I love me some Tom Waits...

[ArmAndHammer]

just wondering if there was anyone else out there with a similar style/sound to check out?

 

[milkweg]

Captain Beefheart maybe. Similar in that they are both quirky in the same way. I like the Ice Cream for Crow album.

Ice Cream for Crow - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[milkweg]

This one is good too.

Trout Mask Replica

Trout Mask Replica - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[scytheavatar]

Tim Buckley. Starsailor is Rain Dogs on steroids, more wacky and with some really good vocals.

 

[tstarn06]

To me, Tom Waits is not really someone who sounds (or writes songs) like anyone else, really. Or vice versa. He's truly one of a kind. Captain Beefheart is certainly eccentric, but nowhere near the style and poetry of Mr. Waits. Does have a gravelly voice, but that's where the comparisons end. Just my view.

 

[ArmAndHammer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tstarn06 /img/forum/go_quote.gif To me, Tom Waits is not really someone who sounds (or writes songs) like anyone else, really. Or vice versa. He's truly one of a kind. Captain Beefheart is certainly eccentric, but nowhere near the style and poetry of Mr. Waits. Does have a gravelly voice, but that's where the comparisons end. Just my view.

Yeah, I hear that. I figured that Tom can not be replicated. I'll check in to the suggestions given so far.

 

[VicAjax]

longtime and large Waits fan here. I would check out Nick Cave. different style, of course, but like Waits, Cave is an astounding lyricist and an adventurous musician... especially his late 80s output like Tender Prey and Kicking Against the Pricks (an album of all brilliant covers).

 

[tru blu]

Here's a curveball: Pick up an album called Talkin' Honky Blues by a Canadian rapper/turntablist who calls himself Buck 65. Tom Waits is sort of his storytelling model for that album. If you wanna sample some tracks, try "Roses & Blue Jays" or "50 Gallon Drum."

 

[HipHopScribe]

I think Tom Waits is a very unique artist, so I won't say these people have the same style, but I think there are similarities to latch on to, and they're great artists in their own right:

Joe Heny
Eleni Mandell
Jim White
Rickie Lee Jones
Thomas Truax
Dayna Kurtz
T-Bone Burnett

...and I agree with the suggestions of Buck 65, Nick Cave, & Captain Beefheart.

 

[hypoicon]

The problem in answering this one for me is which Tom Waits? The Tom Waits of Closing Time? Nighthawks at the Diner? Black Rider? Bone Machine? Night on Earth? They all sound totally different from one another.

There is melodic folk music/storytelling-- I'd compare the early Waits with Townes Van Zant or other troubadours. Not particularly distinctive or gravelly-- really smooth as a matter of fact.

The middle period Small Change or Big Time Waits is as theatrical as Tom Waits, but with an overdone Kerouac/Ginsberg feel, more derivative of spoken word poetry than music per se. It's got that razor blade edge, but is still as melodic as the previous incarnation.

Then there is the noisy Waits of Bone Machine/Black Rider where found sounds and atmospheric recordings forge one of the most unique new veins to mine in music so far. I sometimes hear people group Jim White in this sort of track, but I don't really hear it myself.

Then there's the weird Eastern European vibe to the latest tour, with Klezmer type arrangements to even the old standard poetic romps. Totally different from the original versions of the songs, and yet strangely compelling.

Which Tom Waits are we talking about?

 

[VicAjax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hypoicon /img/forum/go_quote.gif The middle period Small Change or Big Time Waits is as theatrical as Tom Waits, but with an overdone Kerouac/Ginsberg feel, more derivative of spoken word poetry than music per se. It's got that razor blade edge, but is still as melodic as the previous incarnation.

Small Change is pretty much his early period... it's only his fourth album. I might even make the argument that he only really has two distinct periods... the "beat poet/troubadour" style of his first eight albums, and the experimental storyteller style of everything after Swordfishtrombones.

It's a little bit easier to find analogues to his early stuff: Leon Redbone, perhaps; maybe Dr. John; Rickie Lee Jones is an obvious choice for a female counterpart (they dated for awhile, and both had a strange affinity for Chuck E. Weiss... actually, a Chuck E. Weiss album might be worth adding to the list!).

 

[ArmAndHammer]

So how many albums does he have out?

***Looks like around 40!!! Wow...I need to start picking some up. Heck, with 40 albums and I am sure each is very different from the other, I may not need to look in to other artists "like" Tom as this would be enough to keep me happy for a LONG time.***

 

[blessingx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hypoicon /img/forum/go_quote.gif The problem in answering this one for me is which Tom Waits? The Tom Waits of Closing Time? Nighthawks at the Diner? Black Rider? Bone Machine? Night on Earth? They all sound totally different from one another.

x2

That said Tom Waits led to lots of Leonard Cohen and especially Randy Newman for me. Listen to the latters Songbook and tell me he doesn't share attitude with Tom (while in the end being a much better songwriter).

As for fave Waits, there's been a few threads and like most of us I'm sure it changes over time, but strangely Frank's Wild Years has held on the longest for me.

 

[tru blu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VicAjax /img/forum/go_quote.gif I might even make the argument that he only really has two distinct periods... the "beat poet/troubadour" style of his first eight albums, and the experimental storyteller style of everything after Swordfishtrombones.

Y'know, I've always felt this way, too—primarily because the two periods theory kinda fits with how Waits' music changed when he switched labels—but I think hypoicon has a point. Vocally, the Waits on Small Change represents a significant change from the one on "Martha" and "Ol' '55," because it's when he really started stepping up that carny-Louis Armstrong thing that took him beyond, say, Leon Redbone. The music, however, didn't truly mirror the leap in storytelling until Swordfishtrombones, when his new wife Eileen Brennan began co-producing the records. Consequently, while there's definitely stuff I like on Blue Valentine and Foreign Affairs, I'd always recommend compilations from the early Asylum period, and swallow much of the stuff that followed whole as albums.

 

[VicAjax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tru blu /img/forum/go_quote.gif Y'know, I've always felt this way, too—primarily because the two periods theory kinda fits with how Waits' music changed when he switched labels—but I think hypoicon has a point. Vocally, the Waits on Small Change represents a significant change from the one on "Martha" and "Ol' '55," because it's when he really started stepping up that carny-Louis Armstrong thing that took him beyond, say, Leon Redbone. The music, however, didn't truly mirror the leap in storytelling until Swordfishtrombones, when his new wife Eileen Brennan began co-producing the records. Consequently, while there's definitely stuff I like on Blue Valentine and Foreign Affairs, I'd always recommend compilations from the early Asylum period, and swallow much of the stuff that followed whole as albums.

Kathleen Brennan... born in Johnsburg, Illinois