Nighthawks at the Diner

but why does he look like jerma tho

Like a 3 minute 'comedy' sketch. Of a knarled old jazz club compere, at 1am, after a skinful of bourbon, trying to make lame gags and then growling half a tune over the house band.
Only he drags the sketch out to over an hour. And if you bought the double album then you'd feel compelled to listen to it over and over again.
I'm so glad I didn't buy it.
(redeeming quality; the house band.; drags this up to a 2)

Tom Waits, the guy I’ve always heard of and said “yeah, I’ll have to check him out some day”. So now I have…

I chuckled for a bit, but ya know, after a few minutes something else got my attention. It’s hard to focus on a guy getting off on his own word play for over an hour. It wasn’t over my head, just tiresome. The part where he admits to masturbation was highly relevant.

2 stars, 1 each for the bassist and saxophonist for trying to make this trainwreck less trainwrecky

Pretentious sounding mf. Not too bad, but the in studio, but also live setting is a bit weird. Bass player is insane of course. Loved the bass sounds throughout. Altogether it's not better than a 3 tho

My first Tom Waits album from this list. And kind of an odd one to start with. I know that a lot of people sort of took offense to the 'fake jazz lounge' concept of the album. I think it would have been cooler to be a real jazz bar for sure but maybe this is a little more controlled and less real life which I think was probably the intent.
Tom Waits seems like he'd be an interesting guy to talk to. Especially back in 1975. Especially now, for that matter. I've always liked his music - he's got such a unique and fantastic voice. Particularly as he got older. It's definitely not for everyone. This album specifically, he sounds great as ever. I love the loose feeling of this record. The upright bass, piano, drums with brushes, sax - it all comes together and fits so well with what he's doing. I know it's a fake lounge but take it as you would a movie - you know it isn't real but you can imagine being there in person to experience it. It would have been so much fun. I think a lot of people (most?) would get a little bored with this. It plays basically like a long monologue accompanied by music. I love it. 5/5

It's a really cool concept, sounds nice as well. But I don't see myself revisiting this all that often

Das Album ist so spaßig wie Wandern im Nieselregen. Dad braucht man nicht. Club Jazz und Blues zum vergessen. So oft wie in dieser Albumserie dieser Interpret erscheint lässt vermuten er selber oder der Chef seines Fanclubs beherrschen die Jury.

Love me some tom

I don't like Tom Waits, so this album was quite a surprise. I did like this album, but I likely won't ever listen to it again. The atmosphere created for this album makes me want to have attended the "show." The crowd sounds fun, and the seemingly improvised nature of Waits' performance sounds like a good time. The band is great too.

I don't much care for when Waits actually attempts to sing, as he does in Warm Beer and Cold Women

The Good: First Tom Waits album on the list
The Bad: The smirky giggle he does ones too often
The Ugly: That the album is classified as Folk and Singer Songwriter

Consider me a Tom Waits fanboy, which means I’d love to have a talk with all the people who give this album a 1* star, and complain about his voice… it is all an act, one large monologue almost, while playing the piano, and improvising… Pure poetry.

Having said all that… not my favorite Tom Waits album. This is one where you really need to sit down, in an environment that oozes disconnect, with an ample supply of your favorite spirits…

As a fanboy, I should give 5*… right?
After all, there’s a blur drizzle down the plateglass, as a neon swizzle stick is stirring up the sultry night air...

Better than other Waits, but I would still prefer to never listen. 1.5/5

I like Tom Waits. I like his smoky, boozy voice. I like his music. I don't like the album. It may have been a recording of a great live performance. If you weren't there, his introductions to the tracks are simply too long. That bloats the whole album to over an hour. And it's not worth it.
3/5

The intersection of the Venn diagram of "Me" and "Liking Tom Waits." This is a depiction of Waits as both a comedian and a musician; it's ridiculously entertaining and the songs are bitingly funny. Not sure what happened with his later work, it's like he spent two years alone in a padded cell with some percussive instruments.

Tom waits is an acquired taste and not one that I want to go through acquiring.

I'm unsure what environment is ideal to listen to this. I'd probably enjoy this being performed live at some jazzy open mic night, but listening on headphones at my desk... it sounds like a lot of drunken drivel.

Not sure I like the jazz club conceit, but good album regardless

I absolutely adore Tom Waits. I don't think this is his strongest album, but it's more than good enough. For some reason this man can distill jazz down to a format where I actually enjoy it. He seems to be able to improvise but still reign it in, and his stage persona keeps it strange and interesting where I'd have given up on other artists.

This album has a lot of pleasant instrumentals with pretty enthralling stories and world building, to the point where I'm genuinely always intrigued in the next tale, and was even getting into the non-jokes Waits was spewing that the crowd couldn't get enough of. Nothing actually gut-bustingly hilarious, but the charm got to me at about the forty-five-minute mark. However, I struggle to call this an album of music. It feels more like stand-up and poetry with instrumental backing that may be my favorite part, but feels needless, and if this album is truly not actually live, it just feels like the whole album is mocking itself. Perhaps that is the intention, I don't know, but a lot of tracks are just not songs, and so I think rating it on that same musical scale feels unfair, but if this is one of Waits' main releases, I kind of have to look at it that way. All the pieces are there for it to be a cool, albeit long, live album, but as a studio performance with lots of rambling and relatively simple songs, I know Tom Waits has a lot more in him, whether it is from this early era or not. This is a good one-and-done album, but I can't see myself returning to this, and I think if any other artist tried this same shtick, I'd be far more annoyed. It truly is worth that single listen though, mileage will just vary.

Tom Channels a Rodney Dangerfield turned philosopher poet. Best SNL sketch ever. Musically I don't know that it was that special, but as a comedy sketch character study, five stars, glad I listened, would listen again.