Blue Valentine

by Tom Waits

Overview

Two welcome changes in style made Blue Valentine a fresh listening experience for Tom Waits fans. First, Waits alters the instrumentation, bringing in electric guitar and keyboards and largely dispensing with the strings for a more blues-oriented, hard-edged sound. Second, though his world view remains fixed on the lowlifes of the late night, he expands beyond the musings of the barstool philosopher who previously had acted as the first-person character of most of his songs. When Waits does use the first-person, it's to write a "Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis," not the figure most listeners had associated with the singer himself. The result is a broadening of subject matter, a narrative discipline that makes most of the tunes story songs, and a coherent framing for Waits' typically colorful and intriguing imagery. These are not radical reinventions, but Waits had followed such a rigidly stylized approach on his previous albums that for anyone who had followed him so far, the course correction was big news. ~ William Ruhlmann

Product Details

Release Date:	03/23/2018
Label:	Anti-
UPC:	0045778757022
Rank:	5597

Tracks

1. Somewhere [From West Side Story]
2. Red Shoes by the Drugstore
3. Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis
4. Romeo Is Bleeding
5. $29.00
6. Wrong Side of the Road
7. Whistlin' Past the Graveyard
8. Kentucky Avenue
9. A Sweet Little Bullet From a Pretty Blue Gun
10. Blue Valentines

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Tom Waits   Primary Artist,Piano,Guitar,Vocals,Guitar (Electric)
Roland Bautista   Guitar,Guitar (Electric)
Ray Crawford   Guitar,Soloist,Guitar (Electric)
Rick Lawson   Drums
Ricky Lawson   Drums
Bobbye Hall   Congas,Percussion
Herb Hardesty   Saxophone,Sax (Tenor)
Frank Vicari   Saxophone,Sax (Tenor)
Harold Battiste, Jr.   Piano
Chip White   Drums
Earl Palmer   Drums
Jim Hughart   Bass
Byron Miller   Bass
Dawilli Gonga   Keyboards,Piano (Grand),Piano (Electric)
Shine Robinson   Guitar,Guitar (Electric)
Alvin Robinson   Piano
Bob Alcivar   Conductor
Scott Edwards   Bass
Charles Kynard   Bass,Organ

Technical Credits

Ralph Osborne   Engineer
Leonard Bernstein   Composer,Arranger
Terry Dunavan   Mastering
Tom Waits   Composer,Lyricist
Irwin Kostal   Co-Arranger
Stephen Sondheim   Composer,Lyricist
Elliot Gilbert   Photography
Zal Schreiber   Mastering
Ron Coro   Art Direction
Sid Ramin   Co-Arranger
Bob Alcivar   Arranger
Bones Howe   Engineer,Producer
Geoff Howe   Engineer