Maps of Music

The Heart of Saturday Night (1974)

Where the lyrics of The Heart of Saturday Night take you, and where it was really made.

The cover is based on Frank Sinatra's In the Wee Small Hours, and the title song was written as a tribute to Jack Kerouac.

Key places

Where the album was recorded (1974)

Recording site Hollywood Sound — The album was recorded at Wally Heider Recorders in Hollywood, according to the Discogs release notes. The source gives no recording dates, so this point carries no date. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• The Heart of Saturday Night is the second studio album by singer and songwriter Tom Waits
• Released October 15, 1974 on Asylum Records
• The title song was written as a tribute to Jack Kerouac
• The cover is based on Frank Sinatra's In the Wee Small Hours
• The cover illustration shows a tired Tom Waits leaving a neon-lit cocktail lounge late at night, watched by a blonde woman

Background

• The album marks the start of a decade-long collaboration between Waits and producer Bones Howe
• Howe produced and engineered all of Waits' recordings until Waits left Asylum
• Waits was dissatisfied with the sound of his debut album, Closing Time, and wanted a sound with stronger jazz color
• For that reason he chose Howe as producer
• Experienced jazz musicians took part in the recording, including Mike Melvoin and Tom Scott

Recording

• The album was recorded at Wally Heider Recorders in Hollywood
• Bones Howe is credited as producer and engineer, with Geoff Howe also credited as engineer

Cover

• Cal Schenkel was the art director
• The cover art was created by Lynn Lascaro

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

• In a contemporary review for The Village Voice, Janet Maslin regarded the songs as tawdry affectations of a boozy vertigo
• Maslin found the album too self-consciously limited in mood
• Maslin wrote that the album is meant to be heard after hours, when the gloom has settled in and the wine is close at hand
• Robert Christgau, a fellow Village Voice critic, was also critical of Waits' compositions
• Christgau found the mournful melodies merging into neo imagery, with few songs strong enough to cover

Reappraisal

• A Japanese reference notes the album did not succeed in sales
• The same reference says many people now regard it as one of Waits' early representative works
• In a retrospective review for the Los Angeles Times, Buddy Seigal was more impressed by the songs' sentimentality
• Seigal called the album perhaps the singer's most mature, ingenuous and fully realized record

Records

• Ranked number 339 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, in 2003
• That placement is Waits' highest on the list
• The album did not succeed commercially on release

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

Trivia

• The title song was written as a tribute to Jack Kerouac, and the French reference describes it as a homage to the writer's world
• The cover is based on Sinatra's In the Wee Small Hours, and the illustration shows Waits leaving a cocktail lounge
• The ghost-themed track's subtitle names Napoleone's Pizza House, a shop where Waits once worked

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

Maps of Ages ↗ (mapsofages.com)

Privacy · Contact