Tom Waits to Celebrate 50 Years of ‘Closing Time’ with Reissue

Tom Waits’ debut album Closing Time is celebrating its golden anniversary.

To commemorate its 50-year milestone, the 1973 release will see a special reissue. The new edition is set to arrive on June 2 in the form of a remastered double LP. A digital version of the remastered album is currently available on streaming platforms.

“Today marks the 50th anniversary of Tom Waits’ pivotal debut album, Closing Time,” Waits shared on social media. “This 50th-anniversary limited edition release, available on Clear & Black 180g vinyl, features a double LP cut at 45rpm with half-speed mastering by Abbey Road Studios and is packaged in a Gatefold Jacket with lyrics. Available everywhere June 02.”

In 2022, two other great Waits projects—the acclaimed 2002 twin albums, Alice and Blood Money, received the reissue treatment to honor their 20th year. The offerings saw never-before-released live renditions of five tracks per record.

“Initially created for an avant-garde opera directed by Robert Wilson for Hamburg’s Thalia Theater in the winter of 1992, ‘Alice’ was Waits and his wife Kathleen Brennan’s second collaboration with Wilson … Lyrically and musically, the songs are part of a cycle where each track relates to what comes before and what will follow, a puzzle that reveals itself as it unfurls and marks a compositionally bold step forward for Waits,” a press release reads.

As for Blood Money, the release detailed the album “lives in an entirely different world, careening from the brutal to the tender with assaulting rhythms and romantic melodies. It’s a grim musical deposition on the human condition, a dark mortality play where Tin Pan Alley meets the Weimer Republic.”

The reclusive artist keeps much to the chest, so these past reissues are a welcomed respite from the decade-long dry spell of new music. The re-release of his masterful Closing Time seems like a gift from the legend.

Closing Time (50th Anniversary) 2xLP Track List

Side A
1. “Ol’ 55”
2. “I Hope That I Don’t Fall In Love With You”
3. “Virginia Avenue”
Side B
1. “Old Shoes (& Picture Postcards)”
2. “Midnight Lullaby”
3. “Martha”
Side C
1. “Rosie”
2. “Lonely”
3. “Ice Cream Man”
Side D
1. “Little Trip to Heaven (On the Wings of Your Love)”
2. “Grapefruit Moon”
3. “Closing Time”

Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic