Tom Waits - Seeking Buying Advice
Oct 1, 2006 at 1:57 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 31
DLeeWebb

DLeeWebb

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I was watching CBS Sunday Morning this morning and they did a segment on new Fall music. [missed most of it, but what would you expect...] Among other artists/music they featured Tom Waits' upcoming "Orphans." The multi-disc set sounds interesting but it made me wonder what his fans would suggest as a starting point for a newbie. I have read descriptions of his various CD's. "Alice," "Blood Money," "Bone Machine," and "Real Gone" sound particularly interesting from the descriptions. [...the descriptions always sound good!] For those of you out there that have vast experience with Waits, what would you suggest as a starting place...?
confused.gif
 
Oct 1, 2006 at 3:37 PM Post #2 of 31
http://www5.head-fi.org/forums/showt...9&#post1245479

Can't go too far wrong exploring any of his phases, if you love that voice and his music, but you have to explore to know what you like, and how far off into his uncharted eclectic world you wanna wander, kind of a personal thing, we all have different favorites, and it changes a lot with many of us ... my favorites work out something along these lines right now ...
Blue Valentine
Nighthawks At The Diner (or maybe The Heart of Saturday Night, or Heartattack & Vine)
Rain Dogs
Bone Machine
Mule Variations
 
Oct 1, 2006 at 5:59 PM Post #5 of 31
Swordfishtrombones is the best.

See ya
Steve
 
Oct 1, 2006 at 9:07 PM Post #6 of 31
A great album to wet your feet with is a soundtrack called "One From The Heart". It's from 1982 and all the songs are duets with Crystal Gayle. Strange movie, but great soundtrack.
 
Oct 1, 2006 at 9:59 PM Post #7 of 31
Personally, I think One From the Heart is easily the worst Tom Waits album to start with. He doesnt even song on half of the tracks. And the songs themselves are nowhere near the league of his best work.

Best advice: Buy everything the man ever recorded. Listen repeatedly.
 
Oct 2, 2006 at 12:56 AM Post #8 of 31
this is my standard advice.

quoted for convenience:

Quote:

i would actually divide his discography into three: the Asylum period, the Island trilogy, and the post-Island period.

his first two albums, Closing Time and Heart of Saturday Night, while rooted in jazzy blues, have a bit of a country/folk twang to them.

the twang is dropped completely by his third album, Nighthawks at the Diner, which is a love it or hate it album (i love it). he turned the studio into a nightclub and invited a bunch of friends and acquaintances to a live performance. that performance became Nighthawks, and it's pretty much the fruition of Waits' "beatnik" persona, which he pretty much maintained for all the rest of his albums on Asylum Records.

his last album for Asylum was Heartattack and Vine, and you can hear the beginning of his transition to the more esoteric sound that defined his first three albums for Island Records (which i consider his masterpieces): Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs and Frank's Wild Years.

after the live album, Big Time, waits took a hiatus for a few years and came back with Bone Machine, which took him into slightly more cacophonous and experimental territory, but still founded on the sound he developed with his Island Trilogy.

The Black Rider was his last album for Island, written with William Burroughs as the book for a play of the same name. i like this album more than most people do. since then, he's been on Anti (Epitaph) Records, with consistently solid stuff, but no real new ground broken.

so, here are my recommendations:

for the Asylum era, start with Closing Time (so you can hear how he started his career) and Small Change (IMHO, the best of his early albums).

for the Island era, the holy trinity is unbeatable: Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs and Frank's Wild Years. most people will probably say Rain Dogs is the best, i'll only say it's the easiest to begin with.

for everything else, it's pretty much a matter of taste, but Alice and Blood Money (released at the same time) are both quite good.

hope that helps!


 
Oct 9, 2006 at 8:05 PM Post #12 of 31
Quote:

Originally Posted by VicAjax
i would actually divide his discography into three: the Asylum period, the Island trilogy, and the post-Island period.

his first two albums, Closing Time and Heart of Saturday Night, while rooted in jazzy blues, have a bit of a country/folk twang to them.

the twang is dropped completely by his third album, Nighthawks at the Diner, which is a love it or hate it album (i love it). he turned the studio into a nightclub and invited a bunch of friends and acquaintances to a live performance. that performance became Nighthawks, and it's pretty much the fruition of Waits' "beatnik" persona, which he pretty much maintained for all the rest of his albums on Asylum Records.

his last album for Asylum was Heartattack and Vine, and you can hear the beginning of his transition to the more esoteric sound that defined his first three albums for Island Records (which i consider his masterpieces): Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs and Frank's Wild Years.

after the live album, Big Time, waits took a hiatus for a few years and came back with Bone Machine, which took him into slightly more cacophonous and experimental territory, but still founded on the sound he developed with his Island Trilogy.

The Black Rider was his last album for Island, written with William Burroughs as the book for a play of the same name. i like this album more than most people do. since then, he's been on Anti (Epitaph) Records, with consistently solid stuff, but no real new ground broken.

so, here are my recommendations:

for the Asylum era, start with Closing Time (so you can hear how he started his career) and Small Change (IMHO, the best of his early albums).

for the Island era, the holy trinity is unbeatable: Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs and Frank's Wild Years. most people will probably say Rain Dogs is the best, i'll only say it's the easiest to begin with.

for everything else, it's pretty much a matter of taste, but Alice and Blood Money (released at the same time) are both quite good


Excellent analysis.
I would add that since around 1990 he co-signs every song with his wife Kethelyn Brennan. She brought an influence towards vaudeville, Kurt Weill and generally more theatrical themes.
My favourite album of the last period is "Alice"
 
Oct 14, 2006 at 1:44 AM Post #13 of 31
I bought and listened to "Mule Variations." I loved this disc from beginning to end. I'm wondering where to go next. I would like to get "Rain Dogs" (1985) because of all of the enthusiastic recommendations, but I'm thinking that as soon as I buy it that it will be remastered. Maybe "Alice" or "Real Gone" next...?
 
Oct 14, 2006 at 2:50 PM Post #15 of 31
Quote:

Originally Posted by DLeeWebb
I bought and listened to "Mule Variations." I loved this disc from beginning to end. I'm wondering where to go next. I would like to get "Rain Dogs" (1985) because of all of the enthusiastic recommendations, but I'm thinking that as soon as I buy it that it will be remastered. Maybe "Alice" or "Real Gone" next...?


This might be a bit of a stretch but there are plenty of live bootlegs of Tom Waits shows out there if you are willing to look hard enough. And as far as Waits' more recent material (from his last "official" live release onward) is concerned, the live versions are well worth hearing and in many cases far better than the studio versions.

The live bootlegs from his brief fall 2004 tour of Europe features a killer band doing remarkable things with the material from "Real Gone". Sure the music loses most of it's wacky vaudeville like feel but makes up for it with added impact and focus plus some great playing by the band and singing by Waits, not to mention his always funny stage comments.

Why Waits doesn't treat his fans to nice live video with 5.1 DTS surround is beyond me. Now that would be sweet.

And speaking of bootlegs, anyone heard any from his recent US tour?
 
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