Tom Waits

A mate in work gave me a minidisc and said to listen to it. I knew the name (think my older brother has some of his stuff), but couldn't think of any of his music.

A bit off Googling and guess work, and I think it's "Small Change"

Only listened to it the one time so far, but it's an instant fav.

It looks like he's got quite a lot of stuff recorded and I look forward to hearing some MOre of his stuff!

Lyricaly and musicaly spot on!

 

There's an absolute mountain of material for you to explore Mo! I've only got Rain Dogs, The Heart Of Saturday Night and Mule Variations so far, but do intend looking further into his stuff. The major plus point is that a vast majority can be bought on CD for about a fiver a throw.

 

His stuff is widely variable - more than Zappa or Beefheart, as the guy is probably both genius and fruitcake. It goes from rambling cocktail lounge piano [Nighthawks at the diner] to grunting [bone machine etc]. I reckon you might like most of it MO! He's certainly an interesting chap.

 

I have 15 of his studio albums. One of the great songwriters of all-time IMO.

 

TW is one of my favourites. 'Small Change' is a very good starting point.

It's late night music, try:

'Closing Time'
'Heartattack & Vine'
'Heart of Saturday Night'
'Blue Valentine'

All perfect, IMO.

Avoid 'Bone Machine', it will put you off him!

 

Swordfishtrombones is the essential one IMO. I really like Bone Machine too.

-- Ian

 

Welcome mO, to the World of Tom Waits .

There is an absolute plethora of material for you to dig through but take note that around the period of the aforementioed "Swordfishtrombones" he really did change his style (hence the Bone Machine comments).

If you like Small Change then you'll have no problems with his other 'Asylum' releases. I'd recommend "Used Songs" , which is a compliation from his Asylum years. If you fancy venturing into the more bizarre side of Mr Waits then there can be only one starting point: Swordfishtrombones ("Never did like that dog !").

Other recommendations would be :

Mule Variations
Frank's Wild Years
Rain Dogs
Heartattack and Vine
Blue Valentine
Nighthawks at the Diner
The Heart of Saturday Night
Closing Time

I discovered Tom Waits when I was given a copy of "Swordfish..." but its his earlier work that really appeals to me. You should realise though that Waits is as much a story teller as a musician. 'Emotional Weather Report', from "Nighthawks at the Diner" is pure stand-up.

He's also a damn good actor as well !

"Rumblefish"
"Bramstoker's Dracula"
and my personal favourite film of all time "Down by law".

mO, I'm afraid your gonna be hooked !

 

If U also get the chance, try and see his 'live' performance Big Time. I saw it on VHS and it was fab.

It's kind of a cross between a live concert and a musical.

Anyway it has some great versions of some of his tracks and some funny stories as well, the virgin birth tall tale is hilarious!

 

i just have to say that my personal favorite song by tom waits is "shore leave" on swordfishtrombone. absolute genious. he is of course completely mad, beautifully so...