Blue Valentine (Tom Waits album)
1978 studio album by Tom Waits
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Blue Valentine is the sixth studio album by singer and songwriter Tom Waits, released on September 5, 1978, on Asylum Records.[1] It was recorded over the course of six sessions from July to August 1978 with producer Bones Howe. Rickie Lee Jones is pictured with Waits on the back cover.[2]
| Blue Valentine | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 5, 1978 | |||
| Recorded | July 24–August 26, 1978 | |||
| Studios | Filmways/Heider Recording, Hollywood, California | |||
| Length | 49:32 | |||
| Label | Asylum | |||
| Producer | Bones Howe | |||
| Tom Waits chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Blue Valentine | ||||
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Production
Blue Valentine was recorded in six sessions from July 24 to August 26, 1978, at Filmways/Heider Recording, Hollywood, California. Production was by Bones Howe, with second engineers Geoff Howe and Ralph Osborne. Disc mastering was by Terry Dunavan.
All the songs were written by Tom Waits apart from the opening track, "Somewhere", from the Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim musical West Side Story.
Critical reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [3] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | B[4] |
| Classic Rock | 7/10[5] |
| Mojo | [6] |
| Pitchfork | 8.3/10[7] |
| Q | [8] |
| Record Mirror | [9] |
| (The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide | [10] |
| Spin Alternative Record Guide | 5/10[11] |
| Uncut | [12] |
Don Shewey of Rolling Stone found that Blue Valentine "is as solid a record as Waits has made", and that its best songs "rank high among the sentimental sagas that contain Tom Waits' strongest writing."[13] Reviewing in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau wrote that "Waits keeps getting weirder and good for him. As sheer sendup, his 'Somewhere' beats Sid Vicious's 'My Way' his way. But I'm not always sure he understands his gift—these lyrics should be funnier. And 'Romeo Is Bleeding,' easily my favorite among his Chandleroid sagas of tragedy outside the law, is more effective on the jacket than when he underlines its emotional resonance in song. That's not weird at all."[4]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Tom Waits, except "Somewhere" (music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim).
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Somewhere" (from West Side Story) | 3:53 |
| 2. | "Red Shoes by the Drugstore" | 3:14 |
| 3. | "Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis" | 4:33 |
| 4. | "Romeo Is Bleeding" | 4:52 |
| 5. | "$29.00" | 8:15 |
| Total length: | 24:47 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Wrong Side of the Road" | 5:14 |
| 2. | "Whistlin' Past the Graveyard" | 3:17 |
| 3. | "Kentucky Avenue" | 4:49 |
| 4. | "A Sweet Little Bullet from a Pretty Blue Gun" | 5:36 |
| 5. | "Blue Valentines" | 5:49 |
| Total length: | 24:45 | |
Personnel
- Tom Waits - vocals, electric guitar (4–7, 9, 10), acoustic piano (3, 8)
- Ray Crawford (4, 6, 10 [solo]), Roland Bautista (2, 5), Alvin "Shine" Robinson (7, 9) - electric guitar
- Scott Edwards (7, 9), Jim Hughart (4, 6), Byron Miller (2, 5) - bass guitar
- Da Willie Gonga (George Duke) - Yamaha Electric Grand piano (2, 3, 5)
- Harold Battiste - acoustic piano (7, 9)
- Charles Kynard - organ (4, 6)
- Herbert Hardesty (7, 9), Frank Vicari (4, 6) - tenor saxophone
- Rick Lawson (2, 5), Earl Palmer (7, 9), Chip White (4, 6) - drums
- Bobbye Hall Porter - congas (4)[14]
- Bob Alcivar - orchestra
Charts
| Chart (1978) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report)[15] | 42 |
Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom (BPI)[16] | Gold | 100,000^ |
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^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||