Nighthawks At The Diner

I love Tom Waits but I definitely prefer the stuff he did in the 80's. The early jazzy work is not my cup of tea. This is one has got some fun parts and interesting stories but it's a bit too long and monotonous. In addition, the fake jazz-club audience thing does not help...

Opening intro - 3 Emotional weather report - 3 Intro to on a foggy night - 3 On a foggy night - 3 Intro to eggs and sausage - 3 Eggs and sausage (in a cadillac with susan michelson) - 3 Intro to better off without a wife - 3 Better off without a wife - 3 Nighthawk postcards (from easy street) - 3 Intro to warm beer and cold women - 3 Warm beer and cold women - 3 Intro to putnam county - 3 Putnam county - 3 Spare parts i (a nocturnal emission) - 3 Nobody - 3 Intro to big joe and phantom 309 - 3 Bog joe and phantom 309 - 3 Spare parts ii and closing - 3

He's unique, I'll give you that. But most of the songs are just him talking. Maybe this would have been fun to see performed live. But the guy's voice is not for me.

Baffling inclusion, this one. I get they wanted to include an early Tom Waits record that perfectly showcases the singer's bohemian nightcrawler persona, but why include this one when the excellent Small Change (1976) is right there? That one does exactly the same as this one but has incredible songs, while this one doesn't have a single song worth revisiting. Between that and the faux live setting and the bad stand up routine, the whole thing just reeks insencerity. Granted, that persona is somewhat of a character Waits plays in his music, but he would do it so much better later than he does it here. What a waste of a slot, and I love Tom Waits!

Although I know a lot of his albums, I had never listened to this one. But what a gem. A great piece of music, a great album, wonderful songs, nice intros in between. Love it!!!!

Okay so last week I watched a movie where Tom Waits played an angel and I just have to say I respect this man. so, respectfully, this should've been much shorter. what a drag!!! It's another "I wish I was there" live album!!! EXCEPT IT'S NOT REALLY LIVE. that is an added audience, I find that concept really interesting. it certainly paints a picture and a vibe so I can't be too mad at that Eggs and Sausage was fun

Going nighthawk mode. Really haven’t given Tom Waits a chance until today. I must say, I love his gritty yet chill style, but the spoken word / sing mashing really doesn’t do it for me. I loved how wonky and silly this was tho, quite unique.

not for me.

a bit too long, but well executed, fun and interesting. 74/100

Ebenso wie swordfish gut anzuhören, aber etwas schwächer.

wird mir unsympathischer 2 tage hintereinander

I loved these early Tom Waits albums. He was able to create the feeling of the seamy side of life through his songs and low life persona. He got some of the top jazzbo musicians who help create the mood for these sessions. Love it.

I own this and listened on vinyl. I really liked this at one time and would have given it 5 stars. Not so much anymore. It is a very spoken word type of album which I generally don't like at all (e.g L. Cohen). I still liked this much more than others of this genre. I'm going with 3 stars as I enjoyed listening to this.

I love dystopian funfair narrator Tom Waits and I love brandy-soaked jazz raconteur Tom Waits.

made me growl listening to his gravel

Tom Waits is the coolest motherfucker. This album was such a cool vibe. I enjoyed every second of it.

*1975. *Still not a fan of Tom Waits. *This was almost a 3* because the music is fine, but his voice and pretentiousness are just so overwhelming, and this was a struggle to get through. RATING - 5/10

never heard this, but i actually kinda liked it. Tom waits voice is a bit too much at times though

I really like Tom Waits and I think he succeeds in doing what he wants to do here. Would have liked to be there, live. As an album this falls a little flat and it should have been a single disc, that's enough to get the point. No single songs sticking out, it's basically a concept album.

One Tom Waits song every so often, sure. A whole album of his profound grunting, nope

Mysigt men ej hans bästa

This really wasn't for me. I could see how people would enjoy it, but I didnt like Waits style of sing-talking. I understand it being tounge-in-cheek, but it read as cheese and forced to me. I did enjoy the light jazz accompaniment. Overall- not for me

This is about as good as an album can be from what was made to sound like a drunk guy at a jazz club. I can’t say there is much revolutionary about this project. It just captures the ambience of a jazz club very well. I wasn’t super fond of some of the crude content, but Tom Waits made up for it in his uber descriptive monologues.

