Monday 26 January 2009

Tom Waits - tracks from Paradise Alley (1978)

I'm really only interested in the Waits tracks on this album: the Paradise Alley OST was released originally by MCA in 1978, to coincide with the general release of a Sylvester Stallone directed strong-man movie of the same name. This was Stallone's directorial debut, and the first of his many attempts to recapture the magic and glory of his original breakthrough achievement with Rocky, for which he both wrote the story and, of course, starred in the title role (John Avildsen directed that movie).

I've not seen the film, but I would like to! - UPDATE: got it on rental from Lovefilm, and will be watching it soon, yay! - Stallone himself sings several of the other tracks, which is, ummm... interesting. It was hearing all the live versions of 'Annie's Back In Town' on various Tom concert boots that lead me to finally seek out the Paradise Alley OST. 'Annie's Back In Town' is a really great song, but the other Waits contribution to this OST, 'Meet Me In Paradise Alley', whilst okay, is a bit workaday, judged by Tom's own high standards.

I can't remember where I found the poster image, but the shot of Sly & Waits at left is from a scan of the back cover of the album, which I found at the fabulous Tom Waits Library, a brilliant Waits fan site run by Dutch dude Pieter Hartmans.

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