Tom Waits - Heartattack and Vine

Tom Waits's hipster persona began to evaporate at the beginning of the '80s, but not before he released the transitional but eminently worthwhile Heartattack and Vine, which contained "On the Nickel," a Dickensian tale of street life, and "Jersey Girl," a song Bruce Springsteen gave a far wider airing to on his Live 1975-1985 box set. You can hear hints of Waits's style growing more trenchant on songs like "Downtown" and the stark, bluesy title track, which contains the immortal line "Don't you know there ain't no devil / That's just God when he's drunk." Indeed. --Daniel Durchholz Amazon.com essential recording

Heartattack And Vine

Tom Waits-Heartattack And Vine *****

Heartattack And Vine is easily the best of Tom Waits' pre SwordFishTrombones era albums. Closing Time was great as was The Heart Of Saturday Night, but neither of them can compare to Heartattack And Vine.

This marked the 1980 return of the American hobo hipster if you will. Instead of the Jazz flavored material he began to do on the few previous albums to this he made a return to rough ballads and Even rougher crooning. After The Heart Of Saturday Night Waits decided on making more less song oriented music, but this was really a return to form, and in a big way.

'Jersey Girl' is the albums only truly classic track, and it is the greatest song that Bruce Springsteen should have but never wrote, though he did cover it plenty. 'Saving All My Love for You,' 'Ruby's Arms' and 'On the Nickel' boast the same morbid pathos as 'Jersey Girl.' But it just might be the guitar filled title track that really makes the album shine. 'Heartattack And Vine' is easily the strongest song Waits ever released before his wild years. Amazing.

What is truly amazing about Heartattack And Vine is Waits voice. It in my opinion never sounded better then it does here. Whiskey inflicted raspyness, mixed with smoothness make his vocals to die for. His lyrics this time around are also more poetic then ever before musing more beatnik influence then usual with Raymond Chandler. Genius.

This is truly the best thing Waits ever did previous to his wild years. April 15, 2008

his last great asylum album

this is waits last album before he dived into his experimental phase.he shows some great emotion and songwriting skill on tracks like ruby's arms, on the nickel and jersey girl. it really is a great album and a neccesity for the waits lover but also a good starting point for the uninitated September 11, 2007

Haunting, gritty, and ironic

HEARTATTACK AND VINE offers a preview of the Waits to come: the CLOSING TIME and BLUE VALENTINE Waits evolving into the SWORDFISHTROMBONES and RAIN DOGS Waits. It features the gritty, life on the street characters of his previous work (especially the elloquent "On the Nickel"), but starts to do so in a different fashion. The title track and "Mr. Siegal" are bluesy romps (the former declaring that "There ain't no Devil, there's just God when He's drunk"). "Jersey Girl" borders on pop balladry, while "Ruby's Arms" is simply a melodic stunner.

The Devil's in the details, though, and that's where HEARTATTACK truly shines. Listen, why don't you, to the "sha la la" chorus of "Jersey Girl." The passionate urgency Waits puts into his vocals borders on parody, yet rings with the angst of a man yearning for the woman he loves, the one bright point in an otherwise bleary day. The way he growls out the title track, and the tender way he croons the line "I'll prolly be arrested when I'm in my grave, but I'll be saving all my love for you", showcase his emerging talent for delivering lines with ironical perfection. HEARTATTACK is a transitional record, but it is definitely one worth owning. One of his best, actually. January 1, 2007

I only have 6 Waits Albums...

...and this one, so different from his Weill stuff, it just gets me. One of my top five favorite records ever.
So romantic, and so well-put in the poetry. Apart from the obvious winners, "Ruby's Arms," "Jersey Girl,"
"On The Nickel," and "Downtown," there's so much fun with "Mr. Siegal" and the title track. An absolutely
excellent piece of work, even if Mr. Waits ain't your regular chaw musically. November 8, 2006

Hardly Recognize Yourself on Heart Attack and Vine

Throughout the 1970's, Tom Waits desperately sought to craft himself as a traditional balladeer, a singer-songwriter for the masses. This process was always undermined, though, by the fact that every time he tried to sing an emphatic note, he sounded like a blue tick hound with its scrotum caught in a revolving door. It was with this 1980 release that he came to realize this wasn't a handicap, it was an instrument he could play as effectively as he played his guitar and piano.

Ranging from gentle love songs to incendiary electric blues to lush orchestral movie music, this album is all over the map. It is unified primarily by the vigor of Waits' growling voice and the vinegar of his songwriting. With a Dylanesque nonlinear style and an inclusiveness that remembers the influence of songwriters from John Lennon to Gram Parsons, Waits has crafted a rootsy, aggressive slate of songs that almost dares you to flinch.

This album is a transition from Waits' earlier to his later sound, and he has yet to break out into the uncompromising shotgun blast that he would acheive with albums like Mule Variations and Swordfishtrombones. But it is also is a powerful and listenable album that marks an epoch in Waits' development as an artist. Excellent highway music, this album is a treasure that you will keep close to the heart of your CD collection for years to come. August 23, 2006

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