It's the AV club, so take it with a grain of salt. However, Tom Waits is a fantastic musician/poet and definitely worth listening to.

He actually is a decent actor as well, playing the Devil in "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus"

stop pretending this is good music.

If you like Waits vocal style, you might like the Black Diamond Heavies (new window) As far as I know this band is not very popular so I'm gonna help em out cause they're real cool dudes from Tennessee who put on a great live show. Check out the album "A Touch of Someone Else's Class" it's awesome. Wish they had better quality youtube videos. Here's two more great songs:
Smoothe it out (new window)
Fever In My Blood (new window)

/I farking love this band

A dear friend of mine, knowing that I idolize Leonard Cohen, Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Warren Zevon, etc. told me that I'd probably like Tom Waits because I like brilliant lyricists with (varying degrees of) bad voices. He was right.

Skullduggery: A dear friend of mine, knowing that I idolize Leonard Cohen, Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Warren Zevon, etc. told me that I'd probably like Tom Waits because I like brilliant lyricists with (varying degrees of) bad voices. He was right.

you are the worst kind of person

blackySM2: Skullduggery: A dear friend of mine, knowing that I idolize Leonard Cohen, Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Warren Zevon, etc. told me that I'd probably like Tom Waits because I like brilliant lyricists with (varying degrees of) bad voices. He was right.

you are the worst kind of person

Excuse me?

blackySM2: Skullduggery: A dear friend of mine, knowing that I idolize Leonard Cohen, Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Warren Zevon, etc. told me that I'd probably like Tom Waits because I like brilliant lyricists with (varying degrees of) bad voices. He was right.

you are the worst kind of person

+0.5

you actually got a nibble

Anyone who writes off the Asylum years is an idiot. The author seems to have gotten stuck in "Rain Dogs"-fever. Why trust a gateway guide from someone that has spent years standing in the gate?

Here's the real gateway guide. "Buy Rain Dogs. Listen to it. At the end you'll know whether you want to trade it in or go pick up the other albums. Like any artist performing for almost 40 years, he has went through some stages, you'll need to explore them to find out which you prefer."

Thinking about it I'm surprised as all get out that he didn't land somewhere on Pitchfork's best of the 1990s list.

as well as the eels (a "group" which has collaborated with Waits and which has been much praised by him in the past).

both are on the extremely short list of live acts I'd pay more than 50 bucksUSD to see perform live in concert (provided I was anywhere near the small handful of cities in the U.S. either one will perform in anymore).

listening to Nighthawks at the Diner as I type this.

The very definition of the personification of the phrase "acquired taste". Acquired it for Tom twenty years ago and hope I never lose it.

Truly a great artist, and one of the coolest catalogs of music to take a stroll through.

I'm I the only Person that like The Black Rider? Not every song on it is a gem, but a good 2/3 are.

kaldec: Anyone who writes off the Asylum years is an idiot. The author seems to have gotten stuck in "Rain Dogs"-fever. Why trust a gateway guide from someone that has spent years standing in the gate?

Here's the real gateway guide. "Buy Rain Dogs. Listen to it. At the end you'll know whether you want to trade it in or go pick up the other albums. Like any artist performing for almost 40 years, he has went through some stages, you'll need to explore them to find out which you prefer."

Well said. I became a fan because of those albums. Little did I know what strangeness and beauty headed my way over the next dozen or so albums. Very much worth the effort to check out Waits' work.

blackySM2 Quote 2010-09-03 02:17:54 AM
stop pretending this is good music.

Pretty much THIS.

His gravelly voiced,drunken, beatnik/hipster schtick is just that:
'schtick'.

If he is so good why does he have to pretend to be something he isn't: a drunken beatnik/hipster?

As for his voice I don't want to read a post from anyone here
regarding the shiatiness Dylan's voice; Dylan sounds like Sinatra compared to Waits.

My personal fav:

Link (new window)

I don't know, but I've always loved "Missing You." And Tina Turner did an excellent cover of it back in the mid 90's.
Link (new window)

Waits writes good songs that make for great covers. His own versions, however, are completely unlistenable.

I'm a fan, but I can understand not liking his stuff. No big deal to me if'n you don't. It's an acquired taste, like scotch bourbon.

The fake gravelliness on his classic Small Change album took a few listens to get used to, no doubt. But man... what an inspired disc!

Seriously, if you don't have the song "Step Right Up" in your collection, you really are missing out on something. Honest.

/or "Pasties & a G-String" for that matter

Meh.

*sigh* Now crushes on musicians are considered "geeky"?

/word has lost all meaning.

Mr_Fabulous: I'm a fan, but I can understand not liking his stuff. No big deal to me if'n you don't. It's an acquired taste, like scotch bourbon.

The fake gravelliness on his classic Small Change album took a few listens to get used to, no doubt. But man... what an inspired disc!

Seriously, if you don't have the song "Step Right Up" in your collection, you really are missing out on something. Honest.

/or "Pasties & a G-String" for that matter

Seconded. The piano has been drinking is one of my favorites from that album.

When people call something "unlistenable" -- what is it that they mean?

They obviously don't mean that it isn't possible to listen to it. But it seems asinine to call a piece of art "unviewable", or "unwatchable", or "unlistenable" just because your own tastes run a different way.

Isn't that a worse kind of snobbery than people who have the balls to claim that *gasp* they like an artist you don't like?

I've never understood why people come to the music threads to dog bands other people like. Whatever, man. Like what you like and leave everyone else alone. I know, I know. Welcome to Fark.

