Tom Waits

lex you liking tom waits is quite incomprehensible to me.

I mean, I believe you obv, but I'm a bit shaken too.

yeah that is surprising. i had to read that twice.

It's a shame he tours so infrequently, since in many ways live presents him in the best light. The "Mule Variations" comeback jaunt was memorable awesome, and the "Real Gone" tour was tons of fun, too. The guy's theatricality is made for an audience.

i've always loved tom waits, i thought this was common knowledge

ranking the albums i've heard, not inc the new one

rain dogs > blue valentine > closing time > mule variations > alice > swordfishtrombones > blood money > heartattack and vine > real gone

absolutely adore the first three espesh

Ooh crumbs the Lex, if you like those, you must seek out Franks Wild Years, Small Change and Heart Of Saturday Night. I find Blue Valentine and Closing Time just a little too hammy. Mule Variations is a bit boring in places.

I love this Jon Pareles interview with him in the NY Times. Waits in his Suburban SUV drives Pareles onto railroad tracks and near a defunct truck stop...Plenty of informative and entertaining Waits quotes

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/arts/music/tom-waitss-new-album-bad-as-me.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

His songs and arrangements often smack of bleary late nights. But he prefers to record, surprisingly, first thing in the morning. “I used to think that great albums were made at 3 in the morning, until I tried recording at 3 in the morning. And then it was like: ‘Oh, man, I missed it. I’m out of gas,’ ” he said. “At 9:30, 10 o’clock, no one’s heard anything yet, they’re clean. Most of ’em haven’t even had breakfast yet, so this is breakfast.”

He offers his sidemen suggestions: “ ‘I want you to play like you’re 7 years old at a recital. I want you to play like your mom’s in the room. I want you to play like you’re miles from home, and your legs are dangling from a boxcar. Or play like your hair’s on fire. Play like you have no pants on.’ ”

....

Mr. Waits’s black Suburban was cluttered. On the passenger seat was a yellowing newspaper announcing the inauguration of John F. Kennedy. A large bottle of Valencia Mexican hot sauce rolled on the floor. Atop a pile covering the back seat were a bowler hat and a glittery sequined jacket. “I have the pants to match,” he said.

Under the clothing were LPs akin to Mr. Waits’s own music: Captain Beefheart, Willy DeVille and an album by the blues harmonica virtuoso Charlie Musselwhite, who also plays on the album. Digging further, Mr. Waits came up with an old sarsaparilla bottle, discovered, he said, while scavenging the truck stop’s parking lot.

waits really is just a bottomless well of great interview quotes. he doesn't even repeat himself very much!

i loved this-

"Anyone who has ever played a piano would really like to hear how it sounds when dropped from a 12th-floor window."

loved this from the ny times interview (and meyers does sound awesome on the album)

Q.
Another one of the sidemen on this album is Augie Meyers, the keyboard and accordion player who defined Tex-Mex with the Sir Douglas Quintet.

A.
He responds well to suggestions but he doesn’t do anything you ask him to do. He did some organ stabs on “Raised Right Man.” I was trying to tell him where to put them. And he was looking at me, like, don’t tell me where to put the stabs, man. I could stab this myself. I’m the stab king. I’ve been stabbing since before you were born.

:P

listening to this on the npr stream for the first time. sounds great, though i'm not sure if there's anything on here he hasn't done before. shorter song lengths are a good idea!
cool that keef richards is all over it. waits should produce a richards solo album!

My teenage son was all what's with that guy's scratchy voice.

It's Tom Waits's "Wild Honey" IMO. Fun album, shorter songs.

friggin love "Chicago".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5X4N2exOsU

omg. you're outta luck *smooch*

omg "Hell Broke Luce" = "Mutiny In Heaven"

Still the best song on the album though.