This is a masterpiece. The live atmosphere is truly something else. The spoken word pieces feel like a crowdworking bit, followed by a great band. You actually feel like you can't see Waits behind a cloud of cigarette smoke. 4.5/5

At his most magnetic I personally like the whole Jazz Club set up, it really does reveal Tom to be a true artist along with an AMAZING backing band.

Tom Waits the lounge singer.... So all his stuff has a level of weird to it. That's to be expected. Yet this one stands out for the weird factor. As usual not really songs, only instead of poetry you get odd stories. It's different and if you aren't ready I can see people hating it. You really have to have an open mind when it comes to Waits. It's art and not something you'll hear on the radio.

好きじゃないやっぱり。 前のやつよりはマシかも

An hour and 13 minutes of Tom. Was it to long i thought so however I did enjoy. Thought the little intros were a nice touch and he can certainly write a song.

I like some of Tom Waits albums. This isn’t one of them. For me, this album is bordering on being unlistenable. Waits twitters on in his annoying drawl, with occasional irritating laugh, and on the whole this thing is a horrible experience. He isn’t funny or interesting. No reason for anyone to hear this. One of the worst things on the list so far.

I like a good fake live album. My favourite version is the Sloan one packaged with some of the US copies of One Chord to Another. At one moment, the recording veers from being, ostensibly, a live in-room recording, maybe by a taper, to that taper (actually Jay Ferguson) wandering off to the bathroom or bar area to talk with someone asking what the band is playing. This playfully reveals it’s all just a show of a show, if that was ever in doubt. Tom Waits, here, does something similar with an in-studio live recording of a set he and a band put together with a bunch of folks invited to be the audience and create the atmosphere of it being a smoky jazz club, with some give and take between Waits and the crowd. The entire thing is artifice. Waits’s schtick/voice, style of songs (“classics”), the patter, the audience, the name of the fake venue, the whole deal. Per Bones Howe, the producer: “Waits came out and sang "Emotional Weather Report." Then he turned around to face the band and read the classified section of the paper while they played. It was like Allen Ginsberg with a really, really good band." I mean, if that’s your thing! This gets to the challenge I have with 70s Waits: it’s so fucking schmaltzy. And its nostalgia (?) was harkening back to an era that had only ended about 20 years earlier, maybe less. What is this? Would the equivalent today be current indie publication sensation ML Lenderman or Phoebe Bridgers doing a live set of Conor Oberst-style tunes while shitfaced?

I have a feeling that this is either love it or hate it territory… But I am neither. I can tolerate listening to this and simply be entertained. But after a while grow tiresome.

looooved it - this doesn't just sound like a hang w an old, weathered & sometimes bitter but very funny friend, it felt like it, smelled like it - full immersion into his stories, so fun. thanks Tom !!!

This reminds me of talking on the phone in the 80s. You just talked, talked, talked. It was a stream of consciousness that was only interrupted by the click of another caller trying to break in. It went on for hours.

i enjoy albums from all eras of tom waits eras. some albums more than others - but i am all aboard for wherever the TW train is headed. i tend to prefer the mid/late era albums (from Rain Dogs) where i caught on and when things got weird. that being said - Small Change and Closing Time have each sent time as my favorite TW albums. Great songs populated by plenty of characters with a capital "C". and of course said characters spent plenty of time staring into the hazy mirror behind their local bar. they are just so good a setting a scene and placing you right there. so why do i connect with those records more than Nighthawks...an album that literally creates the live ambience of a smoky jazz club by recording live with an audience in a ja...uh wait...it's not a jazz club it's just a recording studio masquerading as one. right. tom waits is a great song writer (Closing Time is the purist expression of this in his entire catalog). after his debut TW began to evolve into the LA boho with an ever more colorful linguistic palette ("walking Spanish down the hall") and adventurous stage presentation. this would be super charged in the 80s but in the 70s he starts to become a character in one of his songs. so setting up a fake club to play compositions that are less songs than stream of conscious indulgences intermixed with redundant stage banter (keep in mind there's not an actual stage) all presented with a bit of artifice... it s a bit of a hat on a hat on hat. that being said - the band is great but the bass player absolutely kills it. 2.5 stars.

