Tom Waits: classic or dud/search & destroy

I love Tom Waits more than life itself.

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.

haven't listened to him in quite a while though, I kinda overdid it there

The Black Rider is shit-scary... I still need to acquire Bone Machine.

TS: Alice vs Blood Money? I go with the latter, though "Alice" is possibly the best song from the two of them put together.

didn't really care for mule variations though, and his last two left me a little cold, though I think "blood money" is the better of the two

Also, Marc Ribot!!

http://www.kicoz.nu/tom_waits/images/shoezko.jpghttp://www.c-m-b.com/web/tom%20waits.jpghttp://elsewhere.polydistortion.net/lib/cache/pics/music/2002-04-19-tom-waits.small.jpghttp://www.e835.to.infn.it/people/fbertini/waits.jpg

"The next generaton of an underworld American musical dynasty makes its debut on a new LP currently being worked on by Tom Waits. The singer's son Casey appears playing percussion and turntables on the album, working title Real Gone, slated for release this autumn on Anti Records."

Best song: Who Are You from [i]Bone Machine[/i]. Does anyone else find this song to be the most perfect song/performance of his career. Reduces me to a husk every time.

Fave albums are [i]Closing Time, Swordfishtrombones, Franks Wild Years[/i] and [i]Bone Machine[/i]. [i]Mule Variations[/i] and [i]Alice/Blood Money[i/] I like very much, though a little patchy. Given what albums I love, should I get [i]Black Rider[/i]?

"The Ramones cover" is probably "I Don't Wanna Grow Up" - on Bone Machine.

According to Johnny Ramone, “It took the Ramones 30 years to be eventually nominated for a Grammy. Thanks to Tom Waits for finally getting us there.”

Tom Waits recorded the track for the tribute album with his son Casey Waits on drums and Les Claypool of Primus on bass, while Brett Gurewitz from Bad Religion and Epitaph Records founder co-produced and played guitar. “The only honor possibly greater than producing and playing on a Tom Waits track would be to do it for The Ramones,” said Gurewitz. “The fact that it’s nominated for a Grammy makes it all the more surreal.”"

(Les Claypool is on the new record again, I know at least one ILXer will be delighted at this. *hint* it's not ME)

Of what I've heard, I enjoy the Swordfishtrombones and later material more than pre-SFT. On the Swordfishtrombones vs. Rain Dogs point, somebody previously said they favored Rain Dogs on the basis that by then he had more time to grow into the new sound he was crafting and that Rain Dogs was less patchy (which I'm not sure if they meant in terms of consistancy of sound or just consistancy of performance), the lesser consistancy of sound of Swordfish is what is so great about that album to me [Holy run on sentence, sorry folks]. He pulls out the mush balladry of In The Neighborhood right next to the smoky storytelling of Frank's Wild Years right next to the xylophone jazz of Swordfishtrombones, I love it. Alice vs. Blood Money, the extreme theatrics of Alice (not to say that most Waits isn't big) win me over (and like someone said earlier, 'Alice' is just such an amazing track).

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?

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?

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

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.

he didnt go full howlin' until heart attack and vine, which by all accounts is a great success of an album

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.