More hard-boiled tales from Tom Waits, who manages to sing lines like "Everyone I know is either dead or in prison" in a raw, whiskey-soaked rasp that sounds both comical and deadly serious. Waits doesn't break any new creative ground here but continues to refine his down-and-out persona. It's booze and broads, sex and violence, laughs and heartbreak. This 1978 album opens with an astonishingly desperate version of "Somewhere" (from "West Side Story"), performed like Louie Armstrong with a migraine. From there it's the usual Waits mix of crackpot wordplay and the cocktail lounge jazz likes of "Romeo Is Bleeding". --Steve Appleford
トムの声は1作目のCLOSING TIMEと3作目のNIGHTHAWKS AT THE DINER以降では、声のしゃがれ具合が格段にUPしてます。まあ綺麗な声ではないです。そのためか、ファンでも好みが分かれる人もいるみたいですが、私は全て好きです。(と言っても、このBLUE VALENTINEまでしか聞いてませんが…)夜1人で酒でも飲みながら何か良いBGMないかな〜と思っている方!トム・ウェイツを聴いてみては?私のオススメは8曲目のKENTUCKY AVENUEです。