Tom Waits has shared rare archive footage to announce a vinyl reissue of ‘Small Change’ to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
The fourth studio album from the iconic US singer-songwriter dropped in 1976 and went on to become a favourite among fans, featuring songs ‘Tom Traubert’s Blues’, ‘Step Right Up’ and ‘The Piano Has Been Drinking’. The acclaimed LP also saw Waits’ now-iconic voice reach full maturity, blending inspiration from American songbook, jazz, beat poetry and more.
Now, to mark the 50th anniversary of its release, the album is being reissued on October 2. Pre-order the vinyl re-release here, and check out a clip of him performing ‘The Piano Has Been Drinking’ on Martin Mull’s late-’70s TV show Fernwood Tonight below.
Upon the album’s release, Waits explained how his evolving style could be traced back to working the door at a local nightclub and eavesdropping on people in diners late at night.
“I got a job as a doorman at a night club in L.A., and I listened to all the acts from the door,” he said around the time of the release. “I heard bluegrass, comics, folk singers, string bands.
“At the same time, I was picking up people’s conversations in all-night coffee shops—ambulance drivers, cabdrivers, street sweepers. I did research there as an evening curator, and I started writing—gingerly. I thought at some point I’d like to forge it all into something meaningful and give it dignity.”
Last month, Waits dropped the spoken word track ‘The Fly’, which saw him deliver a satirical ode to the common housefly. The track serves as the B-side to ‘Boots On The Ground‘ – Waits’ politically charged collaboration with Massive Attack.
The latter was released online in April, and marked the singer-songwriter’s first new original music since 2011 album ‘Bad As Me‘.
“Today, as in all of mankind’s yesterdays, guarantees this type of song will never go out of style,” he said about the track. “Man’s folly of fiascos is a feast for the flies. Hence, the B-side of Massive Attack’s upcoming 12-inch ‘The Fly’ features my appreciation for the winged nuisance.”
‘Boots On The Ground’ and ‘The Fly’ will be released together on 12-inch vinyl on September 4. Pre-order it here.
Before the track was released, Waits and his wife and longtime collaborator Kathleen Brennan also curated ‘Where The Willow And The Dogwood Grow’ – a collection featuring other artists’ versions of their songs, including recordings by Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, Ramones, Willie Nelson and Marianne Faithfull.
There has been talk of more new material from Waits too, with his longtime music agent Paul Charles claiming in 2023 that the artist had been “writing again” and could be open to some tour dates.
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