Part 3 in a Series

BLUE VALENTINE

I can remember the exact moment I first heard this album - it was in Calgary and the year was 1978. I was in bed late on a Sunday night, almost asleep when I thought I heard either Louis Armstrong singing on the radio or someone gargling in the bathroom. It was neither - it was Tom Waits singing Sweet Little Bullet from a Pretty Blue Gun and I was hooked. I soon discovered that the album was called Blue Valentine and I literally ran out and bought it the next day. I was not sorry - because it was the beginning of a weird and wonderful musical ride that has lasted until the present day.

The album starts out with a beautifully orchestrated version of a Leonard Bernstein song called Somewhere - from the Broadway musical West Side Story..... and then Tom starts to sing. At first I wondered why he would choose such a song but it blends in well with the album's running theme which is about losers down on their luck and dreamers on the wrong side of town. All the songs on Blue Valentine are about losers, street people and hustlers but Tom tells their story with a touch of sadness and understanding. Lyrically speaking he is a story teller and a poet - maybe even more so than Bob Dylan. And that is saying a lot...

Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis reveals that even these so-called lowlifes have feelings and will resort to anything in an attempt to cope with their desperate lives - even the truth. Romeo is Bleeding tells a story of life in the 'hood that is purely cinematic - like a screen play for your ears. Kentucky Ave will just plain break your heart - it has broken mine a few times. I could go on but all his songs on this album share a common thread - that there is a sucker born every minute but there is always hope, even for the hopeless.

Musically speaking Blue Valentine is pretty standard blues for someone like Tom Waits except for the odd yet appropriate string arrangement on Somewhere. Waits' later recordings can only be described as unique and quirky - as he employs piano, honking horns, banjo, bullhorn, cowbells and pump organs to set the tone for his story songs. All these instruments merely act as a backdrop of course for Tom's most potent weapon - his voice.

This album has a nice narrative flow and feel to it - a "concept album" in that all the songs deal with the same subject - good things gone bad, bad things gone worse. Fortunately for us, Tom Waits' musical career can be described as a good thing gone great as he continues to entertain and amuse himself as well as his fans.

I rate this album 9 out of 10