“Small Change” by Tom Waits - album review

features in: Album Chart of 1976Album Chart of the Decade: 1970s

TJR says

Another smoky late-night jazz-rap session from the 26-year-old who seems to be going on for 57. His Louis Armstrong style of semi-spoken vocal rasp is coming along nicely and his fast-paced lyrics remain intoxicating more often than not. Although I’m not overly mad for the small jazz combo set-up, I can live with it, and I always have the feeling that something special can happen at any given minute. And it does with the mighty “Step Right Up”, which is perhaps the greatest list song ever written – it must have taken Tom a while. It makes me laugh every time, what a delivery. And what a piss-take on the World's consumerists and just how dumb they've become – and, hey, this was only the generation of ’76: “That's right, it fillets, it chops, it dices, slices, never stops, lasts a lifetime, mows your lawn, and it mows your lawn and it picks up the kids from school, it gets rid of unwanted facial hair, it gets rid of embarrassing age spots, it delivers a pizza, and it lengthens, and it strengthens, and it finds that slipper that's been at large under the chaise lounge for several weeks, and it plays a mean rhythm master, it makes excuses for unwanted lipstick on your collar, and it's only a dollar, step right up, it's only a dollar, step right up.” Step AWAY from the Shopping Channel…

The Jukebox Rebel
15–Sep–2009

Tracklist
A1 [06:39] 5.8.png Tom Waits - Tom Traubert’s Blues (Four Sheets To The Wind In Copenhagen) (Tom Waits) Crooner / Cabaret
A2 [05:43] 10.0.png Tom Waits - Step Right Up (Tom Waits) Jazz
A3 [03:44] 5.7.png Tom Waits - Jitterbug Boy (Sharing A Curbstone With Chuck E. Weiss, Robert Marchese, Paul Body And The Mug And Artie) (Tom Waits) Crooner / Cabaret
A4 [04:53] 5.5.png Tom Waits - I Wish I Was In New Orleans (In The Ninth Ward) (Tom Waits) Jazz
A5 [03:40] 5.8.png Tom Waits - The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me) (An Evening With Pete King) (Tom Waits) Crooner / Cabaret
B1 [05:24] 5.1.png Tom Waits - Invitation To The Blues (Tom Waits) Crooner / Cabaret
B2 [02:32] 6.8.png Tom Waits - Pasties And A G-String (At The Two O’Clock Club) (Tom Waits) Jazz
B3 [04:50] 6.1.png Tom Waits - Bad Liver And A Broken Heart (In Lowell) (Tom Waits) Jazz
B4 [04:07] 5.1.png Tom Waits - The One That Got Away (Tom Waits) Jazz
B5 [05:07] 6.1.png Tom Waits - Small Change (Got Rained On With His Own .38) (Tom Waits) Jazz
B6 [03:17] 4.8.png Tom Waits - I Can’t Wait To Get Off Work (And See My Baby On Montgomery Avenue) (Tom Waits) Jazz

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