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wasn't tomorrow wonderful? - the waitresses

wasn't tomorrow wonderful? is the first album by american new wave band the waitresses, released in the year 1982. (notice how i always end up talking about new wave?)

the waitresses were a chance discovery for me, basically. of course i was aware of their two biggest songs as the good music nerd-ish i am (i know what boys like and christmas wrapping), but i wasn't really interested in their music for whatever reason, in fact, i was sure their sound was not for me until i decided to check out their whole debut album. turns out, it is an excellent new wave record, thankfully not constantly as deadpan as the lead single (it surprises me that a lot of people consider the whole album as deadpan, it has some pretty expressive singing by lead voice patty donahue)

i don't think it really stands out as musically original or anything, it's a quite normal new wave record which has it's biggest strengths in the singing and in the lyrics written by guitarist chris butler, which go from comedy in songs like "it's my car" to more "serious" songwriting, like in the title track (although every track feels a little silly in a sort of way). to single out an example of the great songwriting, "jimmy tomorrow", which is the closer track and also probably the best song on the album features some of the most memorable and absolutely badass verses i can think of ("found a cure for hunger? black coffee, cigarettes" or "my goals are to cure irony and make a fool out of god"

wasn't tomorrow wonderful? was a pleasant surprise for me; i ended up being really into it and the band as a whole. if you like new wave i'd recommend you to check out the album, and if you like the album, then the rest of the band's discography (another album and an EP) might be up your alley, it is a real shame that they didn't get bigger, as their discography is very consistent.

pd: as from this post i'm stopping the numeric ratings as i feel that they are a very volatile thing; i do however still rate albums on rateyourmusic, so you could check there if you want, the link is on here

listen to the album on Spotify.