Tom Waits - Where do I start?

[mikal]

yes, i have never heard a Tom Waits song or album. i hear great stuff about him. for someone going in blind, what album would you suggest?

 

[Imperor]

I'm not sure how well this will be accepted by anyone who is more of a Waitsologist, but I started with Rain Dogs and never looked back.

 

[mikal]

I'm not sure how well this will be accepted by anyone who is more of a Waitsologist, but I started with Rain Dogs and never looked back.

i have heard that his voice is pretty hard to get used to. should i brace myself?

 

[Imperor]

It's unique, but I never had any real difficulty with it. It's actually pretty bad ass.

 

[Jive Turkey]

Tom Waits' voice is less about singing and more about establishing a tone and atmosphere in his songs. Its jarring at first, but if you let your mind wander while listening to him, it can conjure up some pretty vivid imagery

 

[LemonMelon]

Chronologically, I say. Or, better yet, pick one from each segment of his career, which I tend to divide into 1973-1982, 1983-1993, 1994-present. And, drawing from that, I would suggest:

Closing Time
Rain Dogs
Mule Variations

Those are the consensus choices, anyway. A lot of people tend to skip over the early albums in general, but that's my favorite period of his work. He's always been a wonderful songwriter, and his voice wasn't so worn then.

 

[UnforgettableLemon]

I'm going to buck the album trend. To me, no Waits album is indispensable until the 1980s, so I'd start with Used Songs (1973-1980), Rain Dogs and either Bone Machine or Mule Variations. That will get you pretty much optimal Waits coverage for a beginner. Beautiful Maladies, the comp of his Island work, is good, too, but that era is just too damn hard to anthologize effectively.

 

[mikal]

thanks for the responses folks. i'm downloading Rain Dogs right now, since everyone mentioned this one.

 

[Slapnutz]

I'd go with Rain Dogs and Small Change. They both give you a good feel of the Waits soundscape without freaking you out too much.

 

[If you shout...]

I say that Bone Machine is tops, but you should start with Rain Dogs and Swordfishtrombones, yes.

 

[LemonMelon]

thanks for the responses folks. i'm downloading Rain Dogs right now, since everyone mentioned this one.

Just to be an ass, I'll change my 1983-1993 pick to Swordfishtrombones. It truly is a better representation of every facet of his career, as it features the creative percussion of Rain Dogs, and tracks like Rainbirds sum up his early work beautifully. It's a terrific album, although perhaps not as unified as Rain Dogs.

 

[Popmartijn]

I'm going to buck the album trend. To me, no Waits album is indispensable until the 1980s, so I'd start with Used Songs (1973-1980)

I have that one and it's the only Tom Waits album I own at the moment (or rather, it's a compilation of his early years on the Asylum label). It's a good introduction.

 

[Saracene]

What's Closing Time like? I've got about seven albums of his, mostly later stuff, but not this one.

 

[mikal]

i'm half way into Rain Dogs right now.....i don't know about this. not really digging it. i'll try to stomach through the rest.

 

[corianderstem]

You should start with Scarlett Johanssen's album of cover versions!

Kidding.

I've never gotten into him, although I do really love a few of his songs ... which I heard thanks to various cover versions. Time (Tori Amos), Soldier's Things (Paul Young).

 

[mikal]

yeah, maybe it would be better with headphones. i'm listening on my living room stereo, and his voice is just overwhelming. i know someone said earlier to try to let his voice blend in. i guess that worked with The National. we'll see...

 

[joyfulgirl]

Start with early Tom. He used to have a cool voice. This is the Tom Waits I fell in love with:

YouTube - Tom Waits - On The Nickel (Live 1978)

 

[LemonMelon]

Martha is a classic too, as I'm sure you're aware.

I told you to go chronologically, Mikal. There's a reason Waits himself had to build up to the level of experimentation heard on Swordfishtrombones and Rain Dogs.

 

[joyfulgirl]

Oh yeah.

Spoiler

I am still waiting for the ex-boyfriend to discover that song which I put on some mixes for him.

I agree with going chrono. I started at the beginning with Closing Time. It's probably still my favorite along with Heart of Saturday Night and Heartattack and Vine.

 

[djerdap]

I started with Franks Wild Years, since that one is so cinematic (Way Down in the Hole is quite famous among fans of The Wire, arguably the greatest TV show ever, Innocent When You Dream was used in a wonderful little sequence in Wayne Wang's Smoke, while Cold Cold Ground - my favorite Waits track so far - has been used in one of the most memorable closing scenes of the cult TV show Homicide: Life on the Street). So, my connection with Waits started with film, and that record as a first was no disappointment.

 

[UnforgettableLemon]

I should have mentioned that I totally didn't get into Rain Dogs until I'd been listening to his other material for some time. I actually think the early material or Mule Variations provide the easiest entry.

 

[IWasBored]

rain dogs rules.

i hear there's a tom waits song in some commercial on tv. i mocked the crap out of my friend who texted me this (called him a pretentious bastard or something for actually caring), and he hasn't gotten back to me what product is being hawked. but, for those of you who might care about such things...