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Tom Waits

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that

17:13 / 15.12.02

Anyone? Having heard one of his songs ever, what would be the best album for me to start with?

Jack Fear

17:41 / 15.12.02

I'd pick MULE VARIATIONS: it's got lots of the clinky-clanky found-sound oddness of his more recent work, but also some of the bluesy-jazzy feel of his early stuff: it has humor, it has heartbreak, it has beautiful piano lines and gawdawful industrial noise--sometimes all at once.

Spatula Clarke

17:53 / 15.12.02

Blimey. So many to choose from. The Asylum Years compilation is a good place to start, being both cheap and accessible.

I remember lending the Beautiful Maladies compilation to a friend who hadn't heard any Waits previously, thinking that it'd be a good intro. I think The Black Rider threw him, 'cause I got it back soon afterwards with a fairly negative response. Since finding some of the earlier stuff for himself, though, he's fallen for the Waits sound hook, line and sinker.

The two most impressive albums 'proper' remain Rain Dogs and Swordfishtrombones, but I'm still not sure of their effectiveness as introductions to the man's work.

Shortfatdyke

17:54 / 15.12.02

Mule Variations is great, but I'd vote for Rain Dogs. Think: a deserted, smoky bar, a drinking session that went on way too long, heavy rain outside, streets you don't want to be walking down. All stuff I've done, and Rain Dogs could've provided the sound track every time.

that

18:07 / 15.12.02

Might go for Rain Dogs, sounds most appealing at present... then if I like, I shall try the others you've all mentioned, in some indeterminate order...

Thanks folks!

grant

15:57 / 16.12.02

You might find this interview fun and useful.

I'd do "Rain Dogs" as well.

videodrome

16:45 / 16.12.02

It also depends on what you're looking for, since the guy's got two very distinct periods.

Of the first period - the loungy, vocal jazz/boho stuff, I'd heartily recommend Blue Valentine. Skip the cover of Somewhere that opens the disc and enjoy the rest of it. One of his best.

If it's the clangier, Robert Johnson meets Harry Partch stuff you dig, then Rain Dogs is certainly a great place. Alternately, Bone Machine is a little darker and more mature, but both are great palces to start, with a very wide array of songs to give you an idea of what's ahead. When you want to be challenged a bit, hit The Black Rider, which is incredibly beautiful, but a bit daunting at first, because when you hear it the first couple of times, it sounds like it's just about to fall apart.

What's the song you heard that made you want more?

eye landed

09:37 / 18.12.02

My introduction was Franks Wild Years, and it worked.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

12:01 / 18.12.02

I'd go with "Bone Machine". Partly because it was the first Waits album I heard, and partly because it has the track "A Little Rain" on it. Oh, and "Who Are You"- "how does your pistol and your Bible and your sleeping pills go, are you still jumping out of windows in expensive clothes..."

"Raindogs" and "Swordfishtromones" both rock too. And "Nighthawks at the Diner" is worth the price of entry for the track (whose name I forget) about being single- "Don't have ta ask permission if I wanna go out fishin', and I never have to ask for the key..."

The Return Of Rothkoid

12:57 / 18.12.02

That'd be "Better Off Without A Wife".

grant

12:57 / 18.12.02

"Better off without a wife."

I prefer "Eggs and Sausage," which is sort of the title track.

Old brown-eye is back

22:21 / 27.12.02

As an introduction, I'd go for Mule Variations because then you get a bit of everything - Romantic Tom, Funny Tom, C&W Waltz Tom, Banging on Skulls in Hell and Shouting Tom. Bone Machine I was very into at the time but now find unlistenable, mainly due to just not being that fucking angry anymore. The Black Rider I listened to once and have never been as scared by a piece of music in all my life.

My fave is Swordfishtrombones, and that's the truth.

The Return Of Rothkoid

05:45 / 28.12.02

grant: you're so right. And a side of toast.

Coffee and a roll?

at the scarwash

07:44 / 28.12.02

If you can't hang with Rain Dogs, then Tom Waits ain't for you bucko. Sure, you can divide him into an early and a later period, but what makes his jazzy/sigersongwriter stuff stand out is the range of his lyrics and his song structures, his approach to singing in personae, and the nascent sonic inventiveness that was to begin to blossom in jackboots during the mid '80s. All of the jazzy smoky bar drunken piano croons can be found on Rain Dogs, as well as one of Tom Wait's biggest money makers, "Downtown Train" (together with "Jersy Girl"), as well as boschian sea chantys, broken clockwork tangos, minimalist dream-blues, and what ever other genres you might want to make up.

wembley can change in 28 days

08:16 / 28.12.02

I'm having huge difficulty choosing an album - mainly because the idea of Life Without Tom Waits seems nasty, brutish and short, so all I can recommend is start listening to anything, but start now! The very first thing of his I heard was "T'ain't no sin" from The Black Rider, and that's my favourite album, but I agree it's not the easiest one to start with. Just go. Beautiful Maladies is easy. Go.

that

11:01 / 28.12.02

Thanks, folks... I got 'Rain Dogs' in the end. I like it, in a weird way.

Loomis

16:09 / 28.12.02

Just noticed in the HMV sale at Oxford Circus they're selling Raindogs for £3.99. A bargain for those interested ...

ephemerat

10:12 / 03.01.03

And why, precisely, has no-one mentioned Small Change? Surely this album represents Waits at his most quintessentially, um, Waitsean?

I bought this album on a random whim and ended up wearing it to the digital equivalent of a fine nub through over-play. And as I know Rothkoid did the same I think we should at least admit that it makes a pretty definitive and captivating introduction to the old drunkard...

