cared for "I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You"; it has a nice tune, but the words just don't stick with me at all. And I'm not sure about "Martha"--it's a nice sentiment in search of a believable means of conveying itself, and it always seems like it should be too incredulous to be effective, but I nevertheless always find myself wanting to let it play through. I'm suspicious of it.

Loose numerical scores:

Ol '55: 4/5
Virginia Avenue, Ice Cream Man, Grapefruit Moon: 3/5
Midnight Lullaby, Martha, Rosie: 2.5/5.
Everything else: either a 1 or a 2.

Nothing egregious (I don't think Waits has made any real egregious missteps), most of it interesting from an historical standpoint, and it gets bonus points for being my first. But all the good stuff lies ahead.

Since you started the thread, you can alter the title.

I know, Stip just plows through these things at racehorse speed--I assume he'll urinate himself in frustration if the duty of pushing it along is up to me.

Although, I got us this far, so who knows...

Reading comprehension is not my strong point. I'm going to bed.

yea wtf. I thought he was starting this friday

Good on you for starting this now, KD. I can relate to your OP, but not as it specifically pertains to Waits or Dylan. I imagine that a few others in this thread are like me; I own ten of Waits albums but I will still be resorting to youtube for the highlights of a lot of these less than essential records (including this one).

Really looking forward to all of this.

I'm gonna do this the same way I do the LAL Pearl Jam threads: irritating, obnoxious live feed style.

Just hit Play. Gosh, "Ol' 55" is such a syrupy, lightweight, uninteresting tune. What saves it is the way the melody bends on "just wishing I'd stayed a little longer"... it's the only moment that really pulls on my heartstrings here.

Jesus. "I'm ridin' with lady luck, freeways cars and trucks". Shut the fuck up Tom.

JUST END ALREADY AND STOP DRAGGING ALONG. I HATE THIS SONG.

Bob Dylan led you to Billy Joel? Not exactly linear.

"I Hope that I Don't Fall in Love With You" is just as quaint, but it's got more charm, and I really like the melody and fingerpicked guitar. Also love the bass harmonics that move the track along.

This record actually has a very nice, warm sound to it.

Can you imagine giving someone a copy of this album and "Bad As Me"? It doesn't sound like the same singer, let alone the same songwriter.

Aw, that was sweet. "Virginia Avenue" now. First hint at the jazz years to come later.

"Virginia Avenue" has a good feel to it, but falls dangerously close to the prosthetic jazz pastiche sound I hate. Not too terrible, all things considered.

"Old Shoes" is on now. The chorus to this is really nice. Suitably middle-of-the-road acoustic guitar solo. Stuttering drum line. Horribly clichéd lyrics... but still. Pleasant.

Hey, I like "Midnight Lullaby". It sounds like it could've been on "Heart of Saturday Night" (a much better album than this). I like that scaling piano line and how it complements the vocal melody. It's just a sleepy, jazzy number with a nice atmosphere and sound.

Oh. Oh that was... that ending was just... unnecessary. Way to ruin it, Tom.


"MARTHA". I actually like this song. As hokey as it is. And it is very hokey. I'm just a fan of the verse melody. Especially how it unfurls at "it's been forty years or more, now Martha please recall"...

Can't say I dig the chorus. It's a little too 70s MOR.

Oh wow, I completely forgot all about the cellos in "Martha". What a strange arrangement.

"Rosie". I remember nothing about this song. It's been years since I really gave this album a listen. "Well I'm sittin' on the windowsill blowin' my horn, nobody's up except the moon and me"... yeah.

Well, "Rosie" came and went without leaving much of an impression. I don't really get what he's going for in "Lonely".

2 minutes and 32 seconds into "Lonely", I think I get it. It's actually pretty good. Sullen, desolate and helpless. And unadorned. Just Tom at his piano and three or four chords.

When you're young and don't know where to look, it all kind of falls under the same "singer-songwriter" heading.