Other Waits albums are more unified, but this one is an unparalleled exhibition of his range. Especially given the context, it’s simply incredible. Hats off to Tom!
Tom Waits has a distinct change in style starting with the album before this one, SwordfishTrombone. Prior to that album, he was very bluesy/Jazzy down on your luck, bar singer type music. Still very unique and very creative, but not nearly as avant-garde as his later stuff. This is mostly due to him meeting his wife and musical collaborator, Kathleen Brennan. She helped him to get and stay sober, and encouraged him to just make the music he wanted to make and not to feel pigeonholed into the style and persona that he created and people expected of him up to that point. So if you want to hear the album that is most different to this one, I would suggest either his debut album, “Closing Time”, or his second album “Heart Of Saturday Night”. He doesn’t have his signature growl yet in his singing on these albums. That doesn’t really start showing up until his 3rd album “Nighthawks At The Diner” where you can definitely hear it creeping in. By the time he released “Small Change” he’s all in with gravelly, whiskey soaked growl.
His '70s records had a completely different voice and vibe. It was very much of the New York piano singer with a lot of jazz and pop standard settings. The songs from this period are outstanding musically and lyrically. Waits met his wife and songwriting partner Kathleen Brennan I the early '80s and they invented this new persona and style which Waits has explored ever since. I cannot recommend listening to the early stuff enough - the records are fantastic.
Tom Waits live is also so awesome. He can do anything on stage that is actually banal - throw confetti, sing next to a lightbulb, and it is so well performed that it becomes awesome. 'Bone Machine' is my favorite. Just a true artist. BTW, Lays corporation used a similar voice in some of their ads, he sued and walked away with millions. That's how unique that voice is.
Went to see Tom in a bar in Scottsdale Arizona 1975 ...John Hammond Jr. opened the show. We got there early and no one was in the bar me and a buddy you're standing at the bar haven't appeared out from the backwatch Tom comes up to start talking we still we stood there for about 15 minutes evolve beer went back to the dressing room and we enjoyed the show. Tom is one hip dude
Tom Waits' singing style reminds me of a song of his that was on Small Change, and released as a single in 1976 -- "The Piano Has Been Drinking". Tom was friends with Dan Hicks, who recorded this song in a lighthearted style for his Beatin' The Heat album, and I got to see Dan and his band perform it live.
Yeah, that's just what his voice sounds like...singing, speaking. "Downtown Train" from this album will bring you back to this more melodic aspect of his, a great song that has been covered by Rod Stewart and others.
I was so happy to see you picked up on this album again!!! Nevermind what the haters say in the comments...Tom Waits is good for the soul. Personally, I feel the next 2 songs are the highlight of this album - Time and Rain Dogs are the best songs on the album.
I am so jealous that you are at the starting point of this journey. I've been a Waits fan for about 37 yrs. There are SO many great songs and albums for you to discover. However, I would not recommend going at the pace you are currently on. It would take years. I really can't wait for you to get to the next two songs on this album and also to Union Square.
There is an even more radio-friendly song on Rain Dogs, one that became a giant hit when covered by a famous artist a few years later. Hope you finish this album and do more Tom Waits!
It's been a long time since I've listened to it but the soundtrack for "One From The Heart", has some great Tom Waits songs with a bit of a different feel. Including some duets with Crystal Gayle.
Rain Dogs is probably Waits most mainstream work, once he finds his proper musical voice ( he writes the earlier works off as apprenticeship pieces). Bone Machine and Mule Variations are worth investigating next, but you really can't go wrong with any of his later albums.
I always think it's best to think about Tom Waits as an artist whose medium is sound. Everything in his songs - including his voice - is used to create a soundscape. He does vary his voice - usually variations of his natural gruff voice - but you'll hear the softer voice he more often used in his earlier recordings on the next track - Time. He will also occasionally use a high pitch (I think he has called it his "Prince" voice) usually just in sections but sometimes (like Temptation on Frank's Wild Years) for the entire song. As for where you should go next: if you want to hear more songs like Time, Downtown Train, or Hang Down Your Head - I would look to his earlier work. I would recommend The Heart of Saturday Night. If you're looking for something different but still a little more experimental but still accessible to your audience, I would recommend Mule Variations (I think of Rain Dogs as a series of sketches about being lost in urban America... Mule Variations does the same thing with middle America) or Alice (written for a place about CS Lewis' obsession with his young neighbor who became the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland) Swordfishtrombones would also fall into this category.
One of the most humorous Waits tracks is the 3 min. spoken intro to "Better Off Without A Wife" on the Nighthawks At The Diner album. For a female singer/songwriter album with some variety on it, you might try the self titled debut album of a former girlfriend of Tom Waits, Rickie Lee Jones. This album won her the Best New Artist Grammy in 1980. I think you have an article about her in a British magazine I saw in one of your unboxings.
