Small Change

Rating

Album: Small Change
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets to the Wind in Copenhagen)	More Info...	0:06
2)	Step Right Up	More Info...	0:05
3)	Jitterbug Boy (Sharing a Curbstone With Chuck E. Weiss, Robert Marchese, Paul Body and the Mug and Artie)	More Info...	0:03
4)	I Wish I Was in New Orleans (In the Ninth Ward)	More Info...	0:05
5)	The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me) [an Evening With Pete King]	More Info...	0:03
6)	Invitation to the Blues	More Info...	0:05
7)	Pasties and a G-string (At the Two O'clock Club)	More Info...	0:02
8)	Bad Liver and a Broken Heart (In Lowell)	More Info...	0:05
9)	The One That Got Away	More Info...	0:04
10)	Small Change (Got Rained On With His Own .38)	More Info...	0:05
11)	I Can't Wait to Get Off Work (And See My Baby On Montgomery Avenue)	More Info...	0:03

Album: Small Change
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets to the Wind in Copenhagen)	More Info...	0:06
2)	Step Right Up	More Info...	0:05
3)	Jitterbug Boy (Sharing a Curbstone With Chuck E. Weiss, Robert Marchese, Paul Body and the Mug and Artie)	More Info...	0:03
4)	I Wish I Was in New Orleans (In the Ninth Ward)	More Info...	0:05
5)	The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me) [an Evening With Pete King]	More Info...	0:03
6)	Invitation to the Blues	More Info...	0:05
7)	Pasties and a G-string (At the Two O'clock Club)	More Info...	0:02
8)	Bad Liver and a Broken Heart (In Lowell)	More Info...	0:05
9)	The One That Got Away	More Info...	0:04
10)	Small Change (Got Rained On With His Own .38)	More Info...	0:05
11)	I Can't Wait to Get Off Work (And See My Baby On Montgomery Avenue)	More Info...	0:03

Tracks

1. Tom Traubert's Blues

2. Step Right Up

3. Jitterbug Boy

4. I Wish I Was In New Dreams

5. The Piano Has Been...

6. Invitation To The Blues

7. Pasties And A G-String

8. Bad Liver And A Broken...

9. The One That Got Away

10. Small Change

11. I Can't Wait To Get Off Work

Performer Notes

Personnel includes: Tom Waits (vocals, piano); Harry Bluestone, Israel Baker, Nathan Kaproff, Nathan Ross, Murray Adler (violin); Sam Boghossian, David Schwartz (viola); Ed Lustgarden, Kathleen Lustgarden (cello); Lew Tabackin (tenor saxophone); Jim Hughart (bass); Shelly Manne (drums).
Recorded at Wally Heider Recording, Hollywood, California in July 1976.
Unquestionably the definitive recording of Waits' early period, SMALL CHANGE brings his beatnik/grifter/gruff, poetic piano man persona into sharp, defining focus. Waits' blues/jazz/'40s pop amalgam is at its most cohesive here, as he's backed by three West Coast jazz vets and an occasional (never overweening) string section. "Tom Traubert's Blues," later covered by Rod Stewart, is a milestone, and one of the greatest cry-in-your-beer tunes of all time. Waits plays the down-and-out, alcohol-ravaged troubadour to perfection here as well as on "Invitation to the Blues" and the devastating "Bad Liver and a Broken Heart," where one can almost smell the cheap whiskey on his breath.
It's not all misery, though. There's plenty of humor on the huckster/auctioneer rap of "Step Right Up" and the bad-gig nightmare of "The Piano Has Been Drinking [Not Me])." "The One That Got Away" and the title cut continue the aural dimestore novel approach Waits began early in his career. Things end with a quiet, romantic gesture; the poignant, understated 4 AM wistfulness of "I Can't Wait to Get Off Work." If you buy only one Waits '70s album, it should be this one.

Professional Reviews

Q (10/92, p.101) - 3 Stars - Good - "...encapsulates his worldview..."

Mojo (Publisher) (p.76) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "Here we see the skid row poet and the spot-lit entertainer take flight while a band of seedy outcasts look on. Tom Waits had arrived."