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• Rare, previously unpublished photographs of Tom Waits on the verge of stardom
• Includes images from Wait's ground-breaking album, Closing Time, including many that have never before been published
• Introduction by celebrated music journalist Barney Hoskyns
He was a young man with a distinctive voice. He had a throat that knew its way around whisky and cigarettes. And could write poetry and prose that rivalled any poet. When Tom Waits took to the recording studio to sing his lyrics and play his songs, a new icon in American music was born.
Few artists match their image with what they create. But to listen to Tom Waits, especially in his ground-breaking debut Closing Time, the images that were presented to the press and used on the album cover would do just that. The photos matched the artist.
Ed Caraeff, a noted photographer who also captured Jimi Hendrix on stage at Monterey, was enlisted by the record label to work with this new artist in 1972 for publicity shots as well as the cover image for his debut. Caraeff would work with Waits and produce a series of iconic images - many never published before.
In Tom Waits, all of Ed Caraeff's images are reproduced, along with notes and commentary from Caraeff and an introduction by Barney Hoskyns. Hoskyns is a celebrated journalist, music critic and the editorial director of Rock's Backpages. He is the author of several books, including Lowside of the Road: A Life of Tom Waits (Faber and Faber, 2008), which won critical praise.