I think "Rain Dogs" is the most accessible of his albums, but "Bone Machine" is the best imo. He does goes from blues to rock-and-roll to old-time gospel to industrial -- there's a spoken word track over a retro horror movie score; there's a 'junkyard James Brown' track, there's even a few of the prettiest folk songs of the 90s. It's easily in my top 3 albums of all time.
I hear the description snippets throughout "D&G" as the topography of the wasteland left behind by greedy men, while the people in the song are the ones who chased the dream, even to their own destruction. They've ended up here, clutching at that last straw, chasing that last dream - out of money, out of luck, out of time, out of their minds. Small-Time-Napoleon, whoever he was ... he didn't make it; and his hangers on now gather what they can for themselves, and push on into the darkness. I think "Marie" just fits the rhyme and meter.
For the different album landscapes question, I recommend Closing Time, Small Change, Swordfishtrombones (kind of similar but essential) and Bone Machine (my all time favorite record).
on his first two albums Closing Time and Heart Of Saturday Night his voice was not yet quite a gravely, but by the time you got to his fourth album Small Change his voice had undergone the change you hear now. If you want to hear him different, I suggest Small Change, Heartattack and Vine or Blue Valentines, on his tender ballads in his old style he can change his voice and suddenly shift into a complete other gear in the middle of a song, like Kentucy Avenue or On the Nickle, he can also do a growly falsetto like on songs like Temptation of Shore Leave. Thank you, thank you thank you for getting back to Waits he's not for everyone but those of us who get it he is the world. I am so looking forward to you Time which is the next song. nevermind the Haters.
He always has the same voice, pretty much. But he writes and records different kinds of songs. He has one foot planted firmly in avant-garde music. And also the blues, like Howlin Wolf. But he also draws on classic pop songs. Cole Porter. Sinatra. Bing Crosby. Waits loves all those songs. It shows in his catalogue.
I'm looking forward to your reactions to Time, the title track Rain Dogs, and the final track (leave it to last!) Anywhere I Lay My Head. You talk about grit, but I don't think you've heard Tom BELT still with that same voice, which you'll hear on the final track, over somber horns :) (and a helluva rock and roll scream at the end of Rain Dogs)
Tom's first album, Closing Time, is far different. His voice is clearer and the songs are more ballady. As his career progressed, his voice got rougher, though this at times seems for effect. He's perfectly capable of singing (mostly) smoothly and clearly, as he did on his cover of "Somewhere" from West Side Story on the 1978 Blue Valentine album. For my money, his two most consistent and enjoyable albums (besides Rain Dogs) are 1976's Small Change and 1977's Foreign Affairs.
I guess I've said it before, but: You just *have* to watch Jim Jarmusch's 1986 movie “Down By Law” for an extra dose of Tom Waits - songs & acting. Pretty sure you'll love it.
They gather what's left of his clothes sounds like a reference to the Emperor's New Clothes, especially since Waits mentions Napoleon just a line or two earlier.
Diamonds and Gold is similar in melody and theme to the 1930s song Brother Can You Spare a Dime. Waits has always had an interest / preference for old-timey sounds, or at least sounds that seem rustic (and rusty) and scratchy like an old record and I can't imagine Diamonds and Gold isn't influenced by BCYSAD.
Rain Dogs probably does deserve the description of being Tom's masterpiece, but I think many come to appreciate it more in a wider context of what came before (the barfly years) and after, when, in many ways, he became the songwriters' songwriter. Among his sweetest music actually came to us in 1990s and after: check out the likes of Take it With Me and Picture in a Frame, All the World is Green and I'm Still Here, Dead and Lovely and Back in the Crowd. He certainly went on to hit even harder, when it came to the junkyard rhythm section and the glorious ruin of that carnival bark of a voice, but, in many respects, he became more comfortable with paring songs down to their bare bones beauty.
For a completely different Waits, go to his magnificent debut Closing Time. His style switched with the "Frank's Wild Years" trilogy, of which Raindogs is the middle album. Early Waits is jazzier, more crooner-ish, but still, absolutely brilliant.
It’s cool how well-matched you are with Tom’s music. This is probably the album I would have recommended to you, having watched a couple dozen of your reactions. I assume you’ll find stuff of interest in his other output from this era, the albums Swordfishtrombones and Frank’s Wild Years, but he’s got incredible music sprinkled liberally through all the different phases of his career, so you could pick whatever catches your eye and might find it worth your time. EDIT: after finishing this video, I’m more interested in seeing you react to my personal favorite Waits album, Bone Machine.
For a different side of Tom Waits, look to his early works. The best of his early stuff is probably "Heart of Saturday Night." or "Blue Valentine." and also... "A Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis." (The Holiday Season is coming.)
