TOM WAITS : THE EARLY YEARS

1. Goin' Down Slow
2. Poncho's Lament
3. I'm Your Late Night Evening Prostitute
4. Had Me a Girl
5. Ice Cream Man
6. Rockin' Chair
7. Virginia Avenue
8. Midnight Lullaby
9. When You Ain't Got Nobody
10. Little Trip to Heaven (On the Wings of Your Love)
11. Frank's Song
12. Looks Like I'm up Shit Creek Again
13. So Long I'll See Ya

Label : Edsel Records

Release Year : 1991

Length : 43:43

Review (AllMusic) : The Early Years, Vol. 1 is an album of early demos recorded by a 21-year-old Tom Waits in 1971, two years before the release of his first album, Closing Time, and issued on the record label owned by his ex-manager. Waits accompanies himself on piano or guitar and sings in an unaffected nasal tenor. (One track, "Ice Cream Man," is given a full-band treatment.) Several of these songs, notably "Ice Cream Man," "Virginia Ave.," "Midnight Lullabye," and "Little Trip to Heaven," turned up on his later albums, but the overall level of writing and performance is well below Waits' usual standard. Clearly, his better early material was chosen for his Asylum albums. Hardcore fans will want to hear this album, of course, but others need not bother.