Maps of Music

Foreign Affairs (1977)

Where the lyrics of Foreign Affairs take you, and where it was really made.

The album began as the idea of a black-and-white movie: producer Bones Howe described it that way, and the cover grew out of that idea.

Key places

Recording at Filmways/Heider Recording, Hollywood (1977)

Recording site The Music Grinder (Hollywood) — The album was recorded at Filmways/Heider Recording studios in Hollywood, with the studio orchestra playing at the same time as the band and no re-recording. The point is placed at the city centre because the source gives no exact building location. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Foreign Affairs: fifth studio album by Tom Waits
• Released 13 September 1977 on Asylum Records
• Produced by Bones Howe, who also worked as engineer
• Bette Midler sings a duet with Waits on "I Never Talk to Strangers"
• Tracks written by Tom Waits, except where noted

Background

• Waits made demos first, then let Howe hear them before deciding what the album should be
• Howe said the material seemed like a black-and-white movie, and that idea became the source of the cover
• Howe admitted he could not say whether the final record matched that idea, because the records kept changing during work
• Waits wanted the cover to convey the film-noir mood that coloured many of the songs

Recording

• Recorded at Filmways/Heider Recording studios in Hollywood
• The studio orchestra was recorded at the same time as the band, with no re-recording
• Japanese liner notes credit all tracks, including the orchestra, as recorded in one take

Cover

• The cover shows Marsheila Cockrell, a Native American woman who worked at the box office of The Troubadour in Los Angeles
• Veteran Hollywood portraitist George Hurrell shot Waits both alone and with a shadowy female
• The back cover casts Waits as a slicked-back hoodlum
• The inner sleeve shows the singer clawing at the keys of his Tropicana upright piano

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

• Village Voice critic Robert Christgau gave Foreign Affairs a mixed review
• He praised the Bette Midler duet "I Never Talk to Strangers"
• He appreciated the mix of poetry and jazz in "Jack & Neal"
• He liked the mumbled monologue of "Barber Shop"
• He described the title track as Anglophile
• He lamented "Potter's Field" for its theatrical music and its narrative about a high-rolling nightstick

Reappraisal

• Christgau critiqued the album again in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981)
• He saw Waits as a downwardly mobile escapist whose genre sleaze and metaphorical melodrama hold the songs together
• He argued that the problem was not the subjects but that Waits inflated them despite his self-conscious unpretentiousness
• Japanese liner notes say the album is full of metaphors and double meanings, and the translator discussed the lyrics with five native speakers while preparing the Japanese version

Records

• Original release: September 1977 (Discogs note)

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · ja.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

Trivia

• Waits made demos before the album was shaped, and Howe's black-and-white remark led to the cover idea.
• The cover woman, Marsheila Cockrell, worked at the box office of The Troubadour in Los Angeles.
• The inner sleeve shows the singer at a Tropicana upright piano.
• Francis Ford Coppola heard "I Never Talk to Strangers" and wanted Waits and Midler for the soundtrack of One from the Heart; Midler's schedule did not fit, so Crystal Gayle was cast instead.

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

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