You will find his first few albums, Closing Time, The Heart of Saturday Night - most notably - are much more radio friendly, though I hesitate to fully call them mainstream. The Eagles covered his song O'l 55 the same year Waits released the debut album it came from, Closing Time. A big complement. Other artists do admire him, and probably wish they could be as artistically free. He is definitely recognized by his peers. His voice on the first albums is still distinctively his but less gravel. He seems to use more or less gravel as a style choice. Though his early music is more in line with Hang Down Your Head and Downtown Train - there are so many wonderful tunes to be discovered there so it's definitely essential listening. I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You, Diamonds on My Windshield, The Heart of Saturday Night, San Diego Serrande, New Coat of Paint etc. Ruby's Arms is another beautiful ballad many have covered. My only complaint with his version is it's harder to understand the lyrics which reduce me to tears EVERY TIME.
In re Diamonds an Gold: This conjures up images of the old hobo jungles down by the railroad tracks. An image slice of an old American social landscape.
M first and favorite is Small Change, the title track and Step Right Up. Themes of winos, dive bars, seedy diners, street life and the generally down and out weave through much of his music. also give Mule Variations a try.
Before I forget: *Larkin Poe* has practiced enough to have become really good at *Preachin Blues* ruclips.net/video/Iqh1IOXx2QY/видео.html And I'm enjoying the dissonance and the wooden gamelan tuned klonks that punctuate Diamonds and Gold. If the only people in it for the diamonds and gold are the overseers, this might be something to do with the Burma Railway built by the Japanese in WW2. (Well, built by prisoners who ended up thin as sticks, and who probably competed for the clothes of their fallen comrade whenever one died.) My mother's best friend long, long, long ago was a nurse in Singapore when the Japanese invaded. She was interned and nearly starved to death in the camp. If it wasn't for an old Japanese guard who took it upon himself to steal food for them, her and her friends would've died, it was that bad. She would talk about it to talk about him, rather than about the suffering (most of that best never mentioned - you don't want to know ). Instead she had memories of a sweet, loving person in the midst of all that hate. (If they'd caught him, he would've been killed - and quite possibly tortured first - so the stakes were high.)
I am a fan of Larkin Poe. I saw them (and drove them) here at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. I also saw them with Elvis Costello when they were still the Lovell Sisters. My favourite Larkin Poe video is the L.R. Baggs version of their cover of Black Betty but I like a lot of their other stuff including Preachin Blues.
@@sicko_the_ew they were/are. The Elvis Costello show was one of the best shows I have seen... he had his original band and they did all the old material then then the Lovell Sisters came on to cover his newest album and I swear it kicked it up a notch.
My fav TW album is Mule Variations. I would love for you to go from his first album to last though. His voice is different on first two albums. Then the growl turns up. But he inflects differently on different songs. He does bring emotion into it for sure.
"At Play in the Fields of Lord", "The Fisher King" reached for his "Coffee and Cigarettes", while reading "The Book of Eli". The sound track album, "One From the Heart" with Crystal Gayle, would be a different side of Tom.Peace & Love Raindogs it's "Closing Time", in hope the world Waits.
If you want something completely different listen to the album Closing Time. Tom Waits started using the gravely voice after his wife introduced him to the music of Captain Beefheart.
I like Tom Waits. I maybe even really like Tom Waits. I love the idea of Tom Waits. He's a true original. He's a great song writer. He's got an amazing sense of humor. He's usually the more interesting person in any movie I see him in. I can count the number of Tom Waits performed songs that I enjoy on one hand. Step Right Up, Pasties and a G String, and I'm sure a couple of others that aren't sprinting to mind. I adore The Eagles cover of Ol' 55 and Rod's of Downtown Train. Tom's versions of those are kind of painful to me. I grew up at a time that some of the most evolved popular music ever recorded was new. My standards are Yes, Chicago, Procol Harum, ELO, Queen, Pink Floyd, ELP, etc. To go from that to Tom Waits or Lou Reed or just about any other stripped down "gritty" singer/songwriters just feels like going in reverse. I 100% respect the talent and accomplishment, but try as I might I have to conclude that what I really like is layered, creatively produced and unpredictably composed. I used to think it was wrong that I couldn't sit down and enjoy an hour of Lead Belly or the dude with his Chapman stick at the arts festival. Now I embrace that I like what I like,
Shame Tom can be so polarizing. I thinks he’s brilliant. Up next will be one of my favorites, Time. Glad you’re enjoying…clearly you know good music and great lyrics
In answer to your question about his voice, no. Tom puts on many different voices for different characters in many of his songs. Sometimes cleaner, sometimes even grittier, sometimes singing in a falsetto with a lisp like an old woman from the Deep South, sometimes like Louie Armstrong, sometimes like a drunken Sinatra, sometimes like a carnival barker, sometimes like a country crooner, and on and on. Toms got almost as many character voices as he has stories for all the characters he’s created. I sometimes wish someone could create a graphic novel universe inhabited by all the characters and places and stories Tom has made up.
Rain dogs is too difficult for me, but try "Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis" or "The Piano has been drinking" to hear Tom Waits at his best.
