For the uninitiated, the Tom Waits catalogue can seem rather daunting. Not only is Tom blessed with a sometimes challenging voice, but his albums have seen the legendary singer songwriter’s style change over time. His earliest albums present him as the ultimate bar room balladeer with a relatively clean voice; over the course of the 70s, his delivery becomes more ragged, more obtuse even, despite the core style of the music remaining the same. Into the 80s, Tom began to channel Kurt Weill and his music became more interesting, more rhythmic, a world away from the man who gave us ‘Ol’ 55’. By the end of the 90s and beyond, Waits almost sounded like a man working within a universe of his own: fans were as likely to hear him shouting his way through something in German to a musical backdrop deserving of a pirate shanty as they were to hear him storytelling at the piano.

Despite being a short release, ‘Blind Love’ makes it clear that Eddie Skuller loves Tom, and has taken the remarkable journey through a fantastic and sometimes frightening catalogue over the years. This is made most obvious by his choice of tributes: aside from wheeling out ‘Downtown Train’ (a number blanded out, but ultimately made more famous by Rod Stewart), for this four track EP, Skuller digs deeply into the Waits catalogue for inspiration.

The title cut is one of the lesser celebrated cuts from Tom’s essential ‘Rain Dogs’. Nestled near the end of a long album, dwarfed by the classic ‘Walking Spanish’, the country tinged tune isn’t one of the album’s best. In the hands of Eddie Skuller, it works very well, however. Skuller has taken the opportunity to strip down the music, presenting the rhythm guitar as if it’s heard through an old wax cylinder and also add a harsher rhythm track – a hard beat that’s actually more in keeping with Tom’s own work, circa ‘Mule Variations’. The music is contrasted brilliantly by a wonderfully clear vocal, with Eddie breathing life into the lyric with a full cry. It would have been so easy to apply a croon, bringing this in line with early Waits works; instead, Skuller’s full bodied delivery acts as both a fine tribute to a less known cut and a great introduction for the unfamiliar.

‘House Where Nobody Lives’ (from 1999’s ‘Mule Variations’) retains its deep sadness, and features a slow, brooding melody that gives Skuller plenty to curl his voice around. The purity of his delivery may feel jarring to a Waits fan (the original cut features the man himself sounding rather…ravaged, to put it mildly), but given time to adjust, there’s a lot to enjoy. The performer breathes a huge amount of life into an aching lyric, while the addition of back-masked noises filling out the musical arrangement bring something a little more Waits-ian to the fore. The jazz guitars from the original take a back seat here, but Eddie ensures a very retro guitar tone is still present throughout, making this a well rounded cover. ‘You Can Never Hold Back Spring’ was recorded by Waits for the 2005 film ‘The Tiger and The Snow’ and released on his rarities and oddities anthology ‘Orphans’ the following year. Despite being a work from “later Tom”, it finds Waits in full crooning mode, a style which has been retained here by Skuller. In fact, very little has been done to change the original melody. It’s worthy of a listen, of course, purely for the fact that Eddie’s smoother vocal makes the track far more palatable to those who’ve never found a love for the Waits rasp, and the way he places a jazzier tone against a sparsely arranged upright bass forms the core of a great late night listen. His lighter tones also bring out a little more emotion from a lyric that’s full of gentle anguish, sitting perfectly against a few sparingly applied guitar strums that cling onto a Marc Ribot-esque tone.

Rounding out the release is Eddie’s take on the rather more famous ‘Downtown Train’. It’s the EP’s least interesting recording, partly because it has been done to death in terms of Waits covers, but also partly due to Tom having written far more interesting songs over the decades. Nevertheless, this version is fine enough: it allows the performer plenty of room to showcase a confident voice once more, while on a musical level, the muted guitar and bass feed into a similar late night vibe as ‘You Can Never Hold Back Spring’ making it a worthy companion. Perhaps we should just blame Rod for making this track seem a little…cheesy. [On a further tip, the Bob Seger version is worth checking out, purely for the fact it sounds so much like a Seger original in his more than capable hands.]

It’s always a pleasure when other artists choose to celebrate the work of Tom Waits. It allows his fantastic songs a lease of life for those who find his voice a challenge, and much like the best Dylan tributes, can sometimes bring a few great but lesser known cuts to new ears. On that score, Eddie Skuller has done a fine job here, despite his tribute coming in a such a small package. Substituting the well worn ‘Downtown Train’ with something more interesting would’ve made it even better, but if one of Tom’s “hits” was deemed essential bait for the curious, at least it’ll help to get more people listening.

September 2026