Small Change

yeah

and this is one of the big albums for me small chain uh you know swordfish trombones yes yes i mean yeah so and meal variations meal variations was one of the first albums i reviewed for capital times and again like capital times when i started writing for them which was before the the main newspaper to begin with it wasn't very cool albums that was I can pinpoint that was the first I was anticipating that you know I was already a fan this was the first time since I'd been a fan that he had a new album coming out because I'd only discovered him a few years before that.

So, very, very excited.

And then, of course, it's a bit like David Bowie Blackstar.

that a lot.

Yeah, and you go, oh shit, what have I done? Fuck, what have

I done? I said I was going to do 50 concept albums.

Yeah, I'm going to pull out at state number three, please.

And nobody did it quite like he.

Songs captured in the summer of 76, like Bad Liver and a Broken Heart, Pasties and a G-String, The Piano Has Been Drinking, and my fave off the summer 76 small change album, the song called Step Right Up.

And it advertises, don't hesitate, don't be caught with your drawers down, don't be caught with your drawers down.

You can step right up, step right up.

And it mows your lawn, and it picks up the kids from school, it gets rid of unwanted facial hair, it gets rid of embarrassing age spots, it delivers a pizza.

and it strengthens and it finds that slipper that's been at large under the chase lounge for several weeks and it plays a mean rhythm master it makes excuses for unwanted lipstick on your collar and it's only a dollar step right up it's only a dollar step right up cause it forges your signature not completely satisfied mail back unused portion of product for complete refund the price of purchase step right up please allow 30

From the summer of 76, Small Change, the album, there's Tom Waits.

He'd be joined in record store racks that September by the front man from the British band who'd just come with their very first live album they called Viva.

And while the album did not chart all that high when it first got released, it is celebrated for the track The Rocker.

In 1976, Tom Waits released Small Change.

This was recorded in a jazz trio format.

And the album was his first album to break onto the Billboard Top Albums chart.