Tom Waits - Closing Time

Tom Waits' Closing Time introduced a gravel-edged romantic who sounded like he had wandered in from a bar at two in the morning, and this 180-gram pressing gives his 1973 debut a sturdy home.

Before the junkyard percussion and carnival barking of his later work, Waits was a Los Angeles piano man with a notebook full of heartbreak. Signed to Asylum and produced by Jerry Yester, this first album leans toward folk and late-night jazz, with gentle arrangements that leave plenty of space for his voice, which here is warmer and smoother than the growl that came later.

"Ol' '55" opens the record, a sweet, early-morning drive home that the Eagles covered soon after. "Martha" is a devastating phone call to an old flame, built around piano and strings, while "Grapefruit Moon" and "I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love with You" capture the bittersweet loneliness that would become his signature.

Late-night trumpet and upright bass drift through the album like cigarette smoke, and a closing instrumental lets the night wind down slowly at the very end.

Even listeners who know him best for Swordfishtrombones or Rain Dogs tend to come back to this one. It is tender and unhurried, full of small, perfectly drawn moments.