"Blue Valentine" is a studio album by American musician Tom Waits, released in September 1978 on Asylum Records. This album marks the culmination of the distinctively jazzy sound of his early work which he subsequently began to abandon. It incorporates influences from blues and jazz, making it a bridge between Waits' older style and his 1980s avant-garde output.
The album features Rickie Lee Jones on the track "Red Shoes by the Drugstore." The cover art for the album is a photograph of Waits taken by Elliot Erwitt. Other contributing artists include Ray Crawford, Plas Johnson, and Herbert Hardesty.
Lyrically, Blue Valentine is a departure from his previous albums, offering less emphasis on characters from the fringes of society and focusing more on personal experiences of love and loss. The songs contain a rawness that connects the listeners to Waits' inner sentiments, a move which was both acclaimed and criticized.
Despite receiving mixed reviews when it was released, "Blue Valentine" is now considered one of the high points in Tom Waits' career. The album offers a jazz-inspired ambience, colored with Waits' distinct gravel-voiced, pained singing style. It is a vivid representation of Waits as a storyteller, creating beautifully melancholic melodies that have stood the test of time.