Cholister: "Thanks, folks... I got 'Rain Dogs' in the end. I like it, in a weird way."

Mmm... I got the same thing at first. You'll have to report back and tell us if you found it as subsequently addictive as I certainly did.

Shortfatdyke

10:19 / 03.01.03

A couple of tracks of Waits' that are absolute stormers - in a drunken, melancholic way - are 'In The Neighbourhood' from Swordfishtrombones, and 'The Piano Has Been Drinking, Not Me' possibly from the same album but I'm not sure. Listen to 'Downtown Train' and you'll understand why I seriously considered assassinating Rod Stewart when he covered it.

ephemerat

11:45 / 03.01.03

Possibly one of my favourite Waits tracks; 'The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me)' is on the aforementioned Small Change along with other odes to the, ahem, 'joys' of drunken dissolution such as 'Bad Liver and a Broken Heart' and 'Pasties and a G-String' which kicks off with the killer line: "Smelling like a brewery, looking like a tramp".

Ayuh, I think we've all been there...

grant

13:26 / 03.01.03

Fresh Air just rebroadcast this interview with Mr. Waits, on the occasion of the releases of Blood Money and Alice. It's in RealAudio.

The Return Of Rothkoid

20:50 / 05.01.03

There's a place near me that's selling most of Waits' albums for $10 Australian - about four quid? Let me know if anyone's interested in some kinda trading arrangement or whatever.

And FWIW, I think Foreign Affairs to be one of the more underrated discs in the Waits pile. The title track is just heartbreaking.

Nelson Evergreen

23:01 / 05.01.03

One From The Heart is an interesting one, what with it being a Waits-penned original soundtrack for a notable Francis Ford Coppola flop, featuring our growler duetting with Crystal Gayle over a bunch of piano ballads and big band numbers. Well, it works for me. And I love the fact that his next album after this was ( my personal favourite) Swordfishtrombones.

Foust is SO authentic

01:58 / 07.02.03

I just bought my first Waits album, Swordfishtrombone. It's pretty darn cool. I'm listening it now the second time through, and I think this will be regular in my playlist for years to come.

Loomis

08:41 / 18.02.03

How fucking great is Swordfishtrombones?

I've been getting slowly into Waits over the last year due to years of harrassment by Rothkoid, and this is my latest purchase, and I loved it from first listen. I love the fact that there are so many more of his CDs for me to get into, one at a time.

little ra

16:35 / 21.02.03

i was introduced to 'franks wild years'

and i still say it sounds like sinatra on morphine.
one of the most fucked up funniest songs 'tomorrow i'll be gone' is on this record...i'm sure all the tom fans out there know what i mean.

though 'mule variations' is a good album to start off with as it has all of toms personalties merged together.

his two recent albums 'alice' and 'blood money' are great, i especially get quite emotional listening to 'fawn' the track that closes alice, sounds like it should be played at the end of 'the wizard of oz'

seeing as i am involved in music, i am so gratefull in coming into contact with the music of tom waits, the man is a genuius, his records have this untouchable quality and is an inspiration to many bands. like 'beck' 'sparklehorse' 'mercury rev'.

i'll shut up now as i could go on forever!

woof!

ra

Foust is SO authentic

19:59 / 12.07.04

My earliest Waits memories revolve around my brother's copy of Rain Dogs. I fell hard for "Downtown Train", but was apathetic about the rest.

Eventually, I saw a cheap copy of Swordfishtrombone and thought, what the hell. It's a great album.

So I bought Frank's Wild Years yesterday, and am loving it. Some of these songs - like "Cold Cold Ground" - are just utterly heartbreaking.

Love the Waits.

Sirhan Sirhan Solo

16:22 / 10.09.04

Surprised no one's mentioned his live album, "Big Time." It's got a lot of his best stuff on it.
After "Rain Dogs" and "Swordfishtrombone," the logical choice is "Blood Money". That is, if you want to hear him in full-on Parade-through-Hell mode.

Jack The Bodiless

00:06 / 11.09.04

Got to do a second for Blue Valentine - purely for 'Romeo Is Bleeding'... fucking fantastic.

"Just an angel with a bullet... and Cagney on the screen..."

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

00:14 / 11.09.04

Damn... looks like his London show sold out in seconds. Half an hour of a friend banging the Redial button from the moment the box-office opened just didn't cut it...
Ah well. Tickets were about seventy quid, anyway.
Anyone get one? Where do you live, and do you have an easily accessible back window and a nearby hardware shop?

Jack Vincennes

09:41 / 11.09.04

I tried and failed to get tickets as well Stoatie, and then came to this forum to find this thread bumped, which was really twisting the knife...

No-one's mentioned Heartattack And Vine yet, I've been listening to that a lot recently -however, I tend towards the more maudlin Waits songs, so the fact that it's got Jersy Girl on it counts for a lot. I've just checked a discography and discovered that all the Waits I own is from the 70s, so might have to get some of his albums from other decades soon.

Scrambled Password Bogus Email

12:28 / 15.09.04

Yeh, Heartattack and Vine. And Nighthawks at the Diner...I love that mad bastard. Haven't listened to those albums for donkey's years, I'm off to dig them out now...

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

22:42 / 15.09.04

Yeah, but...

Small Change got rained on. With his own .38.

doglikesparky

16:03 / 05.10.04

So has anyone got the new album yet? I bought it today but haven't had a chance to listen to it yet.
Early reports I've read indicate a "return to form" but I wasn't aware there had been a departure from form to be honest.
Best intro to his music? My vote goes for Blue Valentine.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

21:18 / 05.10.04

I've listened to it once so far- very good- kind of a Bone Machine vibe to it- mad percussion, very rhythmic... it's good.

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