monday,december4, 1978
daily nebraskan
page 9
Music hero Waits9 latest portrays urban living pain
By Jeff Taebel
Tom Waits may well be one of the last authentic heroes
of American music. While other artists who have claimed
distinction in the past are touring with Las Vegas-style re
vues or worrying about property taxes in Malibu, Waits
has retained his modest digs at Hollywood's Tropicana
Hotel, in order to keep in close contact with the seedy
street "life that he seems to have a lovehate relationship
with.
album review
Waits' music can take listeners to places they might not
ordinarily go and introduce them to various denizens of
the night they might otherwise never see.
His latest album, Blue Valentine, is similar in its focus
to his 1974 classic, The Heart of Saturday Night. Both
albums vividly portray the boredom, restlessness and pain
of urban living. However, Waits sounds much more coarse
and cynical on Blue Valentine, perhaps as a result of all
the trouble he's seen.
Barroom backing
Waits' is backed by a variety of musicians, all of whom
strive to create the intimate kind of barroom sound that
he works so well with. Waits contributes his fine piano
work and plays some surprisingly fluid electric guitar.
Blue Valentine opens with a tortured, evocative rendi
tion of "Somewhere." from West Side Story. This tune
sets the tone for the album much the same way that "Gin
ny's Waltz" did for last year's Foreign Affairs. "Some
where" is followed by the rather undistinguished "Red
Shoes By The Drugstore," which has excellent lyrical po
tential, but never gets going musically.
Side one's third offering, "Christmas Card From A
Hooker In Minneapolis," is the kind of poignant classic
that very few songwriters could pull off. Waits wrenches
out every ounce of agony from his voice on each phrase,
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building things up throughout the song and crashing them
down in the end.
Straight blues
Side one closes with "$29.00," which is a departure
from style for Waits since it is essentially straight blues.
Even though Waits camps it up on this number, he still
sounds more sincere tryin most of today's pop artists
when they attempt a blues song.
Side two is highlighted by the last two songs, "A
Sweet Little Bullet From A Pretty Blue Gun" and "Blue
Valentines." These songs certainly equal or surpass most
of Waits' previous work and are indicative of his expanded
artistic scope.
"A Sweet Little Bullet From A Pretty Blue Gun" is
Waits at his snarling, cynical best. Waits exposes present
day Hollywood as a crumbling Babylon, rife with
shattered lives and broken dreams. His crisply intoned vo
cals tell a murder story with a frightening sense of realism,
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UNL School of Music presents
George Frederick Handel's
MESSIAH
Harold Evans, conductor
University Singers
Members of University Orchestra
Robert Anders Emile, Music Director
Lois Vaccariello Soloists Denise Hurley
Cary Michaels Scott Root
Sunday, December 10
2:30 p.m.
Kimball Recital Hall
11th and R Streets
All Seats Reserved
Students65 and Over $1 .00 All others $2.00
Kimball Box Office
113 Music Bldg., 11th and R
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Phone Orders-472r3375
with lines like: "it takes a sweet little bullet, from a pretty
blue gunTo put those scarlet ribbons in your hair."
Intense statement
"Blue Valentines," which closes the album, is just
as powerful, even though it is more subdued. Waits sings
it in his inimitable melancholy vocal style, supported
only by his electric guitar. This song showcases Waits'
ability to make an intense personal statement without
sounding awkward or self-indulgent.
Blue Valentine is possibly Waits' finest work to date
and if the diverse array of talents exposed on this album
are any indication of things to come, he may well achieve
hero status on a large scale.
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Do you want to hear a good band
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Friday, Dec. 8
Great Plains Room East Campus Union
Tickets: $3.00 single $5.00 couple
On sale at the South Desk on City Campus
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