Muy bueno. No creo que lo vuelva a escuchar. Me hubiese encantado estar en vivo, el ambiente está bueno.

I fully admit that I don't understand this.

The cover is boring, just like the album itself. This is not music. Straight up. I would not even call this an album. Tom Waits talked for over an hour of the 1hr 13min runtime. And I mean it. He talked. I cannot imagine this guy "performing" at a concert with an audience. Intros to every major song on the album is something neat (theres a reason its not popular though). Also I will admit, the transtions were incredible, borderline impossible to tell when one song was over and another one was beginning. As a comedy club recording this still would have sucked, but would have been the appropriate medium. How this got on this list is beyond me. Best "Song": Eggs and Sausage (In a Cadillac with Susan Michelson). Worst "Song": Emotional Weather Report.

Don’t try the patty-melt!

Drunk guy mumbles about the weather, stumbling into occasional rhymes. I guess there’s a jazz band, too.

Tom Waits has been a delight up to this point on the list for me, but this one's a bit of a miss, honestly. He's still a bit too beholden to typical vocal jazz here, and the bits where he's just doing standup aren't particularly funny. Interesting early detour for him I guess, but interesting doesn't mean good.

המוזיקה נחמדה, אבל הרוב דיבורים ואני לא מספיק מבין

Bailed on this one. Not for me at all. I kinda get what it's trying to do, being more spoken poetry sort of thing, but I just found it super annoying.

These would be good songs but the whole “live jazz at a club” gimmick got so old so quick.

Not quite torture, but a near thing.

Good Lord that was boring.

My favorite cigarette smoking and whiskey drinking uncle rambles his way into an entertaining "live" show, evoking the smoky jazz bars of the past. This is my kinda album.

Super long and rambling spoken word parts? im not really sure how to describe this but so far it feels like a rich person with a hostage audience trying to live some sort of weird jazz fantasy but he is too busy monologuing to play any actual music. It feels like this would be a dentists favorite album, at least what they would say is their favorite album to feel smart, as its all about "the ambiance" and "the vibes" but its missing out on "music" holy cow he never stops yapping about random things that he seems to think rhyme, I dont think I can make it through this album.

Love Tom Waits. This is a great album with great stories. He is unique, no one like him, always sings like he is full of Bourbon. Can’t wait for the other albums!

Number: 262 Familiarity: Aware (2) Rating: 4 Before: ======= I've already had one Tom Waits album. I think one is probably enough, however, I see there are 5 on this list, seeing how there should not be more than three albums by one artist on this list and only then, if they are very different from each other, and with a preference given to earlier works. Maybe this should be the one, seeing how it's his earliest on the list. After : ======= I like music with a sense of humor which there is plenty of on this album. That elevates this selection to a solid four from me, despite the fact there are at least 2 too many albums on this list from Mr. Waits.

5/10

I'm going to let this sneak in as a 5 star. Felt very genuine and warm

I had a fun time listening through the album although this isn't a genre I listen to at all. The live element really added a lot to the feeling of the album. Talking jazz in the style of this album is a genre I don't really know when I would listen to again since the style doesn't fit anything i do. Even a dark autumn day at home I would prefer what I see as more regular jazz if I had to pick. Finally listening to Tom Waits, a name I have heard before, was exactly what I wanted from the experience of listening through all these albums though. I enjoyed the time I had with the album today and that in itself is good enough sometimes.

