[Davey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SickMouthy Rain Dogs really does not need remastering. Trust me. Buy it.

Ditto. Probably just get all punched up and compressed to make it sound more modern when they do remaster it. I'd bet the original will always sound best. How many remasters actually come out sounding better overall? Not many in my experience. None of his early stuff is gonna show up on audiophile lists, but they are honest recordings. Bone Machine is a very nice sounding album, as are most of the 90s releases, although by its nature, Mule Variations is one of his best sounding. You won't hear much of that natural ambience on the old Asylum stuff.

But yeah, Rain Dogs is a classic, probably score it used for little more than the cost of shipping. Bone Machine is the one I listen to most often. Blue Valentine is a sentimental favorite, and the vinyl sounds pretty nice.

 

[ralphp@optonline]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davey Ditto. Probably just get all punched up and compressed to make it sound more modern when they do remaster it. I'd bet the original will always sound best. How many remasters actually come out sounding better overall? Not many in my experience. None of his early stuff is gonna show up on audiophile lists, but they are honest recordings. Bone Machine is a very nice sounding album, as are most of the 90s releases, although by its nature, Mule Variations is one of his best sounding. You won't hear much of that natural ambience on the old Asylum stuff. But yeah, Rain Dogs is a classic, probably score it used for little more than the cost of shipping. Bone Machine is the one I listen to most often. Blue Valentine is a sentimental favorite, and the vinyl sounds pretty nice.

Speaking of vinyl, Tom Waits must love vinyl because every one of this his recordings on the Anti label was released on vinyl and most (if not all) of them were analog recordings. "Mule Variations" for sure is analog because it states it right on the cover of the LP but I'm not sure about the other three Anti releases although I do know that they were all released on vinyl since I have the LPs to prove it. In any event, all the LPs were mastered by some pretty talented people and sound very sweet to these ears.

However, finding these later Tom Waits releases new, let alone used, on vinyl will be just about impossible but not so for his earlier recordings. I'm quite sure that one could find plenty of older Tom Waits on used vinyl for fairly decent prices. Worth a look.

 

[DLeeWebb]

At this point, from these recommendations and because I have been enjoying "Mule Variations" so much, I have gotten "Rain Dogs," "Bone Machine," "Alice," and "Real Gone." Most likely this is only the beginning of my relationship with Tom Waits. Thanks to head-fi, and the great music discussed here in such a descriptive and intelligent manner, I have started yet another fascinating, rewarding musical journey. Thanks...

 

[VicAjax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DLeeWebb At this point, from these recommendations and because I have been enjoying "The Mule Variations" so much, I have gotten "Rain Dogs," "Bone Machine," "Alice," and "Real Gone." Most likely this is only the beginning of my relationship with Tom Waits. Thanks to head-fi, and the great music discussed here in such a descriptive and intelligent manner, I have started yet another fascinating, rewarding musical journey. Thanks...

excellent... sounds like the beginning of a great love affair with some brilliant music.

you should also pick up Swordfishtrombones, Small Change and Frank's Wild Years as soon as possible!

 

[Aman]

I know that this is probably not the answer you want to hear, but I truly believe that just about everything Tom Waits has ever released has been at least a GOOD, quality album.

You really cannot go wrong with Tom Waits, no matter what album you get first.

 

[Coltrane]

By the way, the new Tom Waits 3-cd set 'Orphans' is positively fantastic.

Itll be out on 11/21. Definitely a must must MUST buy for any and every Tom Waits fan.

 

[DLeeWebb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coltrane By the way, the new Tom Waits 3-cd set 'Orphans' is positively fantastic. Itll be out on 11/21. Definitely a must must MUST buy for any and every Tom Waits fan.

I have "Orphans" on a wishlist. I was wondering, is it a studio album or is it from live performances? Is it a "greatest hits" compilation or songs that didn't make previous albums?

 

[Voltron]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VicAjax excellent... sounds like the beginning of a great love affair with some brilliant music. you should also pick up Swordfishtrombones, Small Change and Frank's Wild Years as soon as possible!

