Favorite Tom Waits albums...

Tyler · Post by **Tyler** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 12:37 pm

Okay, I dunno if anyone remembers (I don't even remember if I posted about it or not, but I think I did) back in 2005 when my car was broken into and a good chunk of my CD collection was stolen.
If not, well, it happened, and ever since I've been slowly building my collection back up.
I don't know how I got this far without noticing, but I haven't bought any Tom Waits CDs to replace my stolen ones.
So, since I've got a little birthday money, I figured I'd go out and buy one or two.
I definately want to get Swordfishtrombones again, but since there are some albums I didn't own before, I might consider picking one of those up.
Which brings me to the topic of the thread; which Tom Waits album is your favorite and why?

chas · Post by **chas** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 1:11 pm

Oh, geez, Tyler, that's not at all an easy question. I do tend to gravitate to his stuff from before he got into the whole percussive sound. The three I probably listen to the most are Heart of Saturday Night, Closing Time and Nighthawks at the Diner.

crookedtune · Post by **crookedtune** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 1:22 pm

I somehow let his career get by me until picking up a greatest hits type collection called something like "Beautiful Maladies", (can't remember exactly). It's an Island recording.

It's great but my wife hates it so much it doesn't come out often. She does like "Innocent When You Dream", though.

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 1:58 pm

If it has Innocent When You Dream on it, it's Frank's Wild Years. Tough to pick favs but to my mind, Closing Time and Raindogs stand out. I liked Real Gone, too. But if I start thinking about it, there isn't a Tom Waits album that I don't like. Mule Variations, Swordfishtrombones, Frank's Wild Years, Small Change, Heart of Saturday Night, Nighthawks, Blue Valentine are all terrific. I rather like Orphans, too, but don't see much movement forward in it from Real Gone, at least not musically.

Sliabh Luachra · Post by **Sliabh Luachra** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 2:51 pm

Heart of a Saturday Night is one of my favorites, followed by. . ..uh...hmmmm. .. just about everything else he's done. It's all good. Small Change always is good for a laugh. .. Raindogs. . ..Blue Valentine. . .those are the ones in my truck now, though I love them all.

Mark

izzarina · Post by **izzarina** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 2:55 pm

Well, since I only have a few songs, and they're all from Closing Time I guess I'd have to say that's my favorite

chas · Post by **chas** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 3:18 pm

crookedtune wrote: It's great but my wife hates it so much it doesn't come out often. She does like "Innocent When You Dream", though.

Yep, all my Waits albums (and all my Frank Zappa) are in the garage. They're about all I listen to when turning wood.

Bloomfield wrote:. . . I rather like Orphans, too, but don't see much movement forward in it from Real Gone, at least not musically.

Funny thing is, Orphans is made up of stuff he wrote (and played) throughout his career. (It has one thing on it that I first heard in 1981, but which never made it onto an album.) I was expecting something quite different, that had sounds from throughout his career, not something that sounds as thought it was all made in the last few years.

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 3:39 pm

chas wrote:
Bloomfield wrote:. . . I rather like Orphans, too, but don't see much movement forward in it from Real Gone, at least not musically.
Funny thing is, Orphans is made up of stuff he wrote (and played) throughout his career. (It has one thing on it that I first heard in 1981, but which never made it onto an album.) I was expecting something quite different, that had sounds from throughout his career, not something that sounds as thought it was all made in the last few years.

Yeah. I was really looking forward to Orphans, especially since Real Gone had been an epiphany, I thought. The real strength of Orphans lies in the lyrics and in the overall impact, the way he builds it up from pieces and makes you think about how songs relate and how brawlers and bawlers relate (not to mention Basmatis) and all that. But musically I was also expecting something fundamental and new from Waits. It's excellent, mind you, but it's made up of the beat box loops, the percussive stuff, and the raspy crooning, he's been using and there are only a few points where I hear something strikingly different, even within the Waits idiom.

straycat82 · Post by **straycat82** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 5:19 pm

Bloomfield wrote:I rather like Orphans, too, but don't see much movement forward in it from Real Gone, at least not musically.

I believe that many of the recordings from Orphans were written and even recorded throughout his career and before Real Gone; I know of at least a few of the songs that I heard in a movie or somewhere else in years passed.

straycat82 · Post by **straycat82** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 5:22 pm

D'oh, you guys have gone there... I should've read the entire post before speaking.

Regarding the original question: Recommending a Tom Waits album to someone is not an easy thing to do... even to a Tom Waits fan. There are many who are only fond of the early piano and crooning who lost interest when he stepped outside of that. There are also those who only like the last decade or so of his career. I'm one that absolutely loves everything he's ever done... granted, there may be a few songs I skip here and there throughout the albums but they're all pretty solid in my book. Rain Dogs was the first album I heard and then I just started buying everything I could find (over a several year period, of course... I'm not rich) and I was never disappointed in a purchase. The same goes for the new albums that have come out since I discovered his music for myself.

raindog1970 · Post by **raindog1970** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 7:11 pm

crookedtune wrote:I somehow let his career get by me until picking up a greatest hits type collection called something like "Beautiful Maladies", (can't remember exactly). It's an Island recording.

It's great but my wife hates it so much it doesn't come out often. She does like "Innocent When You Dream", though.

Bloomfield wrote:If it has Innocent When You Dream on it, it's Frank's Wild Years

Beautiful Maladies: The Island Years

1. Hang On St. Christopher
2. Temptation
3. Clap Hands
4. The Black Rider
5. Underground
6. Jockey Full Of Bourbon
7. Earth Died Screaming
8. Innocent When You Dream ('78)
9. Straight To The Top
10. Frank's Wild Years
11. Singapore
12. Shore Leave
13. Johnsburg, Illinois
14. Way Down In The Hole
15. Strange Weather (Live)
16. Cold, Cold Ground (Live)
17. November
18. Downtown Train
19. 16 Shells From A Thirty-Ought Six
20. Jesus Gonna Be Here
21. Good Old World (Waltz)
22. I Don't Wanna Grow Up
23. Time

I'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite album, but this one is a great compilation of Tom's best recordings from his years with Island records.

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 1:19 am

If you like Waits you must have Nighthawks at the Diner, that just seems compulsory. I'd go for Orphans too. There's enough happening in there to keep you interested until you have to buy a couple more. Check out the DVD Songs After Closing Time; I suppose it's a bootleg but it's well worth the search.

Tyler · Post by **Tyler** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 6:33 am

Update:

Okay....
after spending close to an hour at the store listening to disks and deciding if I wanted something I'd had before or something I hadn't yet owned, I settled on getting two I had not yet owned before; The Heart Of Saturday Night and Blue Valentine.

As with everything Tom Waits did/does, words can't describe the total coolness of these albums. My wife really digs 'em (in fact, after I got them put on my iPod she comandeered them for use in her car!).
Some of my favs from these disks are the title track from The Heart of Saturday Night, Drunk on the Moon, Kentucky Ave, and Blue Valentines.

MarcusR · Post by **MarcusR** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 7:34 am

Frank's Wild Years was that got me hooked.
Rain Dogs seem to be played a lot in our house (not counting Orphans).

For people that just can't stand Waits (for some strange reason), Holly Cole's interpretations of Waits songs on the CD "Temptations" is a good soft jazz collection of Waits songs that show his brilliance as a composer.

/MarcusR

straycat82 · Post by **straycat82** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 9:07 am

Madeleine Peyroux did a nice version of "The Heart of Saturday Night" on her latest album.