Track Listing

1. New coat of paint
2. San Diego serenade
3. Semi suite
4. ,Shiver me timbers
5. Diamonds on my windshield
6. Looking for the heart of Saturday night
7. Fumblin' with the blues
8. Please call me baby
9. Depot depot
10. Drunk on the moon
11. Ghosts of Saturday night

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #917 in Music
• Released on: 1999-10-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
The Eagles might have covered his song "Ol' 55" but Tom Waits was cut from a different cloth than California's other singer-songwriters--he suggested a scruffy beat poet who'd walked out of a forgotten scene of Jack Kerouac's On the Road. Waits's beatnik schtick could get old and he developed into a much more musically adventurous songwriter in later years, but his second album contains some of his best early work, including the sweet romantic blues of "New Coat of Paint" ("You wear a dress baby, I'll wear a tie"), and his best hipster recitation, "Diamonds on My Windshield". Two songs are enduring classics: the doleful, dirge-like "San Diego Serenade" ("Never saw the morning till I stayed up all night") and the touchingly sweet "(Looking for) The Heart of Saturday Night" ("Stoppin' on the red, goin' on the green, 'cause tonight'll be like nothin' that you've ever seen"). --John Milward

CD Description
On his second album, Waits moved beyond the simple folk-rock arrangements of his debut to explore jazzier realms. Though artistically Waits was still in his infancy, it was here that he began to develop the bedraggled, chain-smoking, whiskey-swilling, beat poetry-spouting street character image that he expanded on throughout the '70s. The arrangements are based around Waits' voice (beginning to develop that famous rasp) and piano, supported '50s-style West Coast jazz touches. Since Waits was still struggling through the imitation phase of his fascination with the writing of Kerouac, Bukowski,etc., some of the lyrics seem callow, but even at this early stage he could still produce gems. "The Heart of Saturday Night" (sort of a low-key sequel to "Ol' '55") and the late-night lonesome blues of "Please Call Me Baby" are worth the price of entry in and of themselves.

Customer Reviews

Me again
Late night, mid February 2003.
While peering through the pages of Amazon, I have come across an old review of mine, written in a drunken haze, 3 years ago. I just thought I'd add a couple of thoughts, this time, somewhat more soberly.
Since '99, when, i have to admit, I feared, though did not admit, that the old master may be losing his touch, things have changed. I listened to the excellent Mule Variations, but with the idea that it was the death knoll of a great artist- a parthian shot from the dark, before a timely disappearance to obscurity.

And then came 2002.

Blood Money and Alice are as wonderful as any of his creations, taking his depictions of the carnival to fresh depths of 'beatitude'(in Kerouac's sense of the word), painting, vividly evoking, in red and black, the seedy underbelly of a 'gone world'. They are tremendous albums, and have been rightly placed on many 'best of 2002' lists. If anyone gets the chance- go and see his collaboration with Robert Wilson- Woyzeck. It is a wonderful visual drug, an assault on the senses. And it gives Blood Money real vitality and resonance.

Why have i written this on a review of one of his earliest albums? To demonstrate that, even after 3 years of regular listening, which is usually enough to kill someones love for an artist, he remains a true companion, who has indirectly introduced me to a fantastic world of beat- Bukowski, Algren, Kerouac, Fante, Bryars, Jarmusch, Jack Black, etc

ps. It's a great album

pps. Dont buy Cath Carolls book on him- it's the second worst read in the world, after The Celestine Prophecy

Many lost Saturday Nights...
This album is sublime. The whole. The sum of it's parts. Every single note, line and chord. From the optimism of the drunken romantic 'New Coat of Paint', to the beautiful 'San Diego Serenade' with it's 'I never knew I loved you, til I cursed you in vain' - genius.

If you are looking for that elusive, ahem, 'hip' romantic album this is the one. The first time I heard this album will stay with me for ever. But it manages to feel as good on the two hundredth listen.

Buy it now, and let a little Waitsian poetry into your life. After all, 'fishing for a good time starts with throwing in your line'.

Ol' Waits. Living Legend.
Tom Waits is a man who I truly respect. Having just 'got in' to him a couple of years ago each album I buy is, normally, a pleasant surprise. I adore 'Heartattack and Vine', enjoy 'Foreign Affairs' and think 'Swordfishtrombones' is a shining example of a songwriter stretching himself as far as he can go.

There is no better album than this one though. One of the first I bought and still my favourite. Waits mixes jazz, blues and a lil' bit of country folk to produce one of the finest collections of songs I've ever had the pleasure of listening to.

'New Coat of Paint' kicks it off with aplomb, letting the chilled groove take over. As the album progresses I find myself continually amazed at the orchestration, lyrics, melody and ,yes, even Mr Waits voice. Those more aware of his later work will be shocked that he sounds so crystal clear rather than gravelly and wrecked.

Personal favourites for me are the obviously bluesy 'Fumblin' With The Blues', the sublime title track as well as its reprise in the 'Ghosts of Saturday Night'. Perhaps the most perfect of all the tunes for me though is the beautifully sweeping 'Please Call Me Baby'. Never has there been a better tune concerning a relationship falling apart.

Do yourselves a favour and buy this album as soon as possible.