Please hurry up and buy at least these two more -- you won't regret it!

Oh, yeah, thanks for the heads-up on Orphans Coltrane. Curious about the answers to DLee's Qs also.

 

[Vic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DLeeWebb I have "Orphans" on a wishlist. I was wondering, is it a studio album or is it from live performances? Is it a "greatest hits" compilation or songs that didn't make previous albums?

I quote from Amazon:

"This collection goes far beyond a simple career retrospective, with over thirty new songs, from his own versions of songs he gave to other artists to things recorded in the garage with his kids. Also includes Tom's unique interpretations of songs by such diverse talents as The Ramones, Daniel Johnston, Kurt Weill & Bertolt Brecht, and Leadbelly. Each of the three CDs is separately grouped and sub-titled "Brawlers", "Bawlers" and "Bastards" to capture the full spectrum of Waits' ranging and roving musical styles. "Brawlers" is chock full of raucous blues and full-throated juke-joint stomp, "Bawlers" contains Celtic and country ballads, waltzes, lullabies, piano, and classic lyrical Waits' songs, while "Bastards" is filled with experimental music, stories, and jokes. The beautifully designed booklet reproduces Tom's lyrics in the style of a book of old poetry, with twenty pages of never before seen photos. The limited edition deluxe package contains a hardcover-bound 94-page booklet."

 

[DLeeWebb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vic I quote from Amazon: "This collection goes far beyond a simple career retrospective, with over thirty new songs, from his own versions of songs he gave to other artists to things recorded in the garage with his kids. Also includes Tom's unique interpretations of songs by such diverse talents as The Ramones, Daniel Johnston, Kurt Weill & Bertolt Brecht, and Leadbelly. Each of the three CDs is separately grouped and sub-titled "Brawlers", "Bawlers" and "Bastards" to capture the full spectrum of Waits' ranging and roving musical styles. "Brawlers" is chock full of raucous blues and full-throated juke-joint stomp, "Bawlers" contains Celtic and country ballads, waltzes, lullabies, piano, and classic lyrical Waits' songs, while "Bastards" is filled with experimental music, stories, and jokes. The beautifully designed booklet reproduces Tom's lyrics in the style of a book of old poetry, with twenty pages of never before seen photos. The limited edition deluxe package contains a hardcover-bound 94-page booklet."

Vic, thanks for the description. I have it on my wishlist!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Voltron Please hurry up and buy at least these two more -- you won't regret it! Oh, yeah, thanks for the heads-up on Orphans Coltrane. Curious about the answers to DLee's Qs also.

Voltron, I have to listen to my four most recent Waits' purchases, but I placed these two discs on my wishlist for future purchase as well! He's too much!

 

