Nighthawks at the Diner

I never want to hear this man again in my life

Terrible. Absolutely terrible

It was like bad stand up comedy over a jazz band. But he wasnt funny, and even his talking voice grated on me. And the audience laughing made it even worse, because his ramblings weren't even funny

I was begging for this one to end

1 ⭐️

first thoughts: I'm worried. It's too long, and I don't generally like interludes, and this album has 7 "intros." On the flip side, I think I like Tom Waits - or at least I quite liked Bone Machine. We'll see.

Starts out jazzy with the first intro, a live set where he's just kinda talking to the audience. It has the line, "I'm so goddamn horny the crack of dawn better be careful around me," which I appreciate.

So it appears the album is a live jazz performance. It's good for jazz, his voice definitely lends itself to this kind of thing. I think it's enjoyable, but not particularly interesting or novel. I wonder about replay value due to the riffing and crowd work. It's interesting the first time, but how many times can you listen to it before it loses its appeal?

Overall, I'm glad I listened to it, but I don't see how I can give it higher than 3 stars. One good thing, though, is that it's confirmed that I *do* like Tom Waits.

I'm not up on the current discourse surrounding Tom Waits. There was definitely a time when it was not cool to not like Tom Waits. So I've tried. I've had a couple of his albums moldering in my library for many years and I almost always skip over them. But if I'm being honest, the more I listen to this guy the less I want to hear. I just don't need him in my life at this point.

Tom Waits rules. Super unique voice and style. I love the conceptual nature of this album. It's goofy and weird in his very distinct way.

I'd tried to listen to Rain Dogs a number of times before and I could never get into the Tom Waits character on that album. Maybe it's that the clean studio recording didn't match the character? Whatever the reason, I have never taken it seriously.
I was initially disappointed when I saw this album as my album of the day because of this preconceived notion. I must say, the live nature if this album gave validity to the TW character, and I really enjoyed the music and stories. I feel that time hasn't smiled too kindly on the references etc. as many went over my head. But all in all, I'll probably listen to this again. 4/5

The rich and immersive sound production, the excellence of the backing band, the hilarity of the banter with the audience (along with their responses), and the clever wordplay and vibrant lyrical imagery, make this album a diamond in the rough that is Tom Waits' discography.

This is a weird one. Is it technically a live album or technically a studio album? It's both. Kinda. They wanted to do a live album because that's where Waits thrived. Got him in that rare jazz mood where he can rattle off the coolest one-liners you'll ever hear. But the venues around town were "toilets" in the 70s, so they decided to just invite some people into the studio for two nights to do a live show--but they recorded it using studio equipment in a studio environment. So some people criticize this recording for being fake. Bohemian coffeehouse cool oozes from this album, Waits standing there with a drink in one hand, a cigarette in the other, as he swaggers and stumbles around the microphone, doing what he does best: lowering the temperature of the room with the coolest anecdotes around. Some real laugh-out-loud moments sprinkled here.

Een te dominante, te rauwe, te vertellende stem. De intro's van de laatste intro's zeggen genoeg.
- I'l tell you a story
- It's storytime again

Aan het eind van dit album wil ik dat echt niet meer horen. Het heeft lang genoeg geduurd.

Wiki meldt dat de waardering voor dit album met name een waardering is voor het creëren van de sfeer van een Jazzclub. Eerlijk is eerlijk. Dat is heel knap gedaan. En daarmee is het interessant om eens te horen. Maar ik zet het geen tweede keer meer op.

Kept waiting for the bit to end but then the album did...

You can smell and see the smoke of the jazz bar on this album, really cool concept and live jazz bar vibes. But Tom does go on a bit for some of the songs, hence I prefer his earlier albums or his more experimental later stuff. Deserves to be on the list though.

Tom Waitsia ei oo turhaan näin paljon listalla. Nää live-hommat toimii erinomaisesti tällä levyllä myös! 4/5

This is my second Tom Waits album that I've reviewed so far. The first was Heartattack and Vine. Having very little familiarity with Tom before this exercise, I expected this album to be sludgy blues/folk, similar to the other album I'd reviewed. Boy was I wrong!

Today's album was more of a jazz number than blues. For this record, he opened his recording studio up to a small group of people, and set the studio up like a seedy jazz bar, so it is super polished, but has that live feel to it. He has hilarious preambles before most songs. His preamble before the song Better Off Without a Wife is about masturbation of all things.

Although being very different, it was equally as powerful as his other stuff. Tom Waits is a musical genius, this album is fucking great!! His rendition of Red Sovine's song Phantom 309 was awesome! That is such a powerful song!

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this album. I've been very surprised by Tom Waits so far, having not known him before this exercise, and discovering that I love his stuff. The man is a poet! The way he weaves a story through his lyrics that places you in that seedy dive bar, or on the dirty streets of New York, he takes you on a hell of a ride! You can almost smell the whiskey and cigar smoke!

Favourite songs: Spare Parts I (A Nocturnal Emission), Better Off Without a Wife, Big Joe and Phantom 309, Warm Beer and Cold Women, Eggs and Sausage (In a Cadillac With Susan Michelson), Putnam County

Least favourite songs: On a Foggy Night

4/5

What a voice! Album is perhaps a bit longer than it needs to be, but I'm not sure what I would drop. His songs and patter are so funny, when he chooses, but also really musically engaging.
The idea of a 'live' album in a studio (read the wiki page) is such simple genius, I am going to rip it off for future recording projects.

Waits ability to drill down to the most excruciating detail is what takes this from artifice to a painting with sound that comes alive. Putnam County kills. Thoroughly great beat proto rap jazz club quintessential Tom.

Tom Waits is one of my favourite artists of all time but this is not one of my favourite albums I'm afraid.
I like this as the semi-live showcase for Tom's showmanship it is. His banter is amazingly funny and the jazz quartet he took in the studio with him are incredible. You can quote hundreds of lines from this album.
Still, in the end, it's the music that counts and Waits has made better than the ones on this album.
Bad? No, it's still Tom Waits. Just a little lower tier than most of his other work.

I didn't dislike it, and some parts of it I really liked. I like his voice. And Waits is quite funny!

Will possibly listen to it again in the future. But not anytime soon.

No está nada mal. La sensación de estar en directo o en el mismo club es perfecta. No sé si se grabó también vídeo por que así sería aún mejor. Recomendable y entretenido pero sin deslumbrar.

I had this on CD growing up and it fit nicely with my Kerouac/Beat obsession. His delivery of the spoken word parts definitely reminds me of Kerouac's readings with Steve Allen on piano - only with much more humor. Speaking of which this may be one of the best marriages of humor and music I've ever heard. Comes off as effortlessly natural and is a wonderful counterpoint to the slightly gritty and downtrodden world he presents here. And what rich imagery that just flows out if him. I always thought this was a genuine live recording, and in a way I suppose it truly is, just in a studio rather than an actual nightclub. I think the back and forth of the energy exchange with the audience actually makes this work much better than it would on its own. It adds to the atmosphere and probably the way be delivered his performance. A very interesting approach to recording an album.

Väldigt jazzigt. Någon typ av fejkad live-spelning inspelad i en studio. Mysigt men långt ifrån hans bästa.