VIA PRESS RELEASE | This October marks the 50th anniversary of Tom Waits’ 1975 album Nighthawks at the Diner. Taking its title from Edward Hopper’s painting, the record captures the singular spirit of Waits’ early live performances: intimate, theatrical evenings where inventive songwriting mingled with storytelling and sharp-witted asides.
Recorded over four sessions at Los Angeles’s Record Plant with a small invited audience, Nighthawks stands as a rare artifact of this formative period. It crystallized the persona that would bridge The Heart Of Saturday Night and his early opus, Small Change. The album also features some of his most iconic songs of the era, including “Eggs And Sausage,” “Warm Beer And Cold Women,” and the epic, rambling “Spare Parts.”
ANTI- Records is releasing the album in three limited edition variants of yellow vinyl to celebrate the Nighthawks anniversary: Tom Waits webstore exclusive in 180g ducky yellow, indie record stores will have a 180g yellow marble, and Spotify fans first exclusive in 180g yellow smoke.
Included in Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Song Writers of All Time and a 2011 inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Waits is a legendary artist who explored the full canon of American and European songwriting—from folk to jazz to blues and gospel to cabaret and spoken word—all in service of his experience of the human condition from every rung of the ladder. He has a voice and eye so singular that “Waitsian” has become an adjective used by critics and dictionaries to describe his aesthetic and style.