I love how you cant hold back your smile… tom does the same thing to me To answer your question, no… he uses multiple voices… they all have a bit of edge/gravel to them… but he will do falsetto, he does some whisper singing… some carnival barker, and some lounge crooning Complete opposite… the most opposite you can get is closing time… his debut… his gravely sound increases with every album thereafter
I’ve been told it’s a re-working as opposed to a cover version , but i really enjoy Jonathan Richman’s version of “The Heart of Saturday Night.” Yes i bought Rain Dogs but frankly, it’s just fodder atm. Don’t ask me why. Maybe I’m still missing the Cat.
Though it's hard to choose, my favorite album from him is probably "The Heart of Saturday Night", it has such a cool vibe. Go back to "Closing Time", or ahead to either "Bone Machine, or "Blood Money", all totally different, but great.
All those records are excellent. Bone Machine was such a game changer for me, so much that it became my favorite record ever. Waits is such a fascinating artist.
The first track reminded me so much of the earlier output of dEUS, mainly the more eccentric parts from their "In A Bar Under The Sea" album. After a bit of digging around, I see that dEUS cite Tom Waits as part of their early influence. (Also... both this album and IABUTS were released on Island Records, which I found interesting but probably means nothing in the big scheme of things.) Yeah... "Diamonds & Gold" was not bad for a bit of quirkiness. The second song that played? More conventional, nothing really much caught my attention. I've been inspired to reacquaint myself with all my dEUS albums now, which I haven't listened to for many years.
I cannot wait to see you sink into the full Waits journey. There is no right order or path. Every song is it’s own thing. Anywhere you lay your head is home.
I equate "Diamonds and Gold" to the people living around the skid row areas where I live. The worst hotels (their beverage rooms replace saloons here), streets littered with broken glass and broken dreams. Neighbourhood tough guys rise and fall. Maybe one of their followers will take up their mantles after they have gone. One of my favourite songs on the album. Less upbeat and more broken. "Hang down your head" is more of a normal song that could be covered by another group and end up sounded mainstreamish. I wonder if the "hang down your head" is a riff on classic folk song "Tom Dooley". It is proof that Tom Waits can do any style he wishes. After this album go back to his first album and you will hear a very different voice. It gets grittier as the years go by. I love his first two albums as well. Tom has been covered by a lot of groups/singers. I have even heard him covered by a celtic/folk/country band from Nova Scotia.
Biblical allusions. Remember the soldiers who gambled for Jesus' clothes after the crucifixion? That's what "gather up what's left of his clothes" is about. That's why his comrades are described as disciples. Because for sure, greed leads to betrayal. That's what some men will do for diamonds and gold. Break out the rusty nails. Another sucker has been found and betrayal is on the menu. Tom Waits evolves throughout his career. You've jumped into the middle. There are sentimental songs with lush piano parts at the beginning. There is country music with instruments made of found objects more recently. Three or four distinct eras. Yes, the voice is always gravel. He can push it to a plaintive sweetness sometimes in the high register.
Dreary music, a dodgy, gravely voiced 'singer', and i use the term singer very loosely. It's just relentless drabness. This's one of the few guys who can make Leonard Cohen sound decidedly cheery. These are just another 2 tunes i plan on never hearing again...
The refrain in the song Diamonds & Gold reminds me of the song "Chim Chim Cher-ee" from the film "Mary Poppins" from 1964.
One of my favorite albulms.
Please, when it comes to negative comments about Waits, ignore them. The man is a serious artist, who has done so much great work.
Other Waits albums are more unified, but this one is an unparalleled exhibition of his range. Especially given the context, it’s simply incredible. Hats off to Tom!
More Tom Waits, please!! Anything will do. I love it all.
Tom Waits has a distinct change in style starting with the album before this one, SwordfishTrombone. Prior to that album, he was very bluesy/Jazzy down on your luck, bar singer type music. Still very unique and very creative, but not nearly as avant-garde as his later stuff. This is mostly due to him meeting his wife and musical collaborator, Kathleen Brennan. She helped him to get and stay sober, and encouraged him to just make the music he wanted to make and not to feel pigeonholed into the style and persona that he created and people expected of him up to that point.
So if you want to hear the album that is most different to this one, I would suggest either his debut album, “Closing Time”, or his second album “Heart Of Saturday Night”. He doesn’t have his signature growl yet in his singing on these albums. That doesn’t really start showing up until his 3rd album “Nighthawks At The Diner” where you can definitely hear it creeping in. By the time he released “Small Change” he’s all in with gravelly, whiskey soaked growl.
100% agree
I was gonna say something similar to this - it sounds like you know Tom Waits better than I do!
His '70s records had a completely different voice and vibe. It was very much of the New York piano singer with a lot of jazz and pop standard settings. The songs from this period are outstanding musically and lyrically. Waits met his wife and songwriting partner Kathleen Brennan I the early '80s and they invented this new persona and style which Waits has explored ever since. I cannot recommend listening to the early stuff enough - the records are fantastic.
