Small Change (studio album) by Tom Waits
Tom Waits bestography
Small Change is ranked 6th best out of 27 albums by Tom Waits on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Tom Waits is Rain Dogs which is ranked number 109 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 12,344.
Upcoming concerts






Listen to Small Change on YouTube
Small Change track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 81 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Small Change rankings
Latest 20 charts that this album appears in:
You can include this album in your own chart from the My Charts page!
Small Change collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 159 members
Small Change ratings

where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 336 ratings for this album.
Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
---|---|---|---|---|
70/100 ![]() | 01/18/2025 19:53 | ![]() | ![]() | 76/100 |
80/100 ![]() | 01/13/2025 21:17 | ![]() | ![]() | 49/100 |
75/100 ![]() | 01/06/2025 16:49 | Untitled | ![]() | 78/100 |
70/100 ![]() | 11/27/2024 03:47 | ![]() | ![]() | 82/100 |
90/100 ![]() | 11/23/2024 16:43 | owlied | ![]() | 84/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 78.6/100, a mean average of 77.4/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 78.8/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.0.
Please log in or register if you want to be able to leave a rating
Small Change favourites
Showing latest 20 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 47 members
Small Change comments
Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 14 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Maximum Rated First |
Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)
This comment is beneath your viewing threshold.
Great stuff.

My favourite Tom Waits album. It has wit, pathos, gallows humour and some of the finest lyrics put to music. Everyone who has ever been drunk can relate to Tom Traubert's Blues. Or anyone who has ever felt sorry for themselves. It has some great songs. It probably is the ultimate drinking album but I don't drink anymore. But it doesn't stop me relating to this fine album.

Tom Traubert's blues", per quel che mi riguarda, fa parte delle mie - facciamo - cinque canzoni preferite del suo autore. Il resto è un lavoro magari discontinuo ma eccellente, composto da notturni pianistici ora più vicini al blues, ora al jazz, evocanti locali fumosi e malfamati e suonato con una strumentazione parca ( piano, basso, batteria e sax ) che dà all'album quell'asciuttezza che più avanti sarebbe mancata.
Love for this original

"Tom Traubert's Blues" and "Jitterbug Blues" are two of Tom Waits's best. A somewhat inconsistent album, but it's nevertheless the album where we get to here "the voice" for the first time (switching to the signature drawl from his earlier, more conventional singing style)
Small change is without doubt the best Tom Waits album of the seventies. Here, he is fully formed, the sozzled barroom troubadour reaches it's peak. Waits is at the top of his game. While, closing time, was uncertain, the heart of Saturday night, slightly immature, and, nighthawks at the diner, a little forced, small change, is the record where Waits completely nails it. Opener, Tom Traubert's blues, is one of Waits' greatest ever songs, beautiful and moving, a stunning track. One step up, is a mock improvisation,again stunning. Other highlights are the excellent, invitation to the blues, the superb, bad liver and a broken heart, and the lovely closing track, I can't wait to get of work. There's no weak tracks, everything is wonderful, the lyrics are extraordinary, the performances perfect, from the cool jazz of, I wish I was in New Orleans, to the smoky title track. Small change, is an inebriated masterpiece. Excellent.

Small Change marks Tom Waits' transition to elite status.

Although its a close race, this has to be my favorite Waits album. Cant get enough. Tom traubert's blues will be played at every special occasion for the rest of my life.

One of those albums that seems to last 100 years. And I don't actually mean that in a bad way.
Please log in or register if you want to be able to add a comment
Your feedback for Small Change

A lot of hard work happens in the background to keep BEA running, and it's especially difficult to do this when we can't pay our hosting fees :(
We work very hard to ensure our site is as fast (and FREE!) as possible, and we respect your privacy.