Ok I know there is a bit of love for ol Tom here. Plus he and Keith are buddies which makes this sorta relevant.
Anyway, as a fan of all of Tom Waits stuff, I have finally come to realize that "Alice " is my favourite.
Any thoughts...?

Alice is good.
Franks Wild Years is my favourite album of his.

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bernardanderson
Alice is good.
Franks Wild Years is my favourite album of his.

Rain Dogs first, Mule Variations second, Real Gone third...Alice pretty far down the list. I consider it one of his "experimental" albums (like Blood Money). But Tom is great at almost anything he does.

Is there a more gorgeous song than Fish and Bird. To me that song is about the impossibility of love in certain environments. To me its the greatest metaphor song.

i prefer some of the more mainstream 70's waits albums....but from the 80's onward - would cite rain dogs...and the 3cd outtakes set, orphans, as faves

Hi Stonestod, I have been trying to get them all on vinyl. I'm missing Closing Time and Nighthawks. Ive had them all for 20 years on cd. But the records are best.

"charley delisle sittin at the top of an avocado tree"

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letitloose
Hi Stonestod, I have been trying to get them all on vinyl. I'm missing Closing Time and Nighthawks. Ive had them all for 20 years on cd. But the records are best.

"charley delisle sittin at the top of an avocado tree"

records are ALWAYS best

I love Alice too.

I'm Still Here is heart wrenching.

And Kommienezuepadt is brilliantly bonkers.

Zaibooglish!

Alice is great! And Roll73, Kommienenzuepadt is one of my favs as well!!

Swordfishtrombone is phenomenal and one of my all time favs. Also Raindogs, and Bone Machine, great! And the 3 disc Orphans is amazing!

What about Reeperbahn? One of his sleaziest ever. Tom Waits has such a fantastic catalogue that I constantly reappraise my favourite releases. A lot depends on my mood. Closing time and Black rider are like reverse sides of a coin.
But I always come back to Alice. It was overlooked because it was released the same day as Blood Money. To me it is a bridge between his "bang and clang" latter stuff and is "balladeer" early material. I realize these are generalizations. It just seems to have it all.

Ok Here goes - I'll rank em:

1] Alice
2] Rain Dogs
3] Small Change
4] One from the heart
5] Heartattack and vine
6] Mule variations
7] Blue Valentine
8] Swordfishtrombone
9] Heart of Saturday night
10] Orphans
11] Bone Machine
12] Closing time
13] Franks wild years
14] Blood Money
15] Real Gone
16] Foreign Affair
17] Black Rider
18] Nighthawks at the diner

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71Tele

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bernardanderson
Alice is good.
Franks Wild Years is my favourite album of his.

Rain Dogs first, Mule Variations second, Real Gone third...Alice pretty far down the list. I consider it one of his "experimental" albums (like Blood Money). But Tom is great at almost anything he does.

Bizarre. I was about to write the exact same list.

[www.non-filters.com]

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nonfilter

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71Tele

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bernardanderson
Alice is good.
Franks Wild Years is my favourite album of his.

Rain Dogs first, Mule Variations second, Real Gone third...Alice pretty far down the list. I consider it one of his "experimental" albums (like Blood Money). But Tom is great at almost anything he does.

Bizarre. I was about to write the exact same list.

[www.non-filters.com]

Great minds think alike

Blue Valentine is a great album by Tom.

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bolexman
Blue Valentine is a great album by Tom.

They're all good. But having got into him around Rain Dogs his original persona from the 70s seems rather sentimental and 70s singer-songwriter-ish (plus he was really trying to be that drunken piano balladeer character then). I still enjoy songs like "Jersey Girl" from that period, but I find it harder to listen to these early albums where he was still kind of being "produced" by others. When he took control and found his own voice around the Rain Dogs period, I think he became a much more powerful artist (though admittedly I struggle with some of his more challenging experiments when he goes off the reservation and veers too far way from song structure). Possibly the single most electrifying performer I have ever seen.

Down By Law starring Tom is a fantastic film.

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71Tele
When he took control and found his own voice around the Rain Dogs period

he found louis armstrong's voice, too....

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71Tele

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bolexman
Blue Valentine is a great album by Tom.