Nearly 2/3 through this list at this point, and I'm feeling like Dimery's approach is a crazy double-edged sword. On the one hand... the fact that he chooses to include four, five, six records from artists such as Tom Waits leaves me feeling massively disappointed. Brilliant as Waits may be, maybe just pick the most influential 1-2 albums of his, and give the other slots to other (equally brilliant) artists? Like c'mon. On the other hand... this list was my formal introduction to Tom Waits, and this particular album being the third album of his to appear, I'm somewhat grateful for having an excuse to get a diverse offering of his repertoire, as this is easily my favorite album of his to date (Rain Dogs being a close second). Seeing his name at this point gave me a general idea of what to expect (storytelling and poetry moreso than traditionally performed "songs") and I more or less got what I expected - though, I was not expecting Waits to act as a drunken pianoman in a bar telling stories to a live audience. If you truly let yourself be immersed by the setting, it's such a fun ride. The backing band does a phenomenal job as well, keeping in the background in just the right ways to let the storytelling shine. It's not for everyone, but damn is it a fine work of art.

Couldn’t finish. The rambling is like Alice’s Restaurant without a message or humor, and this vocal style verges on minstrel show.

73 minutes of Tom Waits is too much Tom Waits. I put in an effort and listened to the first record, but that enough for me. Definitely not something I’m interested in.

Mumble and grumble

So, let me get this straight. Tom Waits. Talking - check that - rambling. On a "live-but-not-really-live" album. With jazz in the background. For nearly 75 minutes. You couldn't have concocted a worse scenario. And this 1,001 experience has proven that many acts have consciously tried. Worst. "Album". Ever.

I would consider this one of his weakest albums.

Conceptually, this might be the most complete and interesting album that I've listened to through the generator. If I hadn't looked into it a little before listening I would've had no idea this wasn't a live album, it's extremely successful in what it's trying to do. That being said, I think there are a couple too many interludes that break up the flow of the album. Nevertheless it's still a pretty amazing jazz record, there's a lot to like here. Favorites: Eggs and Sausage (In a Cadillac with Susan Michelson), Better Off Without a Wife, Warm Beer and Cold Women

70s blues rock. Waits is the definition of a cool cat. With live audience, like a jazz club.

Better than his other one I just had, still not great

I like what he was trying to do but it doesn’t quite work. Too much yapping. But like it does a great job of putting you in a room with tom and imagining what it’d be like in the diner.

I bunnen her er det jazz. Røykfull jazzbule med rikelig øl og god stemning. Stemmen til Waits er ikke for alle, og gjennom hele plata blir den litt slitsom. Favorittlåta er Emotional Weather Report.

Fuck, that was annoying. I hope that audience was paid well. Almost a 1

Grumble, grumble, pretentious rubbish, grumble.

Almost gave this a 2 because there were some good moments, but in the end it just dragged on too long and started irritating me.

Sounds like a live show you would see in some smoky nightclub with some old road dog

I know he's kind of doing a parody but there are some BANGER lines in there

Na een dronken piraten album en een album waarop Tom gewoon je dronken oom speelt, is ie nu de dronken host van een nachtclub. Specifiek een Jazz nachtclub. Tsja, dan heb je in elk geval mijn aandacht. Ook hier weer druipt alleen de intro al van sfeer. En voor je het weet zit je al in het tweede nummer, terwijl Tom nog steeds half zijn woorden uitspuugt. Lekker jazz deuntje op de achtergrond, tsja dit is wel een vibe hoor. Vorige albums vond ik de sfeer al top, maar miste ik toch vaak een beetje de muziek. Maar dit? Ik weet niet, ik vind zn stem heel goed bij jazz passen. Misschien ook omdat zn stem me een klein beetje aan Louis Armstrong doet denken. Maar ok Tom, was het nodig om 3 minutenlang een intro te doen en te vertellen hoe een avond sjorren er voor je uit ziet? Hoe je jezelf even goed verwend? Sowieso heeft elk nummer minstens 3 minuten intro, ontzettend onnodig... De beste man is al geen zanger, maar zo vervaagt de grens tussen muziek en gewoon spoken word wel heel erg. Nope. Begint oprecht interessant en ik ging er goed voor zitten. Maar dit is gewoon veel te lang en alles wat ook maar een beetje op muziek en tempo lijkt word vakkundig de nek omgedraaid door Tommert. Het begint als die oom die gezellig is na een aantal drankjes. Het eindigt met dat ie toch behoorlijk racistisch blijkt te zijn en dat het toch niet zo grappig is, hij is bloedserieus als hij weer begint over de platte aarde en waarom Thierry Baudet minister president zou moeten worden. De grap is over, het duurt te lang. FAVO: On a foggy night, Eggs and sausage

charmed & intrigued by mr waits

Musicality- 0.4 Vocals - 0.3 Vibes - 0.3 Listen to again - 0.1 Execution - 0.4 Total - 1.5

What the heck is this album? Band is awesome, Wait's voice is grating after a while.

