Track Listing

1. Red Shoes By The Drugstore
2. Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis
3. Romeo Is Bleeding
4. Twenty Nine Dollars
5. Wrong Side Of The Road
6. Whistlin' Past The Graveyard
7. Kentucky Avenue
8. Sweet Little Bullet From A Pretty Blue Gun
9. Title Track

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3757 in Music
• Released on: 1993-01-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
More hard-boiled tales from Tom Waits, who manages to sing lines like "Everyone I know is either dead or in prison" in a raw, whiskey-soaked rasp that sounds both comical and deadly serious. Waits doesn't break any new creative ground here but continues to refine his down-and-out persona. It's booze and broads, sex and violence, laughs and heartbreak. This 1978 album opens with an astonishingly desperate version of "Somewhere" (from "West Side Story"), performed like Louie Armstrong with a migraine. From there it's the usual Waits mix of crackpot wordplay and the cocktail lounge jazz likes of "Romeo Is Bleeding". --Steve Appleford

CD Description
After pefecting his seedy beatnik image on albums like SMALL CHANGE and NIGHTHAWKS AT THE DINER, Waits refined and expanded on it until the 1983 breakthrought of SWORDFISHTROMBONES. BLUE VALENTINE is full of low-rent nightlife imagery and arrangements that leave Waits' jazz leanings behind in favour of a more direct, blues-oriented approach. Lyrically, he'sat his most straightforward and narrative, with tunes like "$29.00" and "Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis" reading like dimestore detective novels. In a customary nod to tradition, he delivers a marvellously stentorian version of Bernstein's "Somewhere". Things close in a low-key fashionwith the spare,heart-rending title song, a ballad of shattered love.

Customer Reviews

The best and most emotionally charged album from this genius
Blue Valentine is one of those rare albums which can move you through the complete range of emotions. From the cautious optimism of 'Somewhere', through the desperately sad 'Postcard from a hooker in Minneapolis', to the sparkling genius of 'Red Shoes', this album is quite brilliant. 'Romeo is bleeding' tells the tale of a gang leader dying after a confrontation with the police; '29 dollars' tells the story of a new girl in town being picked up by the wrong sort of guy, and Mr. Waits has truly saved the best till last: The title track is the last cut, and I defy you not to be truly moved by the intensity of Tom Waits' singing and the sparse guitar playing. Every track tells a story - each worthy of it's own attention - this is one of those must-haves.

Fantastic
This is the second Tom Waits album I bought, the first being 'Raindogs', and it firmly established him as my favourite lyricist ever.
The music is dark and sometimes sleazy but also has a great romantic feel to it, couple this with superb lyrics and you have a gem of an album.
Buy this and enlighten yourself!!

A Gem
This is probably the most accessible Tom Waits album. It features some great songs with storylines of people at the wrong end of US society. The sparse instrumentation is nothing less than superb throughout and the richness of the West Side Story instrumentation is a bonus. It is much more approachable than much of his later, more radical but still essential work where he seems intent on distorting his voice beyond recognition and abandoning the traditional piano/guitar/bass/drum/sax in favour of all manner of bizarre instruments while trying too hard to get away from normal song forms. On this, Tom uses his trademark growl throughout and uses more traditional rock and blues forms. There is much humour, sadness and compassion in this gem of an album. My persnal favourite is Kentucky Avenue which although a bit corny can bring a tear to your eye.