Tom Waits? Where to start?

MrStuffins · 10-05-2010 1:58am #1

Recently started listening to a few Tom Waits tunes and want to know where i should start as to giving him a proper listen?

Should i just start from the earliest recordings and go through them (As i normally like to do with any band or artist) or should i give a particular album/work a go to really make me appreciate the others?

Odaise Gaelach · 10-05-2010 2:04am

Start with Closing Time. It is an excellent debut album, I think it'd solve your problem perfectly.

Spiritoftheseventies · 10-05-2010 8:02am

Rain Dogs was awarded NME album of the year in same year as Psychocandy by the JAMC. think its the first and only time two albums have shared top spot.

whatawaster · 10-05-2010 10:33am

definitely start with Closing Time. Then Heart of Saturday Night and onwards from there.
Though Swordfishtrombones and Rain Dogs are probably his two best.

lordgoat · 10-05-2010 11:34am

I'd agree with the suggestions but just be warned it's not all like Closing Time/Heart of Sat night!!

rcaz · 10-05-2010 12:03pm

My first Waits album was Small Change. If you've heard he's really weird and want to get into his mental stuff, you might well be disappointed with Closing Time. In which case, I'd recommend Real Gone :cool:

Don't write him off after one album, though, there's loads of stuff that varies wildly. Listen to two or three before you make your mind up whether or not you like him

zimovain · 10-05-2010 1:21pm

I'd go with 'Bone Machine'.

The Pontiac · 10-05-2010 6:12pm

Like has been said already, his stuff varies widely. You could always get this, which is a very good compilation of his earlier stuff when he was with Asylum records. The Island/Epitaph label stuff is a lot different and more eccentric though, and this has always being my favourite stuff (though many classics from the past too).

I always find it almost impossible to recommend an album of from this era, as I honestly believe there isn't a single bad album there. 'Bone Machine', which was already mentioned is a sublime album, and of course Rain Dogs and Swordfish. Then there's the Grammy award winning 'Mule Variations', which also came number 21 in Mojo's 'best albums of 10 years' list, a few years ago (since the mag's inception). He also released two albums on the same day a few years ago, 'Blood Money' and 'Alice'.

If I was the OP, I'd listen to 'The Asylem Years', 'Rain Dogs' and 'Mule Variations', and take it from there. Then if you like him, there's the other classics already mentioned, and also Frank's Wild Years and his latest triple cd release of outtakes 'Orphans'.

Happy listening.

Fanny Cradock · 10-05-2010 7:51pm

I started on Closing Time and worked up from there. Funnily enough, I now don't listen to his early work because I find it incomparable to the music he began producing after he matured as an artist. While albums like Alice and Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards are right up there, Rain Dogs is for me his pinnacle.

If you jump in at the deep end, and I would suggest that most of the music from the early 80's onwards (roughly Swordfishtrombones onwards) would qualify as such, you just might not get it. So while his early work could well be considered the gentle introduction you need - that toe in the water, so to speak - his music from the 80's onwards produced the more challenging and rewarding music. You must remember that he has been in the business since the early 70's, and in that time he has stylistically morphed to quite a degree. One album will never give you an idea of how dramatic this has been.

10-05-2010 8:05pm

Swordfish Trombones..

10-05-2010 8:08pm

Oh yeah...as someone mentioned a compilation, Used Songs is quality too..You get to hear the development..

Rented Mule · 10-05-2010 8:15pm

Hit YouTube and watch as many different Tom Waits tunes as possible. He has really incredible live performances over the years that can be found on the site.

JerryHandbag · 10-05-2010 9:55pm

Mule Variations. Utter brilliance, especially the song Hold On.

fillmore jive · 10-05-2010 10:18pm

Blood Money

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-sH5oHSQaU

Miguel_Sanchez · 10-05-2010 11:09pm

JerryHandbag wrote: »

Mule Variations. Utter brilliance, especially the song Hold On.

Did anyone else get a bit of a Bruce Springsteen vibe off Hold On when they heard it first?

Nozebleed · 10-05-2010 11:14pm

I think you should get hold of BIG TIME the DVD. after watchcing it you'll either love him or hate'm.

MrStuffins · 10-05-2010 11:53pm

I think it's safe to say i'm still none-the-wiser after reading the recommendations in this thread haha

Seems like everyone has a different place to start..........

Goolay · 11-05-2010 9:44am

MrStuffins wrote: »

I think it's safe to say i'm still none-the-wiser after reading the recommendations in this thread haha

Seems like everyone has a different place to start..........

