Maps of Music

Small Change (1976)

Where the lyrics of Small Change take you, and where it was really made.

Waits's first album to enter the Billboard 200 peaked at No. 89, and he would not beat that position until 1999.

Key places

Wally Heider's Studio 3, Hollywood (1976)

Recording site Hollywood Sound — The album was recorded direct to 2-track stereo tape at Wally Heider's Studio 3 in Hollywood, with sessions on July 15, 19 to 21, and 29, 1976. Bones Howe produced the record. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Small Change: fourth studio album by Tom Waits
• Released September 21, 1976 on Asylum Records
• Recorded in July 1976 at Wally Heider's Studio 3 in Hollywood
• Produced by Bones Howe
• Commercially successful, outselling his previous albums
• Reached No. 89 on the Billboard 200, his first album to enter that chart

Background

• The album's success led Waits to put together a touring band, the Nocturnal Emissions
• Band members: Frank Vicari on tenor saxophone, FitzGerald Jenkins on bass guitar, Chip White on drums and vibraphone
• The Nocturnal Emissions toured Europe and the United States extensively from October 1976 till May 1977
• At the time of the recording Waits was drinking more and more heavily, and life on the road was taking its toll

Recording

• Recorded direct to 2-track stereo tape on July 15, 19 to 21, and 29, 1976
• Shelly Manne on drums; the album was heavily jazz-influenced

Cover

• Waits sits in a go-go dancer's dressing room, with a topless go-go dancer nearby

Sources: en.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

• Critics gave the album generally favorable to highly positive reviews, many considering it on par with or superior to Waits' previous albums
• Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times praised the album, saying Waits had fulfilled the promise of his early work and extended it
• Carl Arrington of the Detroit Free Press praised the album as another wheezy, wonderful collection, with more verbal hooks than most artists use in a career

Reappraisal

• In a 1999 Mojo interview, Waits said more songs from the record had endured in his live sets
• Tom Traubert's Blues was one of the songs he kept singing and closed his shows with

Records

• Entered the Billboard 200 at No. 89, two weeks after release, a peak not surpassed until Mule Variations in 1999
• Voted number 958 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums in 2000

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The cover shows Waits in a go-go dancer's dressing room, and the dancer pictured was alleged to be Cassandra Peterson, a claim she now denies.
• A multi-track recording was made as back up and used when a reference to actress Jayne Meadows had to be changed.
• An excerpt of the opening saxophone solo from the title track was used for the opening of BBC Two's Moviedrome in 1988, its first season of screening cult films introduced by Alex Cox.
• The refrain of Tom Traubert's Blues is based almost word by word on the 1890 Australian song Waltzing Matilda.
• Producer Bones Howe said he worked the way he used to on 1950s jazz records, with the orchestra and Waits in the same room.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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