Top 5 Tom Waits Albums

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so lacklustre
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Top 5 Tom Waits Albums

Post by so lacklustre »

1. Blood Money
2. Franks Wild Years
3. Alice
4. Mule Variations
5. Small Change
signed with love and vicious kisses
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BlueChair
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Post by BlueChair »

I love Tom Waits, but alas I'm really only familiar with a select few albums. I really need to expand my Waits collection.

1. Rain Dogs
2. Mule Variations
3. Swordfishtrombones
4. One From The Heart Soundtrack
5. Blood Money

I love the pre-Swordfishtrombones period Waits, but all I have from before that is the Used Songs compilation, which I don't think counts
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taz
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Post by taz »

You know I gotta jump on this one...listen to him more than Elvis...sacrilege I know :)

1. Rain Dogs
2. Mule Variations
3. Bone Machine
4. Franks Wild Years
5. Heartattack and Vine
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Post by miss buenos aires »

After ten people post their lists, I'm going out and buying any album that appears on eight lists.
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BlueChair
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Post by BlueChair »

Me too.
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Post by RedShoes »

BlueChair wrote:Me too.
Yay! Then I can just inherit your copies :wink:
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BlueChair
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Post by BlueChair »

I thought you were going to yell at me for buying more CD's.

Luckily, Tom Waits cd's (especially the older ones) are usually quite cheap.
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Post by RedShoes »

BlueChair wrote:I thought you were going to yell at me for buying more CD's.
I learned long ago that nothing I could say was going to stop you from buying CDs...but it's ok, you can make up for my limited collection :)
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Post by Tim(e) »

I am rather amazed that the live double album (in vinyl speak) Nighthawks at the Diner, hasn't been listed yet... in my ever so humble opinion, it is a must have in any Tom Waits collection.
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Post by pip_52 »

Based on what I know and what I have:

1. Bone Machine
2. Blue Valentine
3. Heart Attack and Vine
4. Swordfishtrombones
5. The Black Rider
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Otis Westinghouse
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Post by Otis Westinghouse »

1. Rain Dogs
2. Rain Dogs
3. Rain Dogs
4. Rain Dogs
5. All the others
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Post by Who Shot Sam? »

I think they're all great, but...

1) Rain Dogs
2) Small Change
3) Swordfishtrombones
4) Alice
5) Bone Machine
Mother, Moose-Hunter, Maverick
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Post by pophead2k »

OK, we have only modern Tom fans here. Here is the definitive list! (dodging the tomatos, etc., again):

1. Heart Attack and Vine
2. Foreign Affairs
3. Nighthawks at the Diner
4. Heart of Saturday Night
5. Mule Variations

Much love,
Pophead
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Post by mood swung »

I'll be following Miss BA's lead on this, so just send me a summary.
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Post by laughingcrow »

I need more Waits...only have Swordfishtrombones and Rain Dogs, both of which are wicked!

What's Alice like?
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Post by miss buenos aires »

Otis Westinghouse wrote:1. Rain Dogs
2. Rain Dogs
3. Rain Dogs
4. Rain Dogs
5. All the others
Sorry, Otis, this still only counts as one mention of Rain Dogs! But I will take your passion into consideration.
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Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Inside a broken clock, splashing the wine with all the rain dogs
Taxi, we'd rather walk, huddle a doorway with the rain dogs
For I am a rain dog, too

Oh, how we danced and we swallowed the night
For it was all ripe for dreaming
Oh, how we danced away all of the lights
We've always been out of our minds

The rum pours strong and thin, beat out the dustman with the rain dogs
Aboard a shipwreck train, give my umbrella to the rain dogs
For I am a rain dog, too

Oh, how we danced with the Rose of Tralee
Her long hair black as a raven
Oh, how we danced and you whispered to me
You'll never be going back home
Oh, how we danced with the Rose of Tralee
Her long hair black as a raven
Oh, how we danced and you whispered to me
You'll never be going back home
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Post by laughingcrow »

I love the spoken word tracks Frank's Wild Years and 9th and Hennepin...those are magic!!!!
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Post by bambooneedle »

LC, you need to get the BIG TIME video for the live Frank's Wild Years. If memory serves, I think he also does 9th and Hennepin on it.

Years ago, before I was on the 'net, finding "TOM WAITS" written on the cover of some album was one of my major highs. Sometimes, I hadn't known they existed. Ahhh, how I'd lay back and study the artwork before wacking 'em on my trusty turntable. You may discover them at random, but you'll probably eventually get them all.


1. Blue Valentine
2. Bone Machine
3. Rain Dogs
4. Small Change
5. Blood Money

Nighthawks At The Diner (third album, '75) does deserve more credit... he's kind of in standup comedian mode between the songs and, since it's live to a juiced-up crowd hanging onto all his words, he seemed to know they'd indulge a lot of funny storytelling and romantic descriptiveness in them. He's very entertaining, is all I can say... the crowd's enthusiasm is like a wave, and he rides it, but there are some quiet moments. It's one of the most verbose albums I own. Naugahyde stools and pepto bismol.

Foreign Affair ('77, I think) has some exceptionally good stuff on it. Worth getting for just either Burma Shave (inspired by Keuroak's Jack Cassidy) or the haunting and poetic Potter's Field. I can't stand Bette Midler singing on that duet, though. Also, it's a bit short...