Start with Rain Dogs.

No wait, Bone Machine.

or maybe Small Change.

The Pontiac · 11-05-2010 9:51am

MrStuffins wrote: »

I think it's safe to say i'm still none-the-wiser after reading the recommendations in this thread haha

Seems like everyone has a different place to start..........

The sign of a great artist. Whatever album/s you choose, this song won't be on it as it's from the now out of print Night on Earth, the soundtrack to Jim Jarmusch's film of the same name.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-a3bUPCyneI

Fanny Cradock · 11-05-2010 1:26pm

Speaking of Hold On

wax · 11-05-2010 9:18pm

I began with Heart of Saturday night. Fell in love with it, then bought Closing Time. Not sure which direction I went after that but I bought almost every one over the next few years and completely wore each one out before buying the next. I didn't you-tube him like I usually do. Each album deserves complete uninterrupted attention. Enhanced with a bottle of whiskey!

monkey9 · 11-05-2010 10:28pm

MrStuffins wrote: »

I think it's safe to say i'm still none-the-wiser after reading the recommendations in this thread haha

Seems like everyone has a different place to start..........

Well i first got into Tom Waits when he brought out both Blood Money and Alice on the same day around 2002 i think it was. When i bought them, i had already heard God's Away On Business and so expected to hear some f*cked up ****! And that's what i got. It's llike taking a ride into the depths of Hell in Satan's cart. I love them!!

I went into HMV to see what other albums he had and noticed he started out back in the seventies. I was really curious to hear what he sounded like back then so i bought Used Songs which i thought would give me a broad review of the 70's. Once i heard this album, i just started buying every album he had.

Many's a drunken night i had coming home and listening to the likes of Christmas Card from A Hooker In Minneapolis, Bad Liver and a Broken Heart, The Piano has been drinking etc! into the early hours of the morning.

Mule Variations, Blood Money, Big Time and Rain Dogs are all good albums to get from him as well.

There's really two phases to Tom Wait's. There's his 70's jazzy, smokey bar-room balladeer phase and then there's the junkyard, thrashcan bashing craziness that started in the early eighties.

To cover the 70's, Used Songs and the Asylum Years are good places to start and for his later stuff, Orphans, Beautiful Maladies or even Big Time! Those albums are all collections and if you like them, you can then wander off and start buying the albums individually as you go along!

JerryHandbag · 11-05-2010 10:51pm

Jeff_Lebowski wrote: »

Did anyone else get a bit of a Bruce Springsteen vibe off Hold On when they heard it first?

It would fit right in on Devils and Dust now that I think of it...

dream brother · 12-05-2010 12:20pm

My first Tom Waits album was Nighthawks at the Diner. One of the best live albums around in my opinion. After that closing time and Heart of Saturday night are good places to start!!

13-05-2010 3:17pm

Just to confuse you a bit more...id recommend Blue Valintine too..
yeah, Christmas card from a hooker in minneapolis..some track..

monkey9 · 13-05-2010 8:05pm

Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12qBoy2rhVw

This one is quite brilliant. A live version of Tom Traubert's Blues from 1977

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrkThaBWa5c&feature=related

jefreywithonef · 13-05-2010 11:41pm

I started with Rain Dogs. Excellent stuff. Then I bought Heartattack and Vine which is also excellent but it doesn't seem to get much praise elsewhere. Contains the fabulous Jersey Girl.

monkey9 · 13-05-2010 11:55pm

Monzo wrote: »

I started with Rain Dogs. Excellent stuff. Then I bought Heartattack and Vine which is also excellent but it doesn't seem to get much praise elsewhere. Contains the fabulous Jersey Girl.

The thing with Tom Waits is, you forget so much stuff. Jersey Girl is utterly brilliant!!

Kold · 14-05-2010 12:25am

Like most artists, start from the beginning: Closing Time.

Alice is my favourite though.

Jay P · 14-05-2010 10:59pm

MrStuffins wrote: »

I think it's safe to say i'm still none-the-wiser after reading the recommendations in this thread haha

Seems like everyone has a different place to start..........

Just work through his work chronologically, that way makes most sense, instead of skipping backwards and forwards.
That's what I think anyway, it's the way I generally go about listening to bands.

Kold wrote: »

Like most artists, start from the beginning: Closing Time.

Alice is my favourite though.

Alice is definitely one of my favourite albums of all time. It's amazing from start to finish.

banshee_bones · 14-05-2010 11:04pm

Definitely Closing Time!

'Martha' and 'I hope that I don't fall in love with you'

Tom Waits? Where to start?

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