For the record, "Rain Dogs" is great on a rainy day. "Mule Variations" is good for a road trip. But "Blood Money" is one of the best boot-knockin albums I've ever heard. Sounds weird, but its true.

I'm reading this entire thread imagining it in Waits' voice, so I'm getting a kick out of this.

ClintonKun: I'm reading this entire thread imagining it in Waits' voice, so I'm getting a kick out of this.

That is....gonna....take you, well, uh, quite....awhile..to ugh make it....through them all.

pottie: blackySM2: Skullduggery: A dear friend of mine, knowing that I idolize Leonard Cohen, Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Warren Zevon, etc. told me that I'd probably like Tom Waits because I like brilliant lyricists with (varying degrees of) bad voices. He was right.

you are the worst kind of person

+0.5

you actually got a nibble

Make that 1.5

douchebag/hater: His gravelly voiced,drunken, beatnik/hipster schtick is just that:
'schtick'

You mean to tell me that Tom Waits's stage persona isn't what he's like in real life?

The revelations just keep on coming.

I liked his song about short people.

IrateShadow: The Black Rider

I like quite a bit of it, but it does suffer from the fact that it is kind of out of context without the stage show it accompanies, at least, in my opinion. My favorite parts are the Morricone-esque baritone guitar parts.

blackySM2: stop pretending this is good music.

couldn't have said it any better.

IrateShadow: I'm I the only Person that like The Black Rider? Not every song on it is a gem, but a good 2/3 are.

No, I do as well. But then, Heartattack and Vine is my favorite from Waits, which according to the author of tfa and big Waits fans makes me an idiot and unworthy to hear his songs.

Just noticed his concert film "Big Time" is on youtube

Big Time (new window)

ftfa
The first half of Tom Waits' career, from about 1973 to 1983, was basically one long, rambling biography of a heartbroken lounge-act.

ummm....no.

his lyrical subject matter started to vary more around "blue valentines"... for example, "kentuky avenue"... a heart breaking ballad about a friend of the narrator's who is in a wheelchair, and daring to dream.

Precious Roy's Horse Dividers: As someone who is always looking for something new to listen to, and has actually never listened to Tom Waits other than his guest vocals on the eels album, how about a recommendation on a starter album to whet my appetite?

Rain Dogs

Ghastly: If being geeky about Tom Waits is wrong then I don't want to be right.

Wow, Ghastly, wasn't expecting that.....well, I guess I should've expected that, since you're Ghastly.

Rev. Skarekroe: Sometimes when Tom Waits gets sad, he finds it helps to put a fish in his pants.

And playing cards helps him recover from seasickness.

ClintonKun: Precious Roy's Horse Dividers: As someone who is always looking for something new to listen to, and has actually never listened to Tom Waits other than his guest vocals on the eels album, how about a recommendation on a starter album to whet my appetite?

Rain Dogs

Big Time (new window) is a pretty decent cross-section of his stuff. The live versions are a bit different from the album versions, but still.

ignatius_crumbcake: look! this is my name!: blackySM2: stop pretending this is good music.

couldn't have said it any better.

This is all I have to say about that. (new window)

My friend once played me this song and I started laughing when the singing kicked in. I thought it was a Wesley Willis type thing.

douchebag/hater: His gravelly voiced,drunken, beatnik/hipster schtick is just that: 'schtick'.

You mean like Li'l Bobby Zimmerman's outlandish "Bob Dylan" persona?

As for his voice I don't want to read a post from anyone here regarding the shiatiness Dylan's voice; Dylan sounds like Sinatra compared to Waits.

That's funny 'cause back in the day before his voice went weird or he intentionally started trying to sound like a tracheotomy in progress or whatever, he kinda made Sinatra sound like Dylan.

I remember the christian fundies hated him for this Link (new window)

The haters on this thread might love Glenn Beck. I'm sure of it. They hate anything art and music ... oh fark, they hate thinking...

Father Shaft: I remember the christian fundies hated him for this Link (new window)

The haters on this thread might love Glenn Beck. I'm sure of it. They hate anything art and music ... oh fark, they hate thinking...

Nope, hate GB.

I've heard many people over the years call him a terrible singer, unlistenable and the like, but I can only speak for myself. Although his voice and music are certainly an acquired taste for most, I am deeply grateful for having acquired it. His music has enriched and entertained me more than any other artist, and no one else is even a close second. The depth of humanity and character in his best vocals never ceases to amaze me (Alice and Ruby's Arms being two excellent previously mentioned examples). He makes me laugh, he makes me cry, and he makes me nostalgic for places I've never been.

I used to change favorite artists every year or two, but I'm going on 20+ years with Tom with no sign of letting up. If he's not for you, I can only hope for your sake that your favorite artists touch you as deeply as TW does me.

Madmojo: I've heard many people over the years call him a terrible singer, unlistenable and the like, but I can only speak for myself. Although his voice and music are certainly an acquired taste for most, I am deeply grateful for having acquired it. His music has enriched and entertained me more than any other artist, and no one else is even a close second. The depth of humanity and character in his best vocals never ceases to amaze me (Alice and Ruby's Arms being two excellent previously mentioned examples). He makes me laugh, he makes me cry, and he makes me nostalgic for places I've never been.

I used to change favorite artists every year or two, but I'm going on 20+ years with Tom with no sign of letting up. If he's not for you, I can only hope for your sake that your favorite artists touch you as deeply as TW does me.

That was very thoughtful. I take back everything I've said in this post.