Tom Waits

I really love Tom Waits. I think this is an uncommon opinion, but my favorite of the albums I've heard so far is Blood Money. There are some really great tracks on that.

"Alice" is an amazing song, but I think a lot of tracks after that on the album go a bit downhill.
 
by that I ment that I personally liked it, but it doesn't seem to be of much interest on this forum..

..and thanks. A few of the songs you listed are some favorites, and I really like Clap HanRAB and Singapore.
 
I've grown to find Tom Waits' voice one of the most heart-wrenching and beautiful things I've ever heard. At first, yeah, it was a turn-off, but it grew on me in a big way. Tom Waits is amazing. Rain Dogs would easily go into my top 10 albums list. What's most amazing about Tom Waits, to me, is how insanely consistent he is along with how he's able to constantly reinvent himself.

His latest studio release, Orphans, was a triple album consisting of some re-recorded old stuff mixed in with some new material. A triple album of weird twisted blues and ballaRAB being released by a dude in his 50's or 60's? It should've blown! And yet, it's got some of the best material of his career. From Closing Time to today, Tom Waits has never really lost his touch. I can't even make that claim about Bob Dylan, my favorite artist ever. I do think Bob Dylan's been more consistent over these past 50 years than people give him credit for, but in terms of sheer consistency, he doesn't touch Tom Waits.
 
I'm a fan but not a huge fan. I haven't really heard a whole lot of his stuff but what I have I really like. It definitly is an acquired listen though.
 
Out of the ones I mentioned Blue Valentine is in his older, more conventional style but sort of an artsier take on it if that makes sense.

Ooo, I just remerabered another one I can't believe I left off the list: Small Change. It fits squarely into his 70s style, but damn is it a great album with some of his best lyrics and a couple of his most gut-wrenching songs.
 
Small change isn't bad, but I don't know if its where you'd want to start. Let me go research the sound you're into and I'll give you a good 5 to try out.

Unless you want to tell me the mood you're in now.
 
Black Rider to me seemed as if he was exhausting himself, writing an album at the first inkling of a good idea. That came out around 1993 and then we heard from him six years later with his masterpeice Mule Variations in 99. I think the hiatus proved almost as genius as the album.

Paste recently said he was the 4th greatest living song writer and frankly I think he should have been higher. No man has ever understood that music is a trifecta of great lyrics, great music, and stage presence. He's been making exceptional music since the 70's, writing about the down-trodden outcasts of society that are the basis for real stories. No single preformer has had enough black hole gravity to depress you while being able to make you ballroom dance in the very next nuraber.

Tom Waits, for all he's unknown and under appreciated, is without question, the greatest musician I have ever heard.
 
I recommend to everyone, to Youtube a few tracks up front. Theres nothing I hate more than not having a jump off point on albums. I'll listen to the two tracks I like in the background and get into the album through osmosis. Its how I work.

Let me post the 3 of 5 Cake review today and I'll start work on the Waits works.
 
Wow, you started with Real Gone? No wonder you're weirded out! That album is strange and dark, but I've grown to love it. I just gave it another listen last night and man, what a strangely gifted individual. Did you know he works with Les Claypool and Brain on that album? His son does percussion and turn tables on some of the songs, too. The more I listen to it, the more I find.

So, a good start for me was Nighthawks at the Diner. I've always been fond of albums recorded live. Certain aspects of them just feel more personal to me. This album to me is definitive in how my perception of music began to transition. It's more subtle than most of his stuff, and not my favorite, but always a good listen when you're driving alone in the rain.

One of my favorite albums by him is Swordfishtrorabone. I don't know if it's because I've not heard it outside of my record player, or the fact that it was the first album he produced by himself, but I think it's some of his most brilliant work. Along with the brilliance comes the darkness, so brace yourself.
 
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