― kane smith, Wednesday, 1 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Search: usual suspects plus any live recording (preferably boots rather than the official live albums) you can get your hands on. He always has great bands and the between song banter is hilarious.
Destroy: it gets a little sloppy around Heartattack & Vine, but I wouldn't part with any of it.
― tha chzza, Thursday, 2 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― maryann, Thursday, 2 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Anyway Search: Nighthawks at the Diner for the old-school Waits at his best, great story-telling, good jokes.
Bone Machine for new school Waits. Brilliant guitar sound throughout the album.
special prize for "What's he building there."
Destroy: oh I dunno, nothing specific. Rain Dogs tends to be a bit boring in spots. [goes into hiding expecting Waits-heads shouting: Rain Dogs boring!!!??? How could you?]
― Omar, Thursday, 2 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Josh, Thursday, 2 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― duane, Thursday, 2 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― gareth, Thursday, 2 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Kodanshi, Thursday, 2 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
You can make the same arguments against Nick Cave or Leonard Cohen - self-consciously trying to be "classic", relying on a persona, heavy- handed American Gothic imagery, doomy vocalisation, literary pretensions, wearing suits & motorcycle boots etc.
sometimes all that seems a bit silly, I admit. Not particularly any more goofy than the pretensions of a lot of other musicians, though.
I don't understand the hypothetical jewel & fiona apple-loving yuppie analogy, really. should people who like bad art only like bad art? are they not worthy of their old blues records? or are all people who like old music (or new music inspired by older music) scared of music that isn't "fossilized into inoffensiveness?"
― fritz, Thursday, 2 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Lyra, Thursday, 2 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Andy, Thursday, 2 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― X. Y. Zedd, Thursday, 2 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Or maybe you could give an example of a worthwhile songwriter who isn't trying to sound classic who can be constructively compared with Waits (i.e. not contrasting him with Autechre). I've yet to see ANY songwriter, classic or not, disparage Tom. I think that should count for something.
I agree about the cult of Waits, though I don't think it's as bad as U2/Radiohead, etc. because so much of Tom's persona is kitsch that the negative aspects (often too sentimental, for example) are integral to the package as a whole. This is something I think you have to appreciate about him whether you like the music or not, is that he takes his job as entertainer seriously. Keep that in mind next time you see some Pavement-clones whose singer is afraid to even make eye contact w/ the audience.
I will put in the obligatory defense that Rain Dogs isn't boring. In fact I recommend it as the perfect first purchase for the beginner.
And what the difference is between a "real" or a "fake" beatnik, or what that has to do with anything, I don't know.
(I never listen to the former two, but the point stands.)
― maryann, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
The 80s trilogy is the highlight, still, although Bone Machine is just as good. A recent listen to Mule Variations made it seem his worst thing since the 70s to me. His gift for melody seems to have left him on that record. The songs are VERY by the numbers, although the production & lyrics seem up to snuff. Does anyone agree that he fell off sharply with that one?
― Mark, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― alex in mainhattan, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― fritz, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Jack Rdelfs, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Jack Redelfs, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― X. Y. Zedd, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I gotta go with Gun Street Girl. Love that song. We used to drink in this tiny all night bar in Tokyo and they would play Waits all night. Pretty bizarre.
― james, Sunday, 5 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
"The Piano Has Been Drinking" for boozed up fun. "Time" as the best of his ballads.
― Sterling Clover, Sunday, 5 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 15:09 (twenty-one years ago) link
― pete b. (pete b.), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 16:21 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dadaismus (Dada), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 16:57 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 17:02 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 17:16 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dadaismus (Dada), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 17:18 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 17:18 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 17:19 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 17:22 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 21:06 (twenty-one years ago) link
― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Sunday, 30 November 2003 05:32 (twenty years ago) link
― s1utsky (slutsky), Sunday, 30 November 2003 06:50 (twenty years ago) link
― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Sunday, 30 November 2003 07:06 (twenty years ago) link
― cinniblount (James Blount), Sunday, 30 November 2003 09:55 (twenty years ago) link
(I like Fiona Apple btw.)
― The Lex (The Lex), Sunday, 30 November 2003 11:55 (twenty years ago) link
― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Sunday, 30 November 2003 12:24 (twenty years ago) link
I guess so. It's just that it's a little off-putting that he started inhabiting that persona at, like, age 21...