The Hang Down Your Head guitar solo sounds like post-pixies indie rock to me. Definitely ahead of its time.
Tom‘s first album „ Closing Time „ is a masterpiece , one of ten albums on a island. Very deep and melancholy
More Waits! His whole catalogue is brilliant.
Tom Waits live is also so awesome. He can do anything on stage that is actually banal - throw confetti, sing next to a lightbulb, and it is so well performed that it becomes awesome. 'Bone Machine' is my favorite. Just a true artist.
BTW, Lays corporation used a similar voice in some of their ads, he sued and walked away with millions. That's how unique that voice is.
Went to see Tom in a bar in Scottsdale Arizona 1975 ...John Hammond Jr. opened the show. We got there early and no one was in the bar me and a buddy you're standing at the bar haven't appeared out from the backwatch Tom comes up to start talking we still we stood there for about 15 minutes evolve beer went back to the dressing room and we enjoyed the show. Tom is one hip dude
I'm personally with you on wanting to see you hear more of Tom's music!
Tom Waits' singing style reminds me of a song of his that was on Small Change, and released as a single in 1976 -- "The Piano Has Been Drinking". Tom was friends with Dan Hicks, who recorded this song in a lighthearted style for his Beatin' The Heat album, and I got to see Dan and his band perform it live.
Yeah, that's just what his voice sounds like...singing, speaking. "Downtown Train" from this album will bring you back to this more melodic aspect of his, a great song that has been covered by Rod Stewart and others.
I was so happy to see you picked up on this album again!!! Nevermind what the haters say in the comments...Tom Waits is good for the soul. Personally, I feel the next 2 songs are the highlight of this album - Time and Rain Dogs are the best songs on the album.
exactly never mind the haters just listen
"Tom Traubert's Blues" from Small Change are the song and album that made me a life long fan!
I am so jealous that you are at the starting point of this journey. I've been a Waits fan for about 37 yrs. There are SO many great songs and albums for you to discover. However, I would not recommend going at the pace you are currently on. It would take years. I really can't wait for you to get to the next two songs on this album and also to Union Square.
It's alright if it takes years. Justin needs a steady income.
I really, really love this album, definitely among my top five ever, and your reactions are so enjoyable to see.
Ty so much Ole!
Personally, I love Tom Waits. This is also my favorite album from him, so I'm pretty much in my happy place with this playthrough.
I’m a fan of his . He has loads of great songs I recommend mr Henry and this one’s from the heart
So much great Tom Waits out there. Rain Dogs is a classic but there's so much more.
There is an even more radio-friendly song on Rain Dogs, one that became a giant hit when covered by a famous artist a few years later. Hope you finish this album and do more Tom Waits!
His voice changes.He is great.
It's been a long time since I've listened to it but the soundtrack for "One From The Heart", has some great Tom Waits songs with a bit of a different feel. Including some duets with Crystal Gayle.
Rain Dogs is probably Waits most mainstream work, once he finds his proper musical voice ( he writes the earlier works off as apprenticeship pieces). Bone Machine and Mule Variations are worth investigating next, but you really can't go wrong with any of his later albums.
I always think it's best to think about Tom Waits as an artist whose medium is sound. Everything in his songs - including his voice - is used to create a soundscape. He does vary his voice - usually variations of his natural gruff voice - but you'll hear the softer voice he more often used in his earlier recordings on the next track - Time. He will also occasionally use a high pitch (I think he has called it his "Prince" voice) usually just in sections but sometimes (like Temptation on Frank's Wild Years) for the entire song.
As for where you should go next: if you want to hear more songs like Time, Downtown Train, or Hang Down Your Head - I would look to his earlier work. I would recommend The Heart of Saturday Night. If you're looking for something different but still a little more experimental but still accessible to your audience, I would recommend Mule Variations (I think of Rain Dogs as a series of sketches about being lost in urban America... Mule Variations does the same thing with middle America) or Alice (written for a place about CS Lewis' obsession with his young neighbor who became the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland) Swordfishtrombones would also fall into this category.
One of the most humorous Waits tracks is the 3 min. spoken intro to "Better Off Without A Wife" on the Nighthawks At The Diner album. For a female singer/songwriter album with some variety on it, you might try the self titled debut album of a former girlfriend of Tom Waits, Rickie Lee Jones. This album won her the Best New Artist Grammy in 1980. I think you have an article about her in a British magazine I saw in one of your unboxings.
I think "Rain Dogs" is the most accessible of his albums, but "Bone Machine" is the best imo. He does goes from blues to rock-and-roll to old-time gospel to industrial -- there's a spoken word track over a retro horror movie score; there's a 'junkyard James Brown' track, there's even a few of the prettiest folk songs of the 90s. It's easily in my top 3 albums of all time.
