Maps of Music

Blue Valentine (1978)

Where the lyrics of Blue Valentine take you, and where it was really made.

The title came from words written on Waits's Ford Thunderbird, and the back cover shows that car beside Rickie Lee Jones.

Key places

Where Blue Valentine was recorded (1978)

Recording site Hollywood Sound — Blue Valentine was recorded in six sessions from July 24 to August 26, 1978, at this studio in Hollywood, California, with producer Bones Howe. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Blue Valentine: sixth studio album by singer and songwriter Tom Waits
• Released September 5, 1978 on Asylum Records
• Recorded in six sessions from July 24 to August 26, 1978
• Produced by Bones Howe
• Issued in a semi-glossy gatefold cover without barcode, usually with a WEA catalog insert

Background

• Rickie Lee Jones is pictured with Waits on the back cover
• Jones was a singer and songwriter in a relationship with Waits at the time
• The album brought electric keyboards and guitars into Waits's work for a more rock tone
• The opening track, Somewhere, is a cover from the musical West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim
• All other songs were written by Waits

Recording

• Recorded at Filmways/Heider Recording in Hollywood, California
• Second engineers were Geoff Howe and Ralph Osborne
• Disc mastering was by Terry Dunavan

Cover

• Back cover photo shows Waits with Rickie Lee Jones
• Label design uses clouds, a design that appears on this release's German pressing

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com · es.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Career

• Tom Waits, born Thomas Alan Waits on 7 December 1949 in Pomona, California, is an American singer-songwriter, musician, music director and actor.
• Known for his gravelly voice, cynical texts and theatrical stage presence, he blends blues, jazz, bluegrass, vaudeville and country with rock.
• His lyrics portray the bizarre and overlooked people and places, while his work also shows romanticism and humour.
• Debuted in Los Angeles in 1971 after signing with manager Herb Cohen; the album Closing Time (1973) received good reviews, and the Eagles' cover of Ol' 55 brought success in 1974.
• Mid-1980s albums Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs and Frank's Wild Years featured eclectic instrumentation, marking a less conventional period after leaving Asylum for Island Records.
• Worked with his wife Kathleen Brennan on musicals such as The Black Rider with William S. Burroughs, and moved toward theatre alongside a parallel acting career.
• Acted in films by Francis Ford Coppola, Jim Jarmusch, Robert Altman and Terry Gilliam; composed the score for Coppola's Coup de cœur.
• Won Grammy Awards for Bone Machine (1993) and Mule Variations (2000); inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.
• Has consistently refused to license his music for advertising and won lawsuits against several companies that ignored this.

Sources: fr.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Rolling Stone critic Don Shewey found Blue Valentine as solid a record as Waits had made
• Shewey wrote that its best songs rank high among the sentimental sagas that hold Waits's strongest writing
• Robert Christgau reviewed the album in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies
• Christgau wrote that Waits keeps getting weirder and that this is good for him
• Christgau judged that his version of Somewhere beats Sid Vicious's My Way as sheer sendup
• Christgau was not sure Waits understood his gift, and felt the lyrics should be funnier

Reappraisal

• Christgau's 1981 guide singled out Romeo Is Bleeding as more effective on the jacket than in the song itself
• Christgau's guide placed the album among Waits's strongest tragic sagas of outlaws

Records

• Reached number 48 on the Australian chart by late 1978

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The title comes from words written on Waits's Ford Thunderbird, and the back cover shows that car with Rickie Lee Jones.
• Kentucky Avenue, a track on the album, is the name of the street where Waits grew up.
• The release lists mastering at Strawberry Mastering, while the album text credits disc mastering to Terry Dunavan.
• Waits played electric guitar on a majority of the songs.
• Christgau's guide ranked the album's cover art as more effective than the song Romeo Is Bleeding.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org · ja.wikipedia.org

Maps of Ages ↗ (mapsofages.com)

Privacy · Contact