― Chris F. (servoret), Sunday, 30 November 2003 19:55 (twenty years ago) link
Why do people not like Swordfishtrombones? I actually prefer that album to Rain Dogs - shorter. Plus, it's got "Shore Leave" and "Frank's Wild years." Hot cha.
― ddrake, Sunday, 30 November 2003 21:04 (twenty years ago) link
― s1utsky (slutsky), Sunday, 30 November 2003 22:34 (twenty years ago) link
So did Xtina ;) Also, while the persona itself has remained constant, different songs present different perspectives of it; with much of his work, Tom's character (generally in 'observer' mode) is actually less important to the song than the characters he sees. Of course they're filtered through his narrative, but I think he wants to be a pretty reliable narrator most of the time, when not soaked in whisky.
I thought Swordfishtrombones was generally considered to be his best... I always preferred Rain Dogs, though. I still haven't got over how his voice sounds NORMAL on Closing Time.
― The Lex (The Lex), Monday, 1 December 2003 00:37 (twenty years ago) link
― lauren (laurenp), Monday, 1 December 2003 00:57 (twenty years ago) link
I love Tom Waits more than life itself.
― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Monday, 1 December 2003 01:00 (twenty years ago) link
Sometimes I tell people I moved to the Bay Area in the hopes of bumping into Tom. Even I don't know if I'm joking or not.
― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Monday, 1 December 2003 01:09 (twenty years ago) link
― jed (jed_e_3), Monday, 1 December 2003 01:12 (twenty years ago) link
haven't listened to him in quite a while though, I kinda overdid it there
― s1utsky (slutsky), Monday, 1 December 2003 01:12 (twenty years ago) link
― dog latin (dog latin), Friday, 15 October 2004 15:30 (nineteen years ago) link
― Gear! (Gear!), Friday, 15 October 2004 16:28 (nineteen years ago) link
― j.m. lockery (j.m. lockery), Friday, 15 October 2004 21:15 (nineteen years ago) link
― JoshIAm, Saturday, 16 October 2004 03:29 (nineteen years ago) link
I like some of his stuff, but the trouble is that between every nice ballad once in a while he tends to put some of those absolutely unlistenable Captain Beefheart influenced, well, dunno what I'd call them but songs they aren't, that is for certain.
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 16 October 2004 21:59 (nineteen years ago) link
― j.m. lockery (j.m. lockery), Tuesday, 19 October 2004 00:36 (nineteen years ago) link
― Sympatico (shmuel), Tuesday, 19 October 2004 00:48 (nineteen years ago) link
― Pete W (peterw), Tuesday, 19 October 2004 09:00 (nineteen years ago) link
― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 19 October 2004 13:03 (nineteen years ago) link
― Sympatico (shmuel), Tuesday, 19 October 2004 18:32 (nineteen years ago) link
Now that would be cool. My two favourites working together for the force of mint-ox.
― JoshIAm, Friday, 22 October 2004 06:47 (nineteen years ago) link
Way Down In The Hole - top "evil preacher" style hellfire-isms with groovy sax breaks.
Big In Japan - again, it's the brassy breaks that do this for me, plus the beatboxing rules.
Such A Scream - I think all three of these songs are quite similar in a way. I like this one too.
― dog latin (dog latin), Friday, 22 October 2004 12:47 (nineteen years ago) link
With such a vast oeuvre, I had to make painful choices, but I like this list.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 10 August 2017 02:25 (six years ago) link
Agree on Bone Machine being a peak. Add "Murder in the Red Barn" and "Dirt in the Ground" to the great songs from this record.
(Psst... it's "Hoist That Rag," not "Flag")
― Hideous Lump, Thursday, 10 August 2017 02:36 (six years ago) link
typo!
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 10 August 2017 02:44 (six years ago) link
good list! I'd need these somewhere in there too (I'm a sucker for even the schmaltziest Waits material apparently)
TimeAnywhere I Lay My HeadTake It With MeFalling DownYesterday Is HereRuby's ArmsTom Traubert's BluesGod's Away On BusinessAnother Man's VineGun Street GirlOn the NickelOl' 55
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Thursday, 10 August 2017 13:31 (six years ago) link
oh, and "Cold, Cold Ground"!
