Tom Waits
Smothers Brothers TV
1980

off air tape>unknown>cdr>eac>adobe audition>flac

01 Old Boyfriends

This is one of my favorite Tom performances. First, it's the only known performance of the song with him singing. Second, it's an unusual band setup, with both a sax and a guitarist.
Last, Tom nails this vocal. He croons in a late night jazz style, but gets the emotional hot spots just right.

I worked on this several years ago, obsessively playing with the eq. Being a TV broadcast, the extreme tones were missing. I boosted the top end a little and the bottom end a lot. It took
lots of trial and error to get the bottom end sounding warm and not too thumpy.

Then I swept it with click removal, as you can imagine that a broadcast had its share of clicks.

Now it's time to share. Enjoy.
And it goes without saying, that if anyoen has a better recording, please share it.