Glad you got back to this
I hear the description snippets throughout "D&G" as the topography of the wasteland left behind by greedy men, while the people in the song are the ones who chased the dream, even to their own destruction. They've ended up here, clutching at that last straw, chasing that last dream - out of money, out of luck, out of time, out of their minds. Small-Time-Napoleon, whoever he was ... he didn't make it; and his hangers on now gather what they can for themselves, and push on into the darkness.
I think "Marie" just fits the rhyme and meter.
That melody that rings a bell in your mind comes, I think, from Mary Poppins: "Feed the Birds"
The next song on this album (Time) is probably my favorite TW song ever.
For the different album landscapes question, I recommend Closing Time, Small Change, Swordfishtrombones (kind of similar but essential) and Bone Machine (my all time favorite record).
I started listening to Tom Waits after I watched a film called Rumble Fish where he played a barman !
More Tom, please!
on his first two albums Closing Time and Heart Of Saturday Night his voice was not yet quite a gravely, but by the time you got to his fourth album Small Change his voice had undergone the change you hear now. If you want to hear him different, I suggest Small Change, Heartattack and Vine or Blue Valentines, on his tender ballads in his old style he can change his voice and suddenly shift into a complete other gear in the middle of a song, like Kentucy Avenue or On the Nickle, he can also do a growly falsetto like on songs like Temptation of Shore Leave. Thank you, thank you thank you for getting back to Waits he's not for everyone but those of us who get it he is the world. I am so looking forward to you Time which is the next song. nevermind the Haters.
If you can find it, watch his film Big Time in its entirety. His physical performance is captivating.
Saw that in a small cinema like 20 years back. Absolutely awesome.
Have it on vhs🙂
But don't have a player anymore🙁
It's on Amazon prime in HD
He always has the same voice, pretty much. But he writes and records different kinds of songs. He has one foot planted firmly in avant-garde music. And also the blues, like Howlin Wolf. But he also draws on classic pop songs. Cole Porter. Sinatra. Bing Crosby. Waits loves all those songs. It shows in his catalogue.
I'm looking forward to your reactions to Time, the title track Rain Dogs, and the final track (leave it to last!) Anywhere I Lay My Head. You talk about grit, but I don't think you've heard Tom BELT still with that same voice, which you'll hear on the final track, over somber horns :) (and a helluva rock and roll scream at the end of Rain Dogs)
Tom's first album, Closing Time, is far different. His voice is clearer and the songs are more ballady. As his career progressed, his voice got rougher, though this at times seems for effect. He's perfectly capable of singing (mostly) smoothly and clearly, as he did on his cover of "Somewhere" from West Side Story on the 1978 Blue Valentine album. For my money, his two most consistent and enjoyable albums (besides Rain Dogs) are 1976's Small Change and 1977's Foreign Affairs.
Closing Time is very different and more conventional. Great classic songs too
I guess I've said it before, but: You just *have* to watch Jim Jarmusch's 1986 movie “Down By Law” for an extra dose of Tom Waits - songs & acting. Pretty sure you'll love it.
They gather what's left of his clothes sounds like a reference to the Emperor's New Clothes, especially since Waits mentions Napoleon just a line or two earlier.
Diamonds and Gold is similar in melody and theme to the 1930s song Brother Can You Spare a Dime. Waits has always had an interest / preference for old-timey sounds, or at least sounds that seem rustic (and rusty) and scratchy like an old record and I can't imagine Diamonds and Gold isn't influenced by BCYSAD.
Also, while his voice remains gravelly he learns on future albums to sing in different character voices, and he really blooms as a stylist.
Rain Dogs probably does deserve the description of being Tom's masterpiece, but I think many come to appreciate it more in a wider context of what came before (the barfly years) and after, when, in many ways, he became the songwriters' songwriter.
Among his sweetest music actually came to us in 1990s and after: check out the likes of Take it With Me and Picture in a Frame, All the World is Green and I'm Still Here, Dead and Lovely and Back in the Crowd.
He certainly went on to hit even harder, when it came to the junkyard rhythm section and the glorious ruin of that carnival bark of a voice, but, in many respects, he became more comfortable with paring songs down to their bare bones beauty.
For a completely different Waits, go to his magnificent debut Closing Time.
His style switched with the "Frank's Wild Years" trilogy, of which Raindogs is the middle album. Early Waits is jazzier, more crooner-ish, but still, absolutely brilliant.
It’s cool how well-matched you are with Tom’s music. This is probably the album I would have recommended to you, having watched a couple dozen of your reactions. I assume you’ll find stuff of interest in his other output from this era, the albums Swordfishtrombones and Frank’s Wild Years, but he’s got incredible music sprinkled liberally through all the different phases of his career, so you could pick whatever catches your eye and might find it worth your time.
EDIT: after finishing this video, I’m more interested in seeing you react to my personal favorite Waits album, Bone Machine.
For a different side of Tom Waits, look to his early works. The best of his early stuff is probably "Heart of Saturday Night." or "Blue Valentine." and also... "A Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis." (The Holiday Season is coming.)
