Heartattack And Vine (1980)

Heartattack And Vine (1980)

As the final Tom Waits album recorded for Asylum and the last to feature an outside producer, Heartattack And Vine occupies a significant place in the Tom Waits catalog. It would be his last proper studio album for three years, during which time he would completely reinvent his approach to record making. On the evidence of the inessential Heartattack And Vine, Waits was right to take a breather to regroup. There are a few saving graces: the irresistible “Jersey Girl” would be covered by Springsteen, and sounds as if it were written for him to sing, and listening to the riveting title track on headphones is like having your own personal Tom Waits gleeking and frothing into your eardrum. But of all of Tom Waits’ albums, Heartattack And Vine somehow sounds the most like a period piece, even when compared to the piano bar melancholy of his seventies records. By now, the hoary 12-bar blues templates and Cab Calloway stripteases that dominate the album have moved decisively beyond schtick-y and into hack-y. Tunes like “Saving All My Love For You” and “‘Till the Money Runs Out” show Waits going through the motions, while the hammy “On the Nickel” and the overwrought “Ruby’s Arms” razzle without dazzling. Better things were ahead.