Heartattack And Vine ('81) has your theme song on it, Miss BA -- Jersey Girl -- plus the moving On The Nickel. There are a couple of slow ones and part of it has a live blues feel. He was trying to break away from Asylum Records at the time, and he might have just put that one together quickly. As an album it's a bit uneven.. but unevenly good.

That one was just before Francis Ford Coppola put him to work on the One From The Heart soundtrack, and supplied an office for him. He tried writing songs 9-5, for once.


The Black Rider ('93?) is right up there too... could have been in the 5.
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Post by BlueChair »

Yeah... Tom Waits really has some beautiful album covers.

One album I have only heard bits and peices of but had a bit of difficulty getting into was Bone Machine. I don't know what it was about it that put me off... maybe it was just too heavy.
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Post by taz »

laughingcrow wrote:I love the spoken word tracks Frank's Wild Years and 9th and Hennepin...those are magic!!!!
I'm so with you LC...and in honor I HAVE to post the lyrics for 9th and Hennepin here

Well it's Ninth and Hennepin
All the doughnuts have names that sound like prostitutes
And the moon's teeth marks are on the sky
Like a tarp thrown all over this
And the broken umbrellas like dead birds
And the steam comes out of the grill
Like the whole goddamn town's ready to blow...

And the bricks are all scarred with jailhouse tattoos
And everyone is behaving like dogs
And the horses are coming down Violin Road
And Dutch is dead on his feet
And all the rooms they smell like diesel
And you take on the dreams of the ones who have slept here
And I'm lost in the window, and I hide in the stairway
And I hang in the curtain, and I sleep in your hat...
And no one brings anything small into a bar around here
They all started out with bad directions
And the girl behind the counter has a tattooed tear
"One for every year he's away", she said
Such a crumbling beauty, ah
There's nothing wrong with her that a hundred dollars won't fix
She has that razor sadness that only gets worse
With the clang and the thunder of the Southern Pacific going by
And the clock ticks out like a dripping faucet
'til you're full of rag water and bitters and blue ruin
And you spill out over the side to anyone who will listen...
And I've seen it all, I've seen it all
Through the yellow windows of the evening train...
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Post by girl out of time »

1- closing time
2- the heart of saturday night
3- blue valentines
4- swordfishtrombones
5- nighthawks at the diner
...the promise of indulgence in my confidential voice approached inmortal danger but you´ll never know how close....
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Post by pophead2k »

And who can forget the beautiful, poetic, Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis off of Blue Valentine? That was my first introduction to Waits' music.

Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis

hey charlie i'm pregnant
and living on the 9th street
right above a dirty bookstore
off euclid avenue
and i stopped takin dope
and i quit drinkin whiskey
and my old man plays the trombone
and works out at the track

and he says that he loves me
even though its not his baby
and he says that he'll raise him up
like he would his own son
and he gave me a ring
that was worn by his mother
and he takes me out dancin
every saturday night.

and hey charlie i think about you
everytime i pass a fillin station
om account of all the grease
you used to wear in your hair
and i still have that record
of little anthony & the imperials
but someone stole my record player
now how do you like that?

hey charlie i almost went crazy
after mario got busted
so i went back to omaha to
live with my folks
but everyone i used to know
was either dead or in prison
so i came back to minneapolis
this time i think i'm gonna stay.

hey charlie i think i'm happy
for the first time since my accident
and i wish i had all the money
that we used to spend on dope
i'd buy me a used car lot
and i wouldn't sell any of em
i'd just drive a different car
every day, dependin on how
i feel

hey charlie for chrissakes
do you want to know the
truth of it?
i don't have a husband
he don't play the trombone
and i need to borrow money
to pay this lawyer
and charlie, hey
i'll be eligible for parole
come valentines day
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so lacklustre
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Post by so lacklustre »

LC
What's Alice like?
I can't recommend Alice and Blood Money highly enoiugh. They are both sumptuous with great use of different instruments. Both are very dark lyrically, but some of the tunes are beautiful. I slightly prefer Blood Money which has a a really nice flow to it, starting with the Wonderful Misery is the River of the World, ending with the Louis Armstrongesque A Good Man I Hard To Find, and has the fantastic God's Away on Business in between.
My favourite tracks off of Alice are probably the title track and Kommienezuspadt.

Used Songs is a good starting place for his earlier stuff.
signed with love and vicious kisses
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Post by Otis Westinghouse »

I got Blood Money, but couldn't get into it too much. I sometimes feel the outrageous rate of acquisition of CDs that I have got used to (about 10% of what people like Blue Chair and Dr J achieve, and others here besides, but to me, outrageous) means you don't give things a proper hearing. It didn't seem to bring anything much new or different to the party. Mule Variations had the same mad sense of mixing the clanking, squawking with the hopelessly romantic as his 'classic' era, with some great material besides (including another spoken classic, 'What's he building in there?'). Blue Valentine is another I love. I was bowled over when John Malkovich chose Kentucky Avenue for one of his Desert Island Discs. The incongruity of Sue Lawley and that stunning vocal performance was perfect.

I have only heard some of the earlier stuff, but never really explored it enough. I love The Piano Has Been Drinking, though.

Never could stand that dog.
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