Finally more Tom Waits
You will find his first few albums, Closing Time, The Heart of Saturday Night - most notably - are much more radio friendly, though I hesitate to fully call them mainstream. The Eagles covered his song O'l 55 the same year Waits released the debut album it came from, Closing Time. A big complement. Other artists do admire him, and probably wish they could be as artistically free. He is definitely recognized by his peers. His voice on the first albums is still distinctively his but less gravel. He seems to use more or less gravel as a style choice. Though his early music is more in line with Hang Down Your Head and Downtown Train - there are so many wonderful tunes to be discovered there so it's definitely essential listening. I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You, Diamonds on My Windshield, The Heart of Saturday Night, San Diego Serrande, New Coat of Paint etc. Ruby's Arms is another beautiful ballad many have covered. My only complaint with his version is it's harder to understand the lyrics which reduce me to tears EVERY TIME.
In re Diamonds an Gold: This conjures up images of the old hobo jungles down by the railroad tracks. An image slice of an old American social landscape.
M first and favorite is Small Change, the title track and Step Right Up. Themes of winos, dive bars, seedy diners, street life and the generally down and out weave through much of his music. also give Mule Variations a try.
I think the song you’re thinking of is Chim Chim Cheree from Mary Poppins
Been waiting for this
The 'Swordfishtrombones' album should be next! (Just love the Marc Ribot guitar work on Raindogs!)
Closing time, his first. Completely different but good.
Blue Valentine or Heart of Saturday Night both are incredible albums
Before I forget: *Larkin Poe* has practiced enough to have become really good at *Preachin Blues* ruclips.net/video/Iqh1IOXx2QY/видео.html
And I'm enjoying the dissonance and the wooden gamelan tuned klonks that punctuate Diamonds and Gold.
If the only people in it for the diamonds and gold are the overseers, this might be something to do with the Burma Railway built by the Japanese in WW2. (Well, built by prisoners who ended up thin as sticks, and who probably competed for the clothes of their fallen comrade whenever one died.)
My mother's best friend long, long, long ago was a nurse in Singapore when the Japanese invaded. She was interned and nearly starved to death in the camp. If it wasn't for an old Japanese guard who took it upon himself to steal food for them, her and her friends would've died, it was that bad. She would talk about it to talk about him, rather than about the suffering (most of that best never mentioned - you don't want to know ). Instead she had memories of a sweet, loving person in the midst of all that hate. (If they'd caught him, he would've been killed - and quite possibly tortured first - so the stakes were high.)
I am a fan of Larkin Poe. I saw them (and drove them) here at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. I also saw them with Elvis Costello when they were still the Lovell Sisters. My favourite Larkin Poe video is the L.R. Baggs version of their cover of Black Betty but I like a lot of their other stuff including Preachin Blues.
@@maruad7577 They look like they'd be a great band to see.
@@sicko_the_ew they were/are. The Elvis Costello show was one of the best shows I have seen... he had his original band and they did all the old material then then the Lovell Sisters came on to cover his newest album and I swear it kicked it up a notch.
@@maruad7577 In most cases that would be impossible, but in this one, perfectly possible. And he probably didn't mind at all.
My fav TW album is Mule Variations. I would love for you to go from his first album to last though. His voice is different on first two albums. Then the growl turns up. But he inflects differently on different songs. He does bring emotion into it for sure.
Mule Variations is so good.
"At Play in the Fields of Lord", "The Fisher King" reached for his "Coffee and Cigarettes", while reading "The Book of Eli". The sound track album, "One From the Heart" with Crystal Gayle, would be a different side of Tom.Peace & Love Raindogs it's "Closing Time", in hope the world Waits.
Thanks. Didn’t care much for Diamonds and Gold…..But I really like Hang down your Head. Nice instrumentation and singing. Nice😊
If you want something completely different listen to the album Closing Time. Tom Waits started using the gravely voice after his wife introduced him to the music of Captain Beefheart.
I like Tom Waits. I maybe even really like Tom Waits. I love the idea of Tom Waits. He's a true original. He's a great song writer. He's got an amazing sense of humor. He's usually the more interesting person in any movie I see him in. I can count the number of Tom Waits performed songs that I enjoy on one hand. Step Right Up, Pasties and a G String, and I'm sure a couple of others that aren't sprinting to mind. I adore The Eagles cover of Ol' 55 and Rod's of Downtown Train. Tom's versions of those are kind of painful to me.
I grew up at a time that some of the most evolved popular music ever recorded was new. My standards are Yes, Chicago, Procol Harum, ELO, Queen, Pink Floyd, ELP, etc. To go from that to Tom Waits or Lou Reed or just about any other stripped down "gritty" singer/songwriters just feels like going in reverse. I 100% respect the talent and accomplishment, but try as I might I have to conclude that what I really like is layered, creatively produced and unpredictably composed. I used to think it was wrong that I couldn't sit down and enjoy an hour of Lead Belly or the dude with his Chapman stick at the arts festival. Now I embrace that I like what I like,
There is a parklot of Tom Waits to discover.... Go to first album...
