where do i start with tom waits?

[Bob]

i know i'm late as hell here, but i just discovered that i like him and i want to hear more, but there's too much and i don't know where to start. if it helps, i want to hear more like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wfamPW3Eaw&feature=related

and less like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XewO1DB96To

also, someone makes an interesting point in the youtube comments for the first one: heath ledger's joker is totally based on tom waits. kind of like how jack sparrow is based on keith richards

[jackrock]

Bone Machine.

[yeahwho]

Step Right Up (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByomIJf5n9w) Live
Step Right Up (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OzKQ6BLzds&feature=related) Studio Version (just listen/ignore the video)
Step Right Up (http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/tom_waits/step_right_up.html) Lyrics

Small Change (http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/tomwaits/albums/album/224902/review/5941952/small_change)

WIKI QUOTES (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tom_Waits#Attributed)

The best Tom Waits story I've ever heard (with Tom there's a lot of stories, watch the letterman youtube interviews) is something I read about five years ago in an interview, the interviewer asked Tom how he liked to listen to music, his reply was the best song he ever heard was back in the early 70's while living in the lovely Tropicana Motel (http://lh3.ggpht.com/gogonotes/R8ywD_mjWuI/AAAAAAAAEoE/ukM3VrORQ5c/s288/cDuhbH.jpeg) he went for a walk on Santa Monica Blvd and a woman walking towards him had a transistor radio up to her ear listening to the Shirelle's "Soldier Boy", it sounded as if the worlds finest orchestra had converged on the sidewalk for a brief moment during a short walk for a beer and a cigarette.

That just hit me right.

[BangkokB]

Go with Swordfishtrombones...That's a great CD from start to finish

Frank's Wild Years and The Piano has been Drinking(Not Me) are my favorite songs but I like off the cuff/stream of consciousness lyrics-So if that's you're forte then you're off to the races with that.

Hey A-Z: I received Raindogs

[abcdefz]

Hey A-Z: I received Raindogs



(y)(y)(y)


Ya like it?

I think we've had this thread before...

[BangkokB]

It's Unbelievable---He is to music what Tim Burton is to directing: Completely out there and when they take you on their journey you're in for a treat

Yea, we had this conversation before but it was in a thread that had nothing to do with Tom Waits at all and we turned it into a Tom Waits thread. So I figured I'd do something completely unexpected and pick up on a conversation relating to the thread for once :D

[abcdefz]

It's Unbelievable---He is to music what Tim Burton is to directing: Completely out there and when they take you on their journey you're in for a treat



...but with a much, much, much better hit-or-miss ratio...

[Bob]

i was looking into frank's wild years; it's described on itunes as: "a weird one - and this is Tom Waits we're talking about"

but it has way down in the hole which i know i like so who knows

[BangkokB]

Frank's Wild Years is a song off Swordfishtrombones. He later went on to make a whole record titled Frank's Wild Years. I haven't seen nor heard it but A-Z says that it's nothing like the song. During and after SFTB's Tom Waits seems to have taken a turn into a direction of experimental music that can't be nicely tucked into any particular genre. He's all over the map

[abcdefz]

^

Frank's Wild Years was a concert film, too, wasn't it?

Seems like I rememebr FWY was issued with different song variations and song order variations for each format. So some
songs you could only get on cassette, some on LP, etc.

[DIGI]

Go with Swordfishtrombones...That's a great CD from start to finish


Yep.
(y)

[abcdefz]

...and everything's a nickel in this box.

[Audio.]

heard of him for a fair amount of years but never listened to him until today. The style is ... some what avant-garde and the melody is very bluesy but... I'm not sure if there are more styles he dips into. Either way, I'm not into his style. sorry. :(

[checkyourprez]

really weird. i had never heard of tom waits until this thread. thought nothing of it. today i see a cd on a chair in my house, its a tom waits cd. i found that kinda odd.