No revelation that, aside from the ballads, the pre- and post-Heartattack and Vine eras are practically the work of different artists… but while making the mix below, I started wondering which segment of the Waits canon is the more popular these days. I’m guessing folks still eat up the boom boom clang clang, since I thought I heard Mule Variations went platinum (?)
I personally would prefer a bottle infrona me than a frontal lobotomy:
Red Shoes at the Drugstore
Romeo is Bleeding
Whistling Past the Graveyard
Wrong Side of the Road
Blue Valentines
New Coat of Paint
Step Right Up
Pasties and a G-string
Invitation to the Blues
The One That Got Away
Barber Shop
Muriel
Jack and Neal
Sight for Sore Eyes
Hearattack and Vine
In Shades
'Til the Money Runs Out
Mr. Siegal
(That being said, I thought Alice was just fabulous.)
Umm… both. Different Waits for different moods, really.
As much as I love Small Change and Blue Valentine and even Foreign Affairs, I’m also mad about Big Time, Bone Machine, The Black Rider and my prized Live in Firenze bootleg from 1999. The new stuff still has the heartbreak and beauty of the old, it’s just backed with a musical style which, I think, emphasizes the desperation and irrationality of existence.
And the ability to bang out pieces like Sixteen Shells from a 30-0-6 and Down in the Hole has been added into his repetoire, which in my book is a good, good thing. That ‘mongrel, canine growling’ that he’s been working toward since forever has manifested in some astonishingly savage ways.
I’m also of the opinion that the abrupt transition between one Waits and the next wasn’t really that abrupt. Anyone who heard 'Til the Money Runs Out or the title track from Heartattack and Vine knew that something different was starting up. And Town With No Cheer or Soldier’s Things would have fit well into a more traditional Waits record than Swordfishtrombones.
There seems to be a feeling that the newer Waits has turned his back on the old material, striking out in a completely opposite direction. But I see the older stuff as a foundation for the new, and throughout his current material, it’s evident that the same artist is there, with some new directions added in. I don’t think appreciation of either is mutually exclusive.
I love Tom Waits, but I’m a relatively new convert, and the only albums I own of his are Beautiful Maladies: The Island Years, Alice, and Blood Money. I love them all, although I admit some of the stuff on Beautiful Maladies left me a little cold. My favorite Waits songs are “Jockey Full of Bourbon,” “Goin Out West,” “Romeo Is Bleeding,” and that beautiful ballad that opens up the movie Keeping the Faith (apologies for not remembering the name), but they’re all good. I also enjoyed the hell out of the recent Alice and Blood Money.
So which albums would you suggest I get next? Keep in mind I’m enough of a fan to get them all over time, but would I prefer more of his later stuff, or the earlier ones? And also keep in mind I don’t know which are which. I also intend to rent the movie Down By Law pretty soon, which he was apparently fantastic in.
Also, I was lucky enough to catch the end of a great live performance by Waits on Austin City Limits some months back. I only saw the second half, but I was enthralled–I’ve never seen such an intense concert before, and I’d love to own a copy of it. Does anyone know what I’m referring to? Is it even available? I figure it goes back to the late '70s, because he looked much younger.
IMHO, “Nighthawks At The Diner” contains some of the finest impressions ever set into vinyl. Particularly Side One. Unbelievably perfect music. I like most of Tom’s material up to where it became ‘boom boom clang clang’, then he sorta lost me - but that kind of music by anyone doesn’t appeal to me, anyway.
“High tonight, low tomorrow. Precipitation is expected.”
I prefer the boom clang clang, but I’ll take the bluesy stuff if that’s all there is in front of me. I do love me some “Alice” (is there a bad song on that album?) and his maudlin drinking-n-crying music, like “Muriel” pf the old days and “Pony” of the newer ones.
Big Bad Voodoo Lou, get yourself some Rain Dogs (1985) and Bone Machine (1992).
Look for “Swordfishtrombones” and “Rain Dogs.” Your Beautiful Maladies compilation culls cuts from these albums, but the entire albums are essential. They’re from the transitional period from. There is a brief lil’ ditty called Johnsburg, Illinois that is one of my favorite ballads. My favorite earlier period recordings are “Heartattack & Vine” and “Blue Valentine”
FYI: Apple’s iTunes Music Store has his entire catalogue (I think). Go and browse and cherry-pick to your liking.
Side note: The theme song from Dave Attel’s “Insomniac”: Is that a total rip-off of “Singapore” (from Rain Dogs) or what?
Yes, a tenuous link from Heartattack to Swordfish is audible. Still, though. If he was getting his toes wet with a new sonic direction in the former, in the latter he did a cannonball right into the ocean.
