Tom Waits: Rain Dogs (Island)
Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 12 October 1985
NICE PEOPLE wear their hearts on their sleeves. The soiled souls peopling Tom Waits' songs have theirs tattooed on their arms. His cast of characters might have been peeled of the biceps of jailbirds and sailors; or spieled from the arrest lists after a spectacularly long Saturday night somewhere in America. Here even "the donuts have names that sounds like prostitutes". And what the Salvation Army band gets up to on the sly ain't nobody else's business.
Total word count of piece: 861