John Hextall

Can't get any better than this.

This album kicked off the 80s and signalled a turning point for Tom Waits. The Salvation Army lyricism of his 70s albums lingers in three of his greatest songs - Jersey Girl, dedicated to his wife and new artistic partner, Kathleen Brennan; On the Nickel, written for an excellent, downbeat and deeply moving film starring Ralph Waite, famous at the time as the patriarch of The Waltons, as a homeless alcoholic - possible his greatest performance; and Ruby's Arms, which Kazuo Ishiguro cited in his Nobel acceptance speech as one of his inspirations for 'The Remains of the Day'; yet a darker note is sounding in the title track, at least, heralding a change to a more experimental approach to musical texture. This change would be fully revealed in his next album, Swordfishtrombones, but without doubt, Heartattack And Vine is one of the most beautifully poetic and moving albums ever recorded.