I love the Tom Waits reactions...keep going!
Shame Tom can be so polarizing. I thinks he’s brilliant. Up next will be one of my favorites, Time. Glad you’re enjoying…clearly you know good music and great lyrics
In answer to your question about his voice, no. Tom puts on many different voices for different characters in many of his songs. Sometimes cleaner, sometimes even grittier, sometimes singing in a falsetto with a lisp like an old woman from the Deep South, sometimes like Louie Armstrong, sometimes like a drunken Sinatra, sometimes like a carnival barker, sometimes like a country crooner, and on and on. Toms got almost as many character voices as he has stories for all the characters he’s created. I sometimes wish someone could create a graphic novel universe inhabited by all the characters and places and stories Tom has made up.
Rain dogs is too difficult for me, but try "Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis" or "The Piano has been drinking" to hear Tom Waits at his best.
I love how you cant hold back your smile… tom does the same thing to me
To answer your question, no… he uses multiple voices… they all have a bit of edge/gravel to them… but he will do falsetto, he does some whisper singing… some carnival barker, and some lounge crooning
Complete opposite… the most opposite you can get is closing time… his debut… his gravely sound increases with every album thereafter
finally!
i thought you gave up on Tom
I’ve been told it’s a re-working as opposed to a cover version , but i really enjoy Jonathan Richman’s version of “The Heart of Saturday Night.”
Yes i bought Rain Dogs but frankly, it’s just fodder atm. Don’t ask me why. Maybe I’m still missing the Cat.
His last record, thus far, Bad As Me has him showing off he amazing falsetto voice.
Though it's hard to choose, my favorite album from him is probably "The Heart of Saturday Night", it has such a cool vibe. Go back to "Closing Time", or ahead to either "Bone Machine, or "Blood Money", all totally different, but great.
All those records are excellent. Bone Machine was such a game changer for me, so much that it became my favorite record ever. Waits is such a fascinating artist.
Nope, it's 'Chim-chiminee' from 'Mary Poppins'
🙂
The first track reminded me so much of the earlier output of dEUS, mainly the more eccentric parts from their "In A Bar Under The Sea" album.
After a bit of digging around, I see that dEUS cite Tom Waits as part of their early influence.
(Also... both this album and IABUTS were released on Island Records, which I found interesting but probably means nothing in the big scheme of things.)
Yeah... "Diamonds & Gold" was not bad for a bit of quirkiness.
The second song that played? More conventional, nothing really much caught my attention.
I've been inspired to reacquaint myself with all my dEUS albums now, which I haven't listened to for many years.
Mule Variations is different
I hope you listen to something from Real Gone
All new to me I'll keep taking this journey with you... Although I have heard other songs by him I do like better than these...
I cannot wait to see you sink into the full Waits journey. There is no right order or path. Every song is it’s own thing. Anywhere you lay your head is home.
Love Raindogs, it’s hard to break it down to single songs for me. I like it all.
Now I am thinking of Tom's music as songs for singles.
I equate "Diamonds and Gold" to the people living around the skid row areas where I live. The worst hotels (their beverage rooms replace saloons here), streets littered with broken glass and broken dreams. Neighbourhood tough guys rise and fall. Maybe one of their followers will take up their mantles after they have gone. One of my favourite songs on the album. Less upbeat and more broken. "Hang down your head" is more of a normal song that could be covered by another group and end up sounded mainstreamish. I wonder if the "hang down your head" is a riff on classic folk song "Tom Dooley". It is proof that Tom Waits can do any style he wishes. After this album go back to his first album and you will hear a very different voice. It gets grittier as the years go by. I love his first two albums as well.
Tom has been covered by a lot of groups/singers. I have even heard him covered by a celtic/folk/country band from Nova Scotia.
Waits...= genius. 🙂
I like the first song, the other, yes, is too much normal and Boring.
Biblical allusions. Remember the soldiers who gambled for Jesus' clothes after the crucifixion? That's what "gather up what's left of his clothes" is about. That's why his comrades are described as disciples. Because for sure, greed leads to betrayal. That's what some men will do for diamonds and gold. Break out the rusty nails. Another sucker has been found and betrayal is on the menu.
Tom Waits evolves throughout his career. You've jumped into the middle. There are sentimental songs with lush piano parts at the beginning. There is country music with instruments made of found objects more recently. Three or four distinct eras.
Yes, the voice is always gravel. He can push it to a plaintive sweetness sometimes in the high register.
Dreary music, a dodgy, gravely voiced 'singer', and i use the term singer very loosely. It's just relentless drabness. This's one of the few guys who can make Leonard Cohen sound decidedly cheery. These are just another 2 tunes i plan on never hearing again...
Its a blues waltz with a lot of humour.
@@paulcollins5586 I'll have to take your word on that...
Mule Variations is different