Tom Waits: The Early Years

THIS, THE FIRST of two volumes of previously unissued Tom Waits tracks, is the latest fruit of the deal with Herb Cohen and Frank Zappa's Bizarre/Straight labels which saw critical success with the Tim Buckley live CD Dream Letter (and promises further archive stuff from both Buckley and Little Feat founder Lowell George). Recorded in late '71, The Early Years suffers somewhat from excessive tape hiss, but offers nonetheless a fascinating glimpse of a now well-known character and style at a more sketchy, amorphous stage of its development.