[Coltrane]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom Waits When I was small I always thought that songwriters sat alone at upright pianos in cramped smoky little rooms with a bottle and an ashtray and everything came in the window blew through them and came out of the piano as a song…and in a weird way that is exactly what happens. What’s Orphans? I don’t know. Orphans is a dead end kid driving a coffin with big tires across the Ohio River wearing welding goggles and a wife beater with a lit firecracker in his ear. At the center of this record is my voice. I try my best to chug, stomp, weep, whisper, moan, wheeze, scat, blurt, rage, whine, and seduce. With my voice, I can sound like a girl, the boogieman, a Theremin, a cherry bomb, a clown, a doctor, a murderer…I can be tribal. Ironic. Or disturbed. My voice is really my instrument. Kathleen and I wanted the record to be like emptying our pockets on the table after an evening of gambling, burglary, and cow tipping. We enjoy strange couplings, that’s how we got together. We wanted Orphans to be like a shortwave radio show where the past is sequenced with the future, consisting of things you find on the ground, in this world and no world, or maybe the next world. Whatever you imagine that to be. If a record really works at all, it should be made like a homemade doll with tinsel for hair and seashells for ears stuffed with candy and money. Or like a good woman’s purse with a Swiss army knife and a snake bite kit. Orphans contains songs for all occasions. Some of the songs were written in turmoil and recorded at night in a moving car, others were written in hotel rooms and recorded in Hollywood during big conflamas. That’s when conflict weds drama. At any rate these are the ones that survived the flood and were rescued from the branches of trees after the water’s retreat. Gathering all this material together was like rounding up chickens at the beach. It’s not like you go into vault and check out what you need. Most of it was lost or buried under the house. Some of the tapes I had to pay ransom for to a plumber in Russia. You fall into the vat. We started to write just to climb out of the vat. Then you start listening and sorting and start writing in response to what you hear. And more recording. And then you get bit by a spider, go down the gopher hole, and make a whole different record. That was the process pretty much the last three years. Then we met Karl Derfler, a wizard engineer who works at Bay Side Studios in Richmond, CA, in the science fiction part of town. A battlefield medic, he did a Lazarus on a number of the songs and recorded all the new material. On Orphans there is a mambo about a convict who breaks out of jail with a fishbone, a gospel train song about Charlie Whitman and John Wilkes Boothe, a delta blues about a disturbing neighbor, a spoken word piece about a woman who was struck by lightening, an 18th century Scottish madrigal about murderous sibling rivalry, an American backwoods a cappella about a hanging. Even a song by Jack Kerouac and a spiritual with my own personal petition to the Lord with prayer…There’s even a show tune about an old altar boy and a rockabilly song about a young man who’s begging to be lied to. I think you will find more singing and dancing here than usual. But I hope fans of more growling, more warbling, more barking, more screeching won’t be disappointed either. Tom Waits August 2006

Anti.com has a ton of samples up, but its seems like the site is down at the moment. check back often.

 

[DLeeWebb]

My Tom Waits collection continues to grow...I'm loving Tom Waits, that's for sure!

Just today I received...“Orphans,” “Blue Valentine,” “Frank's Wild Years,” and “Heartattack And Vine."

 

[DLeeWebb]

Recently got "Small Change," The Heart Of Saturday Night," Nighthawks At The Diner," "The Black Rider," and "Swordfishtrombones." I think that I'm officially a Tom Waits fanatic!

 

[Sordel]

Hmmm ... although I like a lot of Tom Waits' music, I think that he's sounded tired in recent years: Bone Machine was the last that I really enjoyed, yet I've bought most (if not all) of the succeeding albums. Rain Dogs is the "purest" of his albums, I think, but I love the schmaltzier early stuff like "Burma Shave" and "Potter's Field".

There are some great covers of Waits as well: Rickie Lee Jones did the beautiful "Rainbow Sleeves" on Girl at her Volcano (which I think is currently unobtainable!

), Paul Young did a nice version of "Soldier's Things" and a jazz singer called Holly Cole did an entire album of Waits songs called Temptation that is well worth getting hold of if you can: especially recommended for her lovely version of "The Briar and the Rose". I can live without Springsteen's version of "Jersey Girl" though.

 

[DLeeWebb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sordel /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hmmm ... although I like a lot of Tom Waits' music, I think that he's sounded tired in recent years: Bone Machine was the last that I really enjoyed, yet I've bought most (if not all) of the succeeding albums. Rain Dogs is the "purest" of his albums, I think, but I love the schmaltzier early stuff like "Burma Shave" and "Potter's Field". There are some great covers of Waits as well: Rickie Lee Jones did the beautiful "Rainbow Sleeves" on Girl at her Volcano (which I think is currently unobtainable! ), Paul Young did a nice version of "Soldier's Things" and a jazz singer called Holly Cole did an entire album of Waits songs called Temptation that is well worth getting hold of if you can: especially recommended for her lovely version of "The Briar and the Rose". I can live without Springsteen's version of "Jersey Girl" though.

I seem to like him in all of his various phases and incarnations. However, I would say that I actually prefer his newer stuff. "Mule Variations," "Real Gone," and the new "Orphans" are absolutely fantastic...