Tom Waits

Named for the Edward Hopper painting, Nighthawks is a peculiar live effort, recorded in 1975 with a small in-studio audience that whoops and claps along to corny jokes and a sentimental set of originals. Waits' meticulous persona is remarkable as he puts on the hat of the inebriated night-club impresario of the fictional "Raphael's Silver Cloud Lounge" and hams it up. But seriously, beery tear jerkers like "Emotional Weather Report" and "Putnam County" are loaded with scene-setting lyrical details that are nearly evocative enough to sober up the occasionally schlocky set.

When he really works at evoking the swizzle-stick blues, Waits is so full of sh*t Port-O-San ought to name a model after him. Fortunately, this one's long on patter--first live double in history where you skip the song to get to the next intro. (And some of the songs are worth going back to.) (Grade: B)