Tom Waits’ 4th album, 1976’s Small Change, is one of the best-selling releases in his catalog. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that this has something to do with the appearance of the near-nude cover model/go-go girl/stripper (rumored to be Cassandra Peterson, aka Elvira), but there’s no doubt that Waits’ own material discussing dead criminals, drunken sprees, and the “charm” of skid row, all heavily researched by the artist in the romantic notion that there is a kind of nobility in drunkenness, was the actual key to the record’s staying power. Now available on heavy duty 180-gram vinyl, Small Change deserves further examination as we gaze at the career of an artist verging on stagnation and an eventual, dynamic rebirth.
No comments:
Post a Comment