He’s fun.

I liked Tom Waits before this entry but have barely touched his body of work. Mostly his later stuff, after his voice got raspy. I hear his signature musical style push through in places, but paired with his younger voice, which was a treat. An odd album that's pseudo-live (stacked studio with a live audience), but still warm and lonely all at once.

A very slight step up from Nick Cave but still shitty talk music.

Not sure the faux live album does anything for me - especially after listening to Waits' actual live album Glitter & Doom. I appreciate Tom Waits in general and he's high on my list of "hopefull gonna tour again so I can see them", but this is only okay.

DNF - not pleased with myself but fuck off Nighthawks At The Diner what is going on here

He's a got a particular voice, someone give him water. 5/5

I just did Tom Waits last week already Somehow, this one is even worse NOPE

I didnt know I was listening to an audiobook...

Loved this. Really funny, musically and lyrically great. Setting his use of a persona and a theatrical approach to performance makes me look at his later weirder music differently too.

yeah i would hate jazz too if it sounded like this

Some funny jokes in there Songs were really drowsy though

Boh

This list has officially made me a Tom Waits fan and one of my first jobs when finished will be to devour his back catalogue. This was funny and jazzy and engaging and great. Probably prefer a more standard format but this put a smile on my face.

Jeg synes helt sikkert hans senere albums er mere interessante, det her lyder lidt karikeret men altså der er nogle gode numre på. Klart den værste vi har haft med Tom Waits

Synes ikke at konceptet gjorde pladen nogen tjenester, men stadig ret fed!

Fun concept worked great. It was a good idea to hear it on speakers with good imaging.

Best waiting for the bus imo

My first Tom Waits album and it doesn't disappoint. A little bit of a grower as I went along, maybe because I don't actively seek out much vocal jazz, or spoken word, or a combination of both like this. It's a cohesive, competent effort with unique charm that I'm not sure if any other album can match. I find it worth over the hour runtime. It certainly feels like a real live jazz bar performance (though vocal jazz, it's still got jazz which I think I love at this point), and like you are part of the audience and their experience. The singer character Tom has created seems real chill and engaging to said audience. Though I cannot make sense of all the lyrics, the stories/poetry created do seem to move along, the flow, rhyming, and humor interweaved, though the vocal delivery and pacing are casual and may make the words feel unassuming at first. The pacing of the tracks almost makes it seem that the tracks can be heard separately outside of the full album experience, even if they standout less on their own. The pacing of the instrumentals does switch up as well, for more introspective-sounding and more upbeat, energetic times. The backing band wraps this all up into a cool album experience, though even then I'm not sure how much I'll go back to this one.

I’ve listened to enough Tom Waits to last several lifetimes. ENOUGH!!!

I do enjoy Tom Waits but I didn't love this album.

Glæsileg og skemmtileg plata. Frumlegir textar eins og alltaf, en þetta jazzaða flipp er æði.

Frábær plata sem hægt er að hlusta á endalaust. Elska ruglið í honum. Röddin hans á þessum tíma mjög töff.

Is this just random words with "fuck" and references to being horny/drinking? I mean, I know a lot of music is that, but I don't hear the lyrics as well as I do here.

Super interesting album concept. I felt like I was indeed in a jazz bar.

Ok

Man, I love Tom Waits. But 5 albums?!

Very cool atmosphere, seemed like every noise outside the songs were still parts of the song 👌

Either you’re going to like it or not. I did not. First couple of songs is all you need to hear and it’s just repetitive after that