This is Tom Waits’ most romantic work, and we deem it an Essential album for its jazzy, bar-room feel.
TThe album that made a thousand piano players wish they could sing like Tom Waits, and made a thousand singers wish they could play piano like Tom Waits, is still available on vinyl. If you have a turntable, The Heart of Saturday Night is a record to buy. If you don’t own one of those sweet-sounding belt-driven Regas or Clearaudio Concepts, then this is the record to start an LP collection while you save up for the equipment. It’s that good.
The record dates back to 1974 when Elton John, The Carpenters and John Denver were dominating popular music. Fleetwood Mac had just met Lindsey Buckingham. Bonnie Raitt toiled in obscurity and had released a couple of terrific blues records that didn’t sell. Rickie Lee Jones was yet to appear on the scene. With the exception of Motown and Stevie Wonder, great popular music was in short supply.
Out of this malaise came Tom Waits. He’d made a pretty good debut record called Closing Time, which had caused a bit of noise. The second time out in 1974 he truly hit his stride. The Heart of Saturday Night is considerably rougher, yet this album is the nearest Tom ever came to traditional song structure. The title song has been covered many times, and for good reason, but hearing the original never grows old.
The album cover was based on Frank Sinatra’s In The Wee Small Hours, which showed a broken-hearted Sinatra moodily standing on a street corner, looking as though he’d just lost the most beautiful woman in the world. This 1955 album remains a classic on which Sinatra’s singing is as close to perfection as the human voice has ever come in expressing the inexpressible.
Tom Waits took that perfection and matched it by standing the concept on its head. Waits is on the cover of his album, neon buzzing on the street corner alright, and within view is the woman of his short-term dreams, the woman who’s going to get from Tom just as good as she gives to him. He’s no good, and he knows it. She knows it too but that’s not going to stop them from downing a few cocktails, getting it on, and seeing what happens next. The cover sets us up for the story inside, and Waits delivers on all counts. His gravelly voice, his lived-in look, his search for paradise in honky-tonks and bars: all of it has been heard and seen a thousand times, but what makes it different is his grasp of the details and the poetry behind it all.
Waits has said recently he doesn’t go much for poetry, but don’t believe it for a minute. He is one of America’s greatest songwriters and you don’t write great songs without knowing a thing or two about language, imagery, and the poetic process. Listen to “Diamonds On My Windshield” for a powerful demonstration of what one man, one bass guitar, and some brilliant wordsmithing can do. This is music magic. And then there’s the indescribable satisfaction of hearing the opening moments of the title song: the beeping of the car horn, followed by the down-to-earth lyrics of a working man out to enjoy the weekend.
“Well you gassed her up /Behind the wheel
With your arm around your sweet one /In your Oldsmobile
Barrelin’ down the boulevard
You’re looking for the heart of Saturday night”
The musical crew on this record is a small one, for the execution is an intimate and jazzy drunk-on-the-moon affair. Here are the principals:
Pete Christlieb – Tenor Sax
Bill Goodwin – drums
Jim Hughart – upright bass
Tom Waits – Vocals, Piano, Guitar
Bob Alcivar – Arranger
The sound quality from first track to last is exceptional, having been administered by Wally Heider Recorders. Standout tracks are the title song, the afore-mentioned “Diamonds”, “Fumblin’ With The Blues”, and “Shiver Me Timbers”, but the entire album is well paced and beautifully performed. This record is a treasure, and is the foundation for the considerable reputation Tom Waits enjoys to this day. It’s a wonderful place to rediscover a near-perfect work of art, or to begin an appreciation of his catalogue.
