''Foreign Affairs'' is the fifth studio album by singer and songwriter
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during ...
, released on September 13, 1977 on
Asylum Records
Asylum Records is an American record label, founded in 1971 by David Geffen and partner Elliot Roberts. It was taken over by Warner Communications (now the Warner Music Group) in 1972, and later merged with Elektra Records to become Elektra/As ...
. It was produced by Bones Howe, and featured
Bette Midler
Bette Midler (;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Be ...
singing a duet with Waits on "I Never Talk to Strangers".
Production
Bones Howe, the album's producer and engineer, remembers the album's original concept and production approach thus:
" aitstalked to me about doing this other material ..He said, 'I'm going to do the demos first, and then I'm gonna let you listen to them. Then we should talk about what it should be.' I listened to the material and said, 'It's like a black-and-white movie.' That's where the cover came from. The whole idea that it was going to be a black-and-white movie. It's the way it seemed to me when we were putting it together. Whether or not it came out that way, I don't have any idea, because there's such metamorphosis when you're working on ecords They change and change."
Artwork
Pictured on the cover with Waits is a Native American woman named Marsheila Cockrell, who worked at the box office of
The Troubadour in Los Angeles. "She was a girl who was... not a girlfriend but she ''thought'' she was a girlfriend."
[Hoskyns, Barney. ''Low Side of the Road: a life of Tom Waits'' pp. 189-91]
"For the album cover Waits wanted to convey the film-noir mood that coloured so many of the songs. Veteran Hollywood portraitist George Hurrell
George Edward Hurrell (June 1, 1904 – May 17, 1992) was a photographer who contributed to the image of glamour (presentation), glamour presented by Hollywood during the 1930s and 1940s.
Early life
Born in the Walnut Hills, Cincinnati, Walnut ...
was hired to shoot Waits, both alone and in a clutch with a shadowy female whose ring-encrusted right hand clamped a passport to his chest. The back-cover shot of Tom was particularly good, casting him as a slicked-back hoodlum—half matinee idol, half hair-trigger psychopath. The inner sleeve depicted the soused singer clawing at the keys of his Tropicana upright."
Critical reception
''
Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the creat ...
'' critic
Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
gave a mixed review of ''Foreign Affairs''. He appreciated the Bette Midler duet "I Never Talk to Strangers", "Jack & Neal"'s combination of poetry and jazz, the "mumbled monologue" of "Barber Shop", and the title track, which he described as "
Anglophile
An Anglophile is a person who admires or loves England, its people, its culture, its language, and/or its various accents.
Etymology
The word is derived from the Latin word ''Anglii'' and Ancient Greek word φίλος ''philos'', meaning "frien ...
", but lamented "Potter's Field" for its theatrical music and narrative following "a high-rolling nightstick". He critiqued the album further in ''
Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies'' (1981):
Track listing
All tracks written by Tom Waits, except where noted.
Side one
Side two
Personnel
*Tom Waits - vocals, piano
*
Gene Cipriano
Gene Fred Cipriano (July 6, 1928 – November 12, 2022), known familiarly as "Cip", was an American woodwindist and session musician, playing clarinet, oboe, flute and saxophone among other instruments. He played on hundreds of recording sessions ...
–
clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound.
Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...
solos on "Potter's Field"
*
Jim Hughart
James David Hughart (born July 28, 1936) is a jazz and pop bass player.
Biography
Hughart was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, and is the son of Frederick (Fritz) Hughart, bassist with Minneapolis Symphony and San Diego Sympho ...
– bass
*
Shelly Manne
Sheldon "Shelly" Manne (June 11, 1920 – September 26, 1984) was an American jazz drummer. Most frequently associated with West Coast jazz, he was known for his versatility and also played in a number of other styles, including Dixieland, s ...
–
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
*
Bette Midler
Bette Midler (;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Be ...
– vocals on "I Never Talk to Strangers"
*
Jack Sheldon
Beryl Cyril Sheldon Jr. (November 30, 1931 – December 27, 2019), known professionally as Jack Sheldon, was an American singer, musician, and actor. He performed on ''The Merv Griffin Show'' and participated in episodes of the educational music ...
–
trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
solos
*
Frank Vicari
Frank Vicari (April 11, 1931 – October 20, 2006) was a jazz saxophonist.
Career
After serving in the Air Force from 1951–55, where he played in service bands, Vicari returned to New York City and played in bands until he joined Maynard Fergu ...
–
tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...
solos
Notes
{{Authority control
Tom Waits albums
1977 albums
Asylum Records albums
Albums produced by Bones Howe