Tom Waits

whoo, that is a serious downgrade.

Ah, better times for the Real Gone songs (but with Judah Bauer instead of Ribot)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR5SHuJDlUQ

^^I love that version so much, incredible performance.

Been thinking about Waits again lately. I have that Real Gone remaster on vinyl and it's quite jarring.

I put together an extensive career-spanning 'Best of' playlist here https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4FbY20jZVLSCXvfI4W1rvr?si=lMeXBmuATlWtgaNsbFfNww

This is a timely revive for me. Honestly cant remember the last time I put any of the records on, its surely been over 10 years. But just in the last couple weeks he's randomly been on my mind again (apocalypse? nostalgia?) and I've been thinking its time to revisit

it is kind of weird. Someone I know posted an interview with him a couple of days ago, and I got so excited I almost posted the same interview here, until I noticed it was maybe 20 years old. When this thread popped up again I for some reason figured it was someone else posting the same interview, like it had just been unearthed or something, but no, just a bunch of unrelated folks just thinking about Tom Waits.

^^^^ this.

A "press conference" from 10 or 15 years ago kept appearing on my Twitter feed this week.

This is the one I saw:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojX3ef2Gfgc

LOL Josh I totally watched that within the last week as well! Looks like it was just uploaded in June, it must be making the rounds of peoples YouTube recommendations. Its a neat interview, its fun to see him in such a good mood.

He should name his next album "Algorithm."

I've suddenly found myself enjoying his 21st century records much more than when they came out. A major correction after Mule Variations, which felt like the Swordfishtrombone persona was tapped out.

I went back to Bad As Me yesterday and it was better than I remember. I did enjoy it at the time but it didn't seem to have its own 'character' like most of his other albums, more a distillation of previous work. Still, it's a real solid hoot anyway

I'm sure he's fine, personally and financially, but I file Tom Waits near the top of the list of artists who right now probably wished they toured a bit more.

I've heard that the early alcohol consumption and later theatrical distancing were there because of serious stage anxiety.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Psk3rmjonQA

That's what i saw a few days ago ^^

I will absent-mindedly find myself singing "God's Away On Business" while doing a mindless chore, it's like having a song stuck in my head for the last ~17 years.

Xxxpost: it’s been a while since I heard “hoist that rag” and that remaster is so alien to me. Where those horns added in? I don’t remember them being there before unless they were way back in the mix. I like how those horn sound but without the guitar it’s missing something primal about it. It was the heart of the song.

Is this more of a remix then? Are all Waits recent remasters like this where it’s more of a second version than a real remaster?

I think it's just Real Gone that sounds significantly different.

From Waits' Bandcamp page:

Grammy nominated and featuring an entirely new mix that better fulfills the dynamic musical soundscape Waits/Brennan envisioned from the beginning. To accomplish this they returned to the multitrack session tapes and enhanced certain instruments or a vocal arrangement to create a sound that better represents the full bodied more sonically vibrant and jagged edges that Waits and Brennan were originally going for but lost.

It's the Iggy Raw Power mix of Waits releases

damn

it sounds like a lot of elements in the mix are

real gone

The horns are definitely new.

Tom Waits: "Ima fix Hoist That Rag"

Ribot's playing on that reminds me of his Cuban band, he must have really been in that mode at the time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0IPcqI3NH8

listening to the Real Gone remaster again, tbh if you didn't know what the OG "Hoist That Rag"sounded like there would be no issues. the album sounds great.

I have the original mix (which I hated at the time FTR) on a hard drive and I'm comparing it to the new version (on Bandcamp). The horns are entirely new on "Hoist That Rag" (or excised from the mix at the time and restored later) and I think the increased Cuban-ness of it makes the new version a little better. I remember reading an interview at the time where Waits said he wanted to make the album really noisy and harsh to suit both his and the national mood, and he succeeded - it's the St. Anger of his catalog IMO, and I've never liked it. I'm gonna buy this updated version.

I could totally see them having recorded the horns at the time and then stripping it down to make it super minimal and raw, and years later thinking 'hey those horns sound pretty sweet'.

TW is sounding great to me today. Also reminding me that his records are where I really fell for Ribot.

Couldn’t they have kept that different version of Hoist That Rag as a bonus track or something at least? It’s fine, but I’d take the more minimal, gnarled up original version any day. Weird to completely replace it.

One of my favorite TW tracks tbh, annoyed he’s George Lucas-ing it.

Yeah same, his best track of the 2000s imho, really caught lightning in a bottle with it

Insane to not at least leave the old mix up somehow. I've got it on my old iTunes archive drive but I never use that anymore.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw3mFXOwRgw

I remember when Orphans came out, a bunch of those tracks i had already been familiar with for years due to filesharing & owning the various comps and sdtks, and the orphans versions of many of them had overdubs and new parts punched in, most of which didnt help the songs imo. Obviously some of it was just due to familiarity with the previous versions, but it was still weird to hear these songs, many of which had really fantastic spare arrangements and carefully-mixed soundworlds, all of a sudeen filled with a bunch of drums and banjos and harmonica, which sounded like they were all recorded in the same session. I remember being particularly annoyed at a bunch of Charlie Musselwhite blues harp soloing all over "Heigh Ho".

I would never change a single thing about the OG Hoist That Rag and I wish he would put out an entire album that sounds like that.

Always like the demo of Alice better than released version too

Random thoughts after going back to a lot of TW:

-Both versions of Hoist That Rag are very good

-Bad As Me is also good, not bad

-I love his ballads more than I used to (although I always loved 'Green Grass' and 'Alice')

-Bone Machine is still sounds great, I love that high rasp voice he uses on say 'Jesus Gonna Be Here', wish he used that more

he has approximately 50 amazing ballads

Johnstown, Illinois is my favourite.

Good Old World, Waltz

Also fun to hear him write a song over the 'Do Whatcha Wanna' bassline ('Get Lost' on Bad As Me)

I wrote about Alice and Blood Money, and the experience of interviewing Waits (the story that got me in the door at The Wire), for Stereogum.

thanks i enjoyed that

good piece

https://tomwaits.ffm.to/alicebloodmoney

vinyl reissues + 2 live tracks

Tom Waits will be releasing limited edition vinyl of his albums “Alice” and “Blood Money” to celebrate their 20th anniversary.
Originally released on May 7, 2002, the re-issues will be available on October 7.

All The World Is Green (Live)
Fish & Bird (Live)

Leading up to the official release date, Waits is putting out previously unreleased live versions of songs from the records,
starting with “All the World is Green” from ‘Blood Money’ and “Fish and Bird” from ‘Alice.’ “All the World is Green” was
recorded at a live show in 2008 in Milan, Italy and features a dramatic faux flamenco guitar intro, while “Fish and Bird”
is taken from Waits’ celebrated return to the London stage in 2004 and is a stripped down raw piano version of the ballad
that featured a chamber orchestra arrangement in the studio recording.

(text is quoted from the mail & link is without identifying crap)

Think these were reissued/remastered in 2017 and are still available, but the live tracks will be nice to hear.

will probably pick these up but holding off on a preorder until i can confirm he hasnt fucked with the mixes or added overdubs or anything

"Digital deluxe versions of both records, featuring newly released live performances, are out today along with limited edition vinyl reissues. Unfortunately, Alice vinyl is delayed until October 21st everywhere except for Europe and the UK."

https://tomwaits.ffm.to/alicebloodmoney

the stickers say "Newly remastered with Waits/Brennan" - anyone check them out yet?