They're all good. But having got into him around Rain Dogs his original persona from the 70s seems rather sentimental and 70s singer-songwriter-ish (plus he was really trying to be that drunken piano balladeer character then). I still enjoy songs like "Jersey Girl" from that period, but I find it harder to listen to these early albums where he was still kind of being "produced" by others. When he took control and found his own voice around the Rain Dogs period, I think he became a much more powerful artist (though admittedly I struggle with some of his more challenging experiments when he goes off the reservation and veers too far way from song structure). Possibly the single most electrifying performer I have ever seen.

I will never forget the first time I saw him. It was at the Rex Theatre in Paris on the Mule variations tour. I had an aisle seat, and on the other side was none other than Elvis Costello. Tom came ambling down the aisle from the back of the venue. He was singing through a megaphone and throwing glitter over the audience. When he got up on stage he sang 16 shells. He was stomping up a dust storm with his feet. Unbelievable.
As far as theatrics go, I have seen Waits do more with a single lightbulb, a handful of glitter and a bag of talc than Kiss can achieve with all their pyrotechnics. He is a phenomenal live performer.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-06-19 21:20 by letitloose.

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letitloose

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71Tele

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bolexman
Blue Valentine is a great album by Tom.

They're all good. But having got into him around Rain Dogs his original persona from the 70s seems rather sentimental and 70s singer-songwriter-ish (plus he was really trying to be that drunken piano balladeer character then). I still enjoy songs like "Jersey Girl" from that period, but I find it harder to listen to these early albums where he was still kind of being "produced" by others. When he took control and found his own voice around the Rain Dogs period, I think he became a much more powerful artist (though admittedly I struggle with some of his more challenging experiments when he goes off the reservation and veers too far way from song structure). Possibly the single most electrifying performer I have ever seen.

I will never forget the first time I saw him. It was at the Rex Theatre in Paris on the Mule variations tour. I had an aisle seat, and on the other side was none other than Elvis Costello. Tom came ambling down the aisle from the back of the venue. He was singing through a megaphone and throwing glitter over the audience. When he got up on stage he sang 16 shells. He was stomping up a dust storm with his feet. Unbelievable.
As far as theatrics go, I have seen Waits do more with a single lightbulb, a handful of glitter and a bag of talc than Kiss can achieve with all their pyrotechnics. He is a phenomenal live performer.

I saw that tour too! I think that was the best he ever did.

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StonesTod

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71Tele
When he took control and found his own voice around the Rain Dogs period

he found louis armstrong's voice, too....

Yeah, Tod, and maybe Captain Beefheart's too! Even the best borrow.

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71Tele

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StonesTod

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71Tele
When he took control and found his own voice around the Rain Dogs period

he found louis armstrong's voice, too....

Yeah, Tod, and maybe Captain Beefheart's too! Even the best borrow.

borrowed? well, as far as i know he never gave it back...

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StonesTod

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71Tele

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StonesTod

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71Tele
When he took control and found his own voice around the Rain Dogs period

he found louis armstrong's voice, too....

Yeah, Tod, and maybe Captain Beefheart's too! Even the best borrow.

borrowed? well, as far as i know he never gave it back...

Well, it's refreshing that someone in rock stole from Louis Armstrong instead of Led Zeppelin for a change. Sick to death of rock bands influenced by Zep. And Armstrong would never have done a song like "Singapore". Waits is an original, even if he sometimes wears his influences on his sleeve (Armstrong, Beefheart, a little Howlin' Wolf, etc.)

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71Tele

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StonesTod

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71Tele

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StonesTod

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71Tele
When he took control and found his own voice around the Rain Dogs period

he found louis armstrong's voice, too....

Yeah, Tod, and maybe Captain Beefheart's too! Even the best borrow.

borrowed? well, as far as i know he never gave it back...

Well, it's refreshing that someone in rock stole from Louis Armstrong instead of Led Zeppelin for a change. Sick to death of rock bands influenced by Zep. And Armstrong would never have done a song like "Singapore". Waits is an original, even if he sometimes wears his influences on his sleeve (Armstrong, Beefheart, a little Howlin' Wolf, etc.)

there are no originals left really, but i get your point. check the liner notes on the back of an early jeff beck group album - even back then it was understood by some it had all been done already....

"Today, with all the hard competition in the music business, it's almost impossible to come up with anything totally original. So we haven't"

luv waits....not for the faint-hearted, though....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-06-19 21:51 by StonesTod.