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Thursday, 10 August 2017 13:34 (six years ago) link
I don't know if "Bone Machine" is a peak, but it did follow a long gap and not only restored his profile but reinvented him as an alternative era hipster (as opposed to net-beatnik weirdo hipster). By "Mule Variations" and that tour he was a full fledged alternative era icon, where he's remained ever since. One of the few short of Leonard Cohen probably even cooler in their late career than during their earlier peaks.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 10 August 2017 13:41 (six years ago) link
Mule Variations is certified gold! I remember the hosannas at the time but does anyone love it now?
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 10 August 2017 13:54 (six years ago) link
I wore it out but it has a lot of gems. It's a great gateway album and one of the few records my dad and I can agree on.
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Thursday, 10 August 2017 14:05 (six years ago) link
I think of everything he's done since Bone Machine as one long album (that I rarely listen to, tbh).
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 10 August 2017 14:07 (six years ago) link
Mule Variations felt to me at the time like a schtick-ier sequel to Bone Machine - like that album had hit a pop culture nerve ("Goin' Out West" was in Fight Club!) and he felt internal/external pressure to give people more of the same. The only tracks that really hold up for me are "Cold Water" and "What's He Building?"
― grawlix (unperson), Thursday, 10 August 2017 14:11 (six years ago) link
Alice and Blood Money were the new ones at the time I interviewed Waits in 2002. I like both of them better than Mule, especially Alice.
― grawlix (unperson), Thursday, 10 August 2017 14:13 (six years ago) link
Mule Variations feels the point where the Swordfishtrombones career re-invention with Brennan goes on autopilot and the Beefheart spasms start to sound like retreads. It's his only album that lapses in to self-parody, and thankfully he got beyond those cliches he'd established in the 1980s. He hasn't been as consistent since, but that last album shows his peaks are as good as ever. Rain Dogs is tops. There's plenty of fantastic work before Brennan too, and it's not as different as it sometimes seem, just less dissonant.
My favorite of his L.A. balladier early work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo3ilqhf1tE
― Mungolian Jerryset (bendy), Thursday, 10 August 2017 14:16 (six years ago) link
It's missing some of my favorite songs of him:
Green Grass, Red Shoes by the Drugstore and Cold Cold Ground.
Also we all agreed here on ILM that Jockey Full of Bourbon is his number one song. How can that one be missing?
― dance cum rituals (Moka), Thursday, 10 August 2017 14:16 (six years ago) link
I think of Waits a little like a personal anti-Steely Dan figure...I turned 30 and I dunno, just lost interest. It was hard to imagine, suddenly, growing up/old with his music.
The affectations and the schtick got tiresome. I find it hard to imagine listening to him again like I did 10, 15 years ago (possibly go back to the ballads?)
― Master of Treacle, Thursday, 10 August 2017 14:16 (six years ago) link
Oh shit it's also missing Alice!
― dance cum rituals (Moka), Thursday, 10 August 2017 14:17 (six years ago) link
I usually put on Rain Dogs or Orphans when the urge strikes.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 10 August 2017 14:26 (six years ago) link
I jumped off the junkwagon with Real Gone. Way too fucking long (72 minutes) and I don't need political songs from Tom Waits. I listen to Tom Waits in order to visit the imaginary planet he lives on, not to hear him gripe about this one. I've never listened to Orphans, but I came back for Bad as Me and liked it.
― grawlix (unperson), Thursday, 10 August 2017 14:41 (six years ago) link
I like Bad as Me too yet superficially it's not much different from MV.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 10 August 2017 14:42 (six years ago) link
I don't think of Waits' settings as imaginary, and along with the Brechtian clank, there's been Brechtian social commentary all along about the impossibilities of staying good in an unjust world, with lots of portraits of self-delusional characters who make the world worse. Anachronistic details, yes, but still addressing the real world. Akin to this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbYmWrfNJpQ
― Mungolian Jerryset (bendy), Thursday, 10 August 2017 14:54 (six years ago) link
> I like Bad as Me too yet superficially it's not much different from MV.
I know! Maybe he just needed time off.
