Nighthawks at the Diner: Day 1

Coming in at a robust 73 minutes, Nighthawks at the Diner has taken a full afternoon to digest. It's a little bloated, there's a lot of banter, a lot of audience noise, a lot of actual songs, some very jazz songs with some very jazz solos, and some straight Tomwaitsiness. It takes some time, but that's what this thing's all about right?

Initial Thoughts:

The first time through this record was just incredibly cathartic. It was washing away the earnestness and cheesiness of THoSN and replacing it with wittiness, self-deprecation, just plain self-awareness. TW has discovered the humor inherent in the medium of the jazz/lounge singer. He's discovered the romanticism of mundane colors and characters, as well as the humor in that romanticism. It makes for some significantly more interesting lyrics and some hilarious storytelling.

There is a little bit of dated/specific 1970s L.A. humor that leaves the uninitiated out, though very little imagination is required to catch the drift. Most of the humor centers around self-deprecation in a variety of formats: deprecation of bachelors, jazz musicians, young people, losers, loners, L.A.-ers. Lead-ins like "It's stooory time againnn" keep you chuckling throughout, even when the subject matter isn't particularly funny. The serious moments, few and far between, are well executed and genuinely moving.

I suppose my only complaint at the moment is that I can't watch the performance as well as listen to it. It really does feel like a performance, which is a testament to TW and the band's professionalism, given the time and place of the recording, to put together four coherent sounding performances in a row. There are some questions, however, which a view of the show might have answered. I would really like to know (and I suppose a little detective work could inform me) who's playing piano on which songs. Obviously TW is on guitar (not piano) on guitar songs, but he's also clearly on piano on a few. Mysteries to solve throughout the week.

Standout Tracks:

• "Eggs and Sausage"
  
• "Better Off Without a Wife"
• "Putnam County"
  
• "Spare Parts I (a Nocturnal Emission)"
  

I'm done blogging for the night, we'll talk about those songs and more throughout the week. Hope everyone out there is well. See you around.

-K