“16 Shells” was the first Tom Waits song I ever heard and it held me transfixed. So I’m far from a hater of the boom boom clang clang; I just think it can sound self-conscious at times. Like he’s trying to sound outrageous.
Lou, it sounds like you’d dig any of the 80’s albums… “Goin Out West” is from Bone Machine; “Jockey” is from Raindogs (that one’s been in so many soundtracks it isn’t funny). “Romeo” is a 1978 classic from my personal favorite, Blue Valentine. If you love Alice and Blood Money though, I’d recommend Mule Variations, Raindogs, Swordfishtrombones, or Frank’s Wild Years (most underrated). Bone Machine is of a similar ilk as these but probably his darkest album, if you like that.
I prefer the older stuff, but I really enjoy Blood Money as well. The two songs that always get me are the cover of “Somewhere” on Blue Valentine and “Kentucky Avenue.” Though I have to admit, shamefacedly, that the lyrics to “Kentucky Avenue” make me cry if I listen to them too closely.
Here’s me being a wee bit more verbose on the subject. I really like everything, but here are some particulars:
I loved Alice from the first listen.
Oh, yes. It was seductive, trimmed in deep, plummy Victorian velvet. It had the kind of songs that I could see myself sliding under a duvet, onto a mattress on the floor to, wearing nothing but a ribbon in my hair or around my neck. Kissing someone’s neck on that spot just below the ear where you can feel their pluse and the warmth from their blood coming up through their skin.
Blood Money grew on me the way neat whiskey did.
Astringent at first. A kind of antiseptic burn that numbed the tip of my toungue. The hangover a hyper-awareness of the little evils of the world: the headlights and roar of the tyres on wet pavement outside, the sound of the metal forcing my burnt toast up and out. Washing my hair under the cold water tap in someone else’s flat, not exactly sure how you got there or why.
My particular weakness, however, is for the beautifully clear vocals on Closing Time.
In and out of bliss, week long infatuations and long summer nights with people dangerous enough to make your mother worry, but not dangerous enough to get arrested. There are college times when the right person shows up, walks home along the road from diners and truckstops where I’ve gone to keep drinking or get pancakes at half-three. Parting ways with the first person I ever fell in love with, the first person who thought to reach around and gently unhook my bra, under an umbrella. And then a bit of me now, thinking about that handful of moments.
sentimentally yours,
AnnaL
By far my favorite Tom Waits album is Nighthawks at the Diner, which is just wonderfully evocative and atmospheric. Every time I listen to it I can close my eyes and be transported into some seedy bar at about 2AM on a Wednesday night, alone and not sure what to do after last call.
Did Tom Waits do a song called ‘Closing Time’? 'Cause I’m thinking that you might be confusing Tom Waits with Leonard Cohen in this particular case. It’s a great song, anyway. But maybe there’s a different one.
I know ol’ Tom didn’t want them to be released, as they are comprised of demos, but the Early Years compilations are absolutely fabulous too. Mostly little pointless ditties (I’ve taken to grabbing my guitar and belting out “Had Me a Girl” at odd moments), but with a few other tracks that would later come on Closing Time (mostly tracks like “Virginia Avenue,” which I’ve never been too fond of.)
In general, I’ve had so many moments where I’ve stopped and thought, “God, that’s brilliant.” I was making out with a high school girlfriend when I first heard Frank’s Wild Years, and it ought to be a testament to Tom’s power that all my little 18 year old hormones ground to a halt when “Hang On St. Christopher” came on. My jaw just dropped. It was the most fresh, original thing I’d ever heard.
Couldn’t get enough after that. I mean, after the hormones started back up and all.
If I had to name one (1) favorite, though, I’d have to say Bone Machine , Blue Valentine, Nighthawks at the Diner, and, of course, Frank’s Wild Years.
Incidentally, I have a few vid files of Tom Waits footage, including him doing “The Piano Has Been Drinking” along with a long drunken freeloader schtick with Martin Mull on “Fernwood2Nite,” and a BRILLIANT performance of “Eggs and Sausage” from SNL.
Still want that VH1 show, too. Haven’t seen it yet.
Always happy to awaken the woman within, AnnaLivia. An album that seems to receive short thrift from time to time is One From the Heart. I only recently discovered it, myself, having always heard mention of this soundtrack he did for an obscure Coppola film and assuming it was just background music or something. What a wonderful find! Interesting historically, too, being poised as it was between Heartattack and Swordfish. It’s almost like he was starting to go just a trifle freaky on Heartattack, had to rein it in and go super blusesy smooth for Coppola, and that in turn prompted the full-monty bang clang on Swordfish.
