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Tom Waits - Foreign Affairs Audio CD

A fair review of the Tom Waits "Foreign Affairs" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Tom Waits reviews here, or go back to the Tom Waits tabs.

Tom Waits Band: Tom Waits
Title: Foreign Affairs
Rating:
Release Date: 1990-05-11
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Cinny's Waltz 2: Muriel 3: I Never Talk to Strangers 4: Medley: Jack & Neal/California, Here I Come 5: Sight for Sore Eyes 6: Potter's Field 7: Burma-Shave 8: Barber Shop 9: Foreign Affair

Classic Tom Waits
Maybe it has something to do with where my head was at at the time that makes this recording one that has stayed with me. Small Change is my all time favorite, but Foreign Affairs is a close second. As with Small Change Tom Waits sets a mood that only a ture artist can capture. The mood gets set with Cinny's Waltz it's off tune trumpet solo then nicely slides into Muriel giving an image of jilted lover stumbling through his sorrows with a cheap bottle of scotch. Jack and Neil, A Sight for Sore Eyes and Barber Shop are all masterful in their imagery through the lyrics and music. It's not something I can listen to every day, but it is music that I come back to year after year.


Waits goes into a traditional jazz direction on his 5th album
You can find all the familiar elements of jazz on this release such as piano ("Burma-Shave"), sax ("Medley"), and stand-up bass ("Barber Shop"). Following the experimental jazz elements that he explored on 1976's "Small Change", Tom Waits decided to go into a more traditional jazz direction. He went into a good direction on this release but he took it to a whole new level lyrically and musically on the follow up "Blue Valentine". I do consider this one of his most under-rated albums and I do recommended it for everyone's Tom Waits collection.


I'm Not A Bad Guy Once You Get To Know Me!
Everything including the cover. Yea, Tom Waits really nailed Small Change in '76. . . . . . . ESPECIALLY THE COVER, is just so BOSS. It's where Waits, the songwriter hits his stride. Indeed Small Change was a tough act to follow, but Foregin Affairs released in '77 is almost as interesting. I've come back to it of late, and it does have at least three of TW's best compositions (Muriel, Cindy's Waltz and Foregin Affairs and I'll throw in I Never Talk To Strangers).

Cindy's Waltz is the opening track, much the way Waltzing Matilda opens up Small Change. Barber Shop also sounds like Step Right Up from SC, only it's not as manic. Foregin Affairs is a beautiful ballard and allows TW to really show off his pipes. . . . Well almost. It explores one of TW's most universal themes, wonderlust. Here he really nails, what might be considered the quintessential Tom Waits song. . . Just beautiful! So tasty! Much has been written here of the wonderful duet with Bette Midler, I Never Talk To Strangers. Not even Louis Armstrong and Villma Middleton could have had more fun with this number. Overall FA ranks pretty high in the Tom Waits catalog. It's kinda' like Tom says in Never Talk To Strangers, "I'm not a bad guy once you get to know me".

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Classic pre-"Swordfishtrombones" Waits
FOREIGN AFFAIRS is one of Waits's most engaging jazzy albums. . its lyrics are so dark and poetic, you'll be drawn in instantly, recognizing immediately within yourself the heartache these characters are going through. If nothing else, you can fall back on the hometown hopelessness of "A Sight For Sore Eyes" (which opens with "Auld Lang Syne"), or the gin-soaked romantic banter between Waits and Bette Midler on "I Never Talk to Strangers" (a tune which would inspire the future Tom Waits-Chrystal Gayle masterpiece ONE FROM THE HEART album). There's the cool "Burma Shave" and the catchy "Jack & Neal" (that sax intro will grab you by the ears and haul your butt in). FOREIGN AFFAIRS is one of the best "early" Waits albums, and showcases why this masterful singer/songwriter deserves a pedestal in the Musicians Hall of Fame. We'd better put him in a far, back corner, though. . . he might scare off the uninitiated. .


Tom Waits and Bette Midler
And it features Tom Waits with Bette Midler in track 3. This CD is beautiful.


You can see a complete list of all Tom Waits discography, or go back to the Tom Waits tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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