This Day in Music

The biggest temptation is psychedelia, conceptual continuity, and Elvis files his taxes, on this day in music.

Releases

1973: Legendary American singer-songwriter and actor, Tom Waits, releases his debut album, “Closing Time.” Tom wanted the album to be piano-led and jazzy, but with pressure from the label, and ex-Lovin' Spoonful member Jerry Yester producing, the result was a more-folkier record, yet still with Tom's brand of jazz and blues permeating throughout.

Discovered by Frank Zappa's manager, Herb Cohen, who became Tom's manager as well, at one of his many dates at The Troubadour in West Hollywood, the meeting led to Waits performing before David Geffen at the club, and ultimately signing to Asylum records. In those days, Waits would mix many Bob Dylan covers with his original songs, which raised the expectation that he himself would be a folk artist.

“Closing Time” was met with positive reviews, though press coverage of the album was spotty. In its 5-star rating, Rolling Stone hailed it as “...a remarkable debut album,” while Village Voice reviewer Robert Christgau observed Tom's “...jazz-schooled piano and drawling delivery...exploits an honest sentimentality which he undercuts just enough to be credible,” grading it a B+.

Though the LP did not chart, it caught the attention of other musicians, with Asylum label-mates the Eagles covering the tune “‘Ol 55” on their 1974 album, “On the Border.” Other artists to cover songs from the album include Bette Midler and Tim Buckley each doing their own takes on “Martha,” Screamin' Jay Hawkins recording “Ice Cream Man,” and versions of “I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You” done by each of 10,000 Maniacs, Hootie & The Blowfish, Marc Cohen, and Jon Bon Jovi, who sang it on an episode of the TV show Ally McBeal.

In another connection to Frank Zappa, the cover of the album was designed by Cal Schenkel, an illustrator and graphic artist who designed several covers for FZ. His front-cover illustration is a reflection of Waits's description of the album's atmosphere: Waits leaning against an old bar-room piano, on top of which sits a shot of bourbon, a bottle of beer, an ashtray, and cigarettes.

“Closing Time” is ranked No. 880 in Colin Larkin's book, All Time Top 1000 Albums, (c) 2000.

1970: The Temptations eschew the Motown sound entirely with the release of their 12th album, “Psychedelic Shack,” on the Motown-owned label, Gordy, named after founder Berry Gordy Jr. With all songs written by Whitfield and Strong, and The Funk Brothers providing instrumentation to the five voices, the music is fully psychedelic.

Well-reviewed at 4-stars by AllMusic and a grade of B by the Village Voice, the most famous track from the album is their original version of “War,” made more popular by Edwin Starr's cover only three months later.

On this album, The Temptations ventured into longer tracks, with “Take a Stroll Thru Your Mind” running just under nine minutes, and “Friendship Train” taking up nearly eight.

Commercially successful in addition to its positive reviews, it peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart. The lead single, “Psychedelic Shack,” reached No. 1 in the U.S.

1968: “The United States of America,” the one and only album by the band The United States of America, is released on Columbia Records.

One of those interesting and rare one-offs, the critically-lauded album was experimental in its use of electronic instrumentation, including electric harpsichord, electric violin, and one of the earliest-known uses of electric drums.

Singing of anti-establishment, far-left views, the music could be described as avant-garde, political, psychedelic rock. Though it achieved 4+ stars from most reviewers, it was not commercially successful, peaking at No. 181 on the Billboard 200 and reaching no sales certification levels.

People

1946: David Jon Gilmour is born in Cambridge, England. He is of course a singer-songwriter, and guitarist-extraordinaire renowned for his membership in legendary psychedelic-prog outfit, Pink Floyd. In addition to his work with the Floyd, he has released five studio and three live albums of his own, and is also famous for producing The Dream Academy and discovering Kate Bush. With a biography too extensive to summarize in a short blog, his life is well documented on his Wikipedia page. Happy 80th Birthday, David!!

The Friday Frank

1966: Legendary producer Tom Wilson, then of MGM Records, signs The Mothers of Invention to a recording contract with subsidiary label Verve. The first release under the deal was “Freak Out,” the debut MOI record, on June 27, 1966. It was produced by Tom Wilson himself, though with significant input from Frank Zappa.

The Daily Elvis

1954: Elvis files his first-ever income tax return, declaring an income of $916.33. Even for the 1950's, that was meagre earnings. Accounting for inflation, it would be an income of $11,073.49 in 2026 dollars.

Pictured: Tom Waits in 1973.