Tom Waits Celebrating 50 Years Of 'Small Change' With Special Reissue

08-10-2026

ANTI- Records have shared their plans to celebrate the 50th annivesary of Tom Waits' "Small Change" album by issuing a brand new vinyl re-release of the beloved record.

They shared: Uniquely combining elements of the great American songbook, jazz, beat poetry, vivid storytelling and his own modern sensibility, 'Small Change' was the high watermark of Waits' 70s period, with classic songs like "Tom Traubert's Blues", "Step Right Up" and "The Piano Has Been Drinking". This is also the record where Tom's now iconic voice reached full maturity.

Upon the album's original release in the fall of 1976, Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times declared: [Waits] "has not only fulfilled the promise of his early work, but extended it in a way that makes him one of America's most valuable pop performers," and that "by refusing to stay in the safe mold of his first two albums, he enriched his art." In a 1976 interview following the release of his third album, Waits reflected on the storytelling roots behind his evolving style, tracing his songs back to his days working the door at a local nightclub and eavesdropping in late-night diners:

"I got a job as doorman at a night club in L.A., and I listened to all the acts from the door. I heard bluegrass, comics, folk singers, string bands. At the same time, I was picking up people's conversations in all-night coffee shops-ambulance drivers, cabdrivers, street sweepers. I did research there as an evening curator, and I started writing-gingerly. I thought at some point I'd like to forge it all into something meaningful and give it dignity."

Here is a much-loved clip of Waits performing "The Piano Has Been Drinking" on Martin Mull's legendary late 70s TV show Fernwood Tonight below and pre-order the album here