While I was listening to this I thought, hmm, I wonder if Tom Waits will ever do a Tom Waits Songbook, wherein he remakes favorite songs from his catalog. And then it hits me that, well, that's basically what he's been doing as of late. This is still a fun album, and has a spark that "Real Gone" didn't quite have. Or maybe it did; my listening of that one got eclipsed by "Orphans."

This is certainly easier to digest than Real Gone. The latter's slow, creepy, acoustic, sort of soporific in places and definitely front-loaded (the second half is mostly throwaway Waits-by-numbers and I never cared for the war-song). I still love a lot of Real Gone, 'How's It Going To End', 'Hoist That Rag', 'Sins Of My Father' and 'Don't Go Into That Barn YEAAAHH' are all ace, and slightly different from what he'd done before.

Really liking this on first listen, but I'm really not a fan of the sequencing. I really like "Hell Broke Luce", but I think its really awkwardly placed between "Last Leaf" and "New Years Eve".

yeah, too much quiet song/loud song on this. it's the only problem really.

It's too soon to call it love, but I am having a mad affair with this record. "Chicago" kicks so much ass, good lord.

Guys, I don't think he is trying to "hide" being sentimental! On places other than ILX (yes, I have ventured out there and return with this news), a healthy degree of sentiment is seen as a sign of humanity.

Still, well done for nailing him, we all thought he was cool

heard the new one at a friends house on a good stereo last night, and i'm really digging it! on the radio, "bad as me" didn't come across very well but i love the sound of this album, really like a 50s album or something...

i need to go pick this up

I'm loving this album.

Be sure to get the version with the 3 bonus tracks. "Tell Me" is lovely. And "Hell Broke Luce" is fucking bad-ass.

yeah i think this album is pretty great!
any word on whether he's touring? he might be at the top of my list of people i've never seen live.

No word on a tour. A Waits "tour" typically involves three cities. Was lucky enough to see him once after "Mule Variations" and it was a fucking stunning show. He's a great actor up there.

Don't miss the Fresh Air interview with him. He talks to Terri like they're old buddies -- hell, maybe they are. At one point he shuffles through some books he has sitting around his studio and reads her dadaist poetry from 1916.

listening to "Chicago" over footage of the OWS chaos works pretty damn well together!

Have we talked about how he's apparently announcing a tour tomorrow?

actually

is there news?

Here's the LA Times piece about it: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-tom-waits-20120806,0,1222309.story

I think he's planning to raid a stock exchange and then blow up a football stadium.

LOL at LA Time's HuffPo SEO headline with literally no actual information in the story

http://www.prosportstickers.com/product_images/p/752_toon_fish_on_hook__81156.png

Just a new video, was really hoping for a tour annoucement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Fju9o8BVJ8

Awesome, a new video!

oh cool you guys...

honestly, you've gotta be kidding me, is that it?

Funny move by Tom, actually. The only reason that story got any press is because everybody was expecting a tour.

"As most of you guessed, it’s a tour…a tour de force!"

nice video as it is though. Reminds me of Up! and also Mario 3 for some reason.

Waits fans - please vote in this one:
What's he POLLing in there? The Tom Waits ballot poll

Cheers for the promotion DL.

http://www.salon.com/2015/05/15/this_tender_tom_waits_tribute_to_david_letterman_will_make_you_weep/

I just saw the truly amazing staging of The Tempest, co-directed by magician Teller and featuring music (new and old) by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan. It occurred to me that I know next to nothing about his wife. Has she ever given an interview? She seems conspicuously quiet given what a huge impact she has had on his career, and that she has co-written pretty much everything of his since 1980.

huh hadn't heard about The Tempest! sounds interesting.
as far as Brennan goes, I don't think I've ever read an interview with her.

The Tempest was nuts, by the way. Incredible illusions plus a Caliban played by two people constantly connected/tumbling/climbing grabbling with one another. This is a still from another production:

http://americanrepertorytheater.org/sites/default/files/styles/gallery_popup/public/images/highres/TSC_Tempest_25.JPG?itok=m-Q_VwUV