Tom Waits -- Blue Valentine

  Drenched in smoke, whiskey and drugs, Blue Valentine has a feel of a dark blues/ jazz lizard lounge, with Waits at the helm like the go-between Howlin' Wolf and Dr. John.  Blue Valentine is great, with the exception of Somewhere (from West Side Story) and Kentucky Alley, which are so bad I had to skip 'em, I have no idea how they didn't make it on the cutting room floor, they sounded like ridiculous exaggerations of a drunken Howlin' Wolf,  with just plain bullsh*t orchestrations.  The record lyrically speaks to the beat down pseudo-intellectual crowd who just can't make it in this world, and probably wouldn't want to anyway.  Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis is a good example, it reads like a letter, reminiscent of Cohen's Famous Blue Rain Coat, a themed narrative from the disenfranchised.  This is one Blue Valentine you'll definitely wanna get!