Review:

on 2011-11-27 pianoporsche Said:

If there's one thing you can say about Tom Waits' debut album, Closing Time, it's that it certainly was a heartfelt release. Despite some rather faceless songs and problems with stylistic cohesion, no one could doubt the work's sincerity. With The Heart of Saturday Night, Waits moves from honest self-expression to playing the role of the observational barfly, and the result is a disc that's as overly stylized and substantively lacking as the cover art.

The Heart of Saturday Night moves much closer to the jazz side of the balance that Closing Time tried to strike. Only "Shiver Me Timbers," an ill-fitting sea song, and "(Looking For) The Heart of Saturday Night" hark back to folksier locales. The rest of the album consists mainly of piano jazz that tries its damndest to evoke the smoky bars that Waits' lyrics are so enamored with.

Unfortunately, while his piano playing is as impeccable as ever, the songs themselves wind up being pretty run-of-the-mill affairs. "New Coat of Paint" and "Please Call Me, Baby" are adequate at best (with the latter saddled with scads of overbearing strings), but demonstrate an unsettling lack of depth. Beneath the neon imagery, requisite horn splashes, and increasingly florid lyrics, the album lacks any sort of emotional core. And while that could be the desired effect, it feels more like a handicap brought by a stylistic affectation bordering on self-parody, not a focused artistic aim.

The one bright spot in an otherwise sagging effort is the sparkling "Semi Suite." Deftly combining a sharp horn hook with an effortless shuffle, the song manages to convey a sense of breezy longing without buckling under its own weight. Unfortunately, Waits' attempt at beat poetry comes soon after with "Diamonds on My Windshield," a clunker that won't convince anybody that Waits is as hip as he's trying to appear. Which is pretty representative of the album as a whole: a collection of polished tunes that aren't nearly as dramatic or moody as they think they are.

Rating: 2/5
Not Rated