Boney's high on china white Shorty found a punk Don't you know there ain't no devil There's just God when he's drunk Well this stuff will probably kill you Let's do another line What you say you meet me down on Heartattack and Vine
Here’s an interesting one, I am never quite sure what I think of Tom Waits Heartattack And Vine, even after owning it for 25 years now.
Heartattack And Vine was my second waits experience, I was drawn to it by the ace newspaper cover and my recent discovery of Nighthawks At the Diner and I found it a jarring experience by comparison. Heartattack is so much louder, so much more obvious, sometimes brilliantly, sometimes less so; it was and is a lot to take in.
The title track is genius, Tom right up in your face and obnoxious drunk belting out absolutes and non sequiturs* at you. I love it unreservedly, that guitar tone is just lewd, loud, lurid and when Mr Tom starts percussionating his lyrics all over the place, it just hits the spot for me. Add in a sliver of stripper brass and those lyrics about that Jersey girl and it’s not nice, but very effective. I wish it was 8 times longer and there aren’t many songs I can say that about.
‘In Shades’ is a really interesting track, mostly for Waits’ absence. You get all the low jazz club sounds, a pick-up band playing nonchalantly and very capably in the background but it gives the impression of an empty spotlight on a stage. I have it down as a possible theme tune to my TV show**.
The big, obvious morbidly emotional ‘Saving All My Love For You’ kinds of beats its way through my defences, despite not being a touch as good as morbidly emotional Tom circa Blue Valentine. This track is a blunderbuss to the head, not a stiletto to the heart. It does the job, but I resent it for that.
Much better are the inebriational bar band lowlife travelogue of ‘Downtown’ and the Bruce-tastic ‘Jersey Girl”. Both are absolutely top-notch, again in a really over the top, right up in your grill, fashion. The latter is a real highlight and one of those songs that reaches up though all my layers of protective irony and numbness and actually makes me … feel. Hmm.
Heartattack And Vine is something of a lesser beat on side 2. I like the jive talkin’, R&B fuelled ”Til The Money Runs Out’, but it’s no ‘Heartattack And Vine’ and ‘On the Nickel’ over syrups the figgy pudding, to the point where I want to clean my ears; Mr Tom would have made a real go out of this track a few years before, but this is too obviously manipulative.
Everything is redeemed on ‘Mr Siegal’ where Tom confesses all his characters’ sins over a wonderful bump and grind, all phasers set to stun. It is all so wonderfully Waitsian:
I spent all my money in a Mexican whorehouse Across the street from a catholic church And then I wiped off my revolver And I buttoned up my burgundy shirt
Then Heartattack And Vine only goes and lets us down again with the overly-orchestrated, congealed ‘Ruby’s Arms’, a song that always fails to register with me no matter how many times I’ve heard it.
As his last LP on Asylum Records before he lit out for the sunlit lands of eternal oddness Heartattack And Vine, despite moments of quality that so many artists could barely dream of, never quite does it for me. There are pointers to where he would go later with that hard R&B sound^ and to where he came from with it, Heartattack And Vine is a signpost not a destination.
One to enjoy but maybe not one to savour.
1055 Down.
PS: a cover by one of my current faves:
*something you can’t prune roses with?
**currently locked in a three-way tie with Iron Reagan ‘Miserable Failure’ and Marianne Faithful ‘Broken English’.
^as in rhythm and blues, not shite rap with the politics and anger strained out.
You hear shades of things to come from the title track. Just watched one of my fave films (American Heart). I was telling someone else about it the other day. Tom was on board with a few cuts. It worked perfect for the film. Good piece 1537 (as usual)
Thank you. I love this man!
He is lovable alright.
I’ve never been sure about Tom Waits. Genuine carrier of the Beat torch or Carny huckster? Both perhaps.
Thanks for prompting the listen – even just getting that wonderful album cover out is delicious. And can I just say this, Jersey Girl is “one of those songs that reaches up though all my layers of protective irony and numbness and actually makes me … feel.” I found I had something in my eye too. Seems to happen every time; must be a dusty LP.
Thank you Bruce, that all makes me very happy.
I know I’m gonna enjoy this post, so I’ll come back after I’ve re-listened to the record.
Two of my favourite Waits tunes on This album. You have called them both out. Title track and Mr Seigal are some of his very best work.
Cool. It’s funny overall this LP is less than the sum of its parts.
It is a sappy uneven LP for sure but those two tracks. In isolation or on Used Songs (a compilation of The AsylumYears) they just slay
Best title you ever posted. Phoebe is good too, I enjoyed her on SNL last week.
Thank you very kindly Mike. A good title is my favourite part of a post, I’ve been kicking that one around for weeks.
My son hipped me to Phoebe, I like all I know.
I don’t know if you caught SNL last week (with Dan Levy, yay!!) but she was great. Good band, too.
Mmm yes. We have all of his albums here. I think I even have this one on LP. We may be biased and blind to weaknesses in this discography…
Fair enough
Tom will have to Wait a little longer as I am not ready yet to explore his work.
Somebody’s missing out!
Luckily, I don’t feel that way. Maybe someday I will feel like I missed out, but not yet.
You’ll look back at this comment and cry in shame.
Not likely.
Probably not. But Tom’s cool.
No, he is. I am a little overwhelmed at the moment with all I am trying to do for the site. I know, I can stick one album on the You Pick It Series. Maybe in May.
Good idea. His catalog is large and intimidating as a result.
With this album Tom Waits sneaked in 1980 up on me. Retrospectively I would say this album was like change that in „Swordfishtrombones“ absolutely imploded.
I get you but I’m more of a Bone Machine man myself.
I like that Phoebe Bridgers cover – and I’d watch your TV show!
Yeah me too. The title sequence would rock
Thanks Geoff. It would mostly be me sitting reading and listening to music, occasionally getting up and turning the record over.
I’m not too into this one. Just feels a bit… I dunno… a bit mnah. When it’s good it’s good, but I don’t think it gets anywhere near Waits good at any point. Kinda sounds like an album of maybes. Maybe?
May be.
I think he went through a bit of a lost phase here. The rockers sound too sterile – it’s just boring blues-rock, without the experimental streak that he bought to Swordfishtrombones onwards.
I agree and he brought the rockers back, only looser for Rain Dogs, which is one of my very favourites. I do like a handful here a lot though.
I like the ballads more, but the title track has some great lines.
It’s a belting title track.