I don't need political songs from Tom Waits
I was happy to see "Hell Broke Luce" and "Hoist That Rag" on Alfred's list as they're two of the better anti-war songs anyone's written in the last while
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Thursday, 10 August 2017 15:28 (six years ago) link
Only Waits show I've ever seen was in a Broadway theatre, prob right after the release of Franks Wild Years. Just great. I'm very fond of the Swordfishtrombones thru Bone Machine period, spotty familiarity with everything else.
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 10 August 2017 15:49 (six years ago) link
i have about 10 of his albums but haven't listened to them in a long time
small change, rain dogs, and franks wild years strike me as the best ones. bone machine is good too
― marcos, Thursday, 10 August 2017 15:55 (six years ago) link
Heartattack and Vine gets slept on despite some A+ songs, especially the ballads, like Jersey Girl and Ruby's Arms.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 10 August 2017 16:01 (six years ago) link
"Hell Broke Luce" is a great example of how to be influenced by hip hop without trying to make hip hop.
― Mungolian Jerryset (bendy), Thursday, 10 August 2017 22:22 (six years ago) link
hell broke luce sounds contrived to my earscosign on heart attack, that's a great record
― niels, Thursday, 10 August 2017 22:26 (six years ago) link
faves: Real Gone, Alice/Blood Money, Small Change
― Week of Wonders (Ross), Thursday, 10 August 2017 23:36 (six years ago) link
Hard to pick but if I had to do one per decade:
70s: blue valentines80s: swordfishtrombone90s: bone machine00s: alice10s:... i suppose bad as me but there's only one album to pick... surprised he hasn't done much this decade.
― dance cum rituals (Moka), Friday, 11 August 2017 00:54 (six years ago) link
Never got the love for Mule Variations, but then I'm not into his straighter blues-oriented stuff and much prefer the Brechtian material really
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Friday, 11 August 2017 10:44 (six years ago) link
My fave is "Nighthawks at the diner". It is a little bit like his "Take no Prisoners". He is such a great entertainer and the nightclub atmosphere really fits him well. I used to listen to it on dope, it really intensifies the listening experience. I used to think "Bone Machine" was his last peak after that I lost interest. Finding out that his singing voice is not his real voice did not really help in appreciating his music. On the contrary after that I got pretty tired of his shtick.
― Ich bin kein Berliner (alex in mainhattan), Thursday, 17 August 2017 20:56 (six years ago) link
real gone is good it's got some siqq ribot playing
― kurt schwitterz, Thursday, 17 August 2017 22:33 (six years ago) link
ok the first song on real gone is the worst shit he's ever done
― kurt schwitterz, Thursday, 17 August 2017 22:38 (six years ago) link
Finding out that his singing voice is not his real voice did not really help in appreciating his music.
Actually, his speaking voice (I spent about 2 hours on the phone with him) is not that different from his singing voice at all, just slightly more subdued - 'cause he's talking and not singing. But his speaking voice is definitely gravelly and hoarse. The difference is about what you'd expect. I mean, Robert Plant doesn't speak in high-pitched screams, you know?
― grawlix (unperson), Thursday, 17 August 2017 22:39 (six years ago) link
Maybe his speaking voice is contrived as well. It could well be that he has "forgotten" his normal voice. There is a sudden change of his voice from the first two albums to the others to a much lower register. Do you really think that was natural?
― Ich bin kein Berliner (alex in mainhattan), Friday, 18 August 2017 12:41 (six years ago) link
there's nothing 'natural' about Tom Waits. his entire act is, well, it's an act. but like you say, it's hard to tell how much of it he has absorbed into his natural persona of course
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Friday, 18 August 2017 12:58 (six years ago) link
There is a sudden change of his voice from the first two albums to the others to a much lower register. Do you really think that was natural?
I disagree, and I'm listening to Closing Time as I type this. The voice sounds almost the same to me, just a little more singer-songwriter/country and a little less Howlin' Wolf/Captain Beefheart. Maybe a little more nasal and a little less chest/throat. That's all.
― grawlix (unperson), Friday, 18 August 2017 13:56 (six years ago) link
he didnt go full howlin' until heart attack and vine, which by all accounts is a great success of an album
― kurt schwitterz, Friday, 18 August 2017 15:39 (six years ago) link
His voice on the Glitter and Doom live album is verging on death metal. I was a bit disappointed by the lack of nuance on that one, even though the playing is great.
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Friday, 18 August 2017 15:48 (six years ago) link