Where do you start with Tom Waits?

[Guessed]

Suggestions/Input welcome

B,
S

[TheWarmth]

He's gone through a number of stylistic changes, so you kinda have to put your toe in the pond in a few different places to figure out what you like and don't like (or maybe you'll like it all). His early stuff has a jazz lounge piano singer vibe (Closing Time / Small Change / Nighthawks At The Diner / The Heart of Saturday Night). Of those three I think I like The Heart of Saturday Night best. Things get a bit more experimental, but still jazzy on albums like Heartattack & Vine and Swordfishtrombones. From the 90's on things get weirder and often REALLY weird (Mule Variations, for example). I don't own all of his albums, but I think this is a pretty good basic synopsis. If you're really bold, check out Orphans, which is a 3xcd or 7xLP, mega-sprawling collection, which I personally think is tremendous. The new album, Bad As Me, is fantastic and more straightforward than I had expected. PM me if you'd like me to hook you up with a few things.

[bunnyben]

heart of saturday night- beautiful lounge/jazz album

[Broc]

I'm not a huge fan of his early stuff but love basically everything since Raindogs.

I've been on a big Waits binge since December and picked up Alice, Blood Money, Real Gone, The Black Rider (re-issue) and Bad As Me all on vinyl over the Xmas period.

Frank's Wild Years might be a good place to start.

[moop]

i started off with 'alice' and 'bloody money' and that was definitely a mistake (though to this day 'alice' has some of my favourite waits tracks on it) I would recommend getting both 'nighthawks at the diner' and either 'real gone' or 'bad as me' to give you a good indication of 2 of waits' most distinct (but easier) styles. if you like them and/or want something more experimental, move on to 'swordfishtrombones' and 'rain dogs' etc. i think it's fair to say that most people find his stranger stuff takes a while to grow on them. another thing i will say is that he tends to mix up styles on each album, or rather that he mixes 'easy' and 'difficult' listening. i'm sure that's done on purpose to keep people on their toes.

[shalloboi]

i'd say 'bone machine' or even 'mule variations' would be good places to start.
a lot of people will say 'rain dogs' is a good place to start, but 'swordfishtrombone' would be a better jumping off point if you want to start in that classic waits period- it's a bit more readily accessible, plus it'll make pretty much every album he made after it make a whole lot more sense. i'd steer clear of his musical albums (i.e. 'frank's wild years,' 'the black rider,' 'alice,' etc.) as those are a bit tough to get used to as proper albums until you're a bit more enmeshed in his world.

[Hedspace]

If your looking for an overall quick fix entry
theres an anthology on vinyl only which is an excellent selection from his Asylum years

http://www.discogs.com/Tom-Waits-Anthol ... ter/360342

no turntable...you can nab it here
http://www.mediafire.com/?z2lecblq8e19pfs

[johnnyboy]

Bone Machine was my first Tom Waits album, and still stands as my favourite to this day.

[BzaInSpace]

My introduction, as it were, to the murky world of Mr Waits began with a cassette of his live album from the 80s called Big Time.
It's wonderful. Some jokes and an amazing band.

Like Warmth suggests, I'd go right into Orphans, an awesome triple set I'm still digging into a year or so later. I recommend Mule Variations as well. Bizarre but beautiful. The Used Songs: 1973 - 1980 comp is a good overview of the more songwriter style before The Weirdness. I like a bit of both - his singing can take some getting used to, but that's been said about Dylan and Beefheart (and indeed, Bryan Ferry!) too.

Had a great Waits moment not long after the bells last week: the new song 'New Years Eve' went down a treat.

[Broc]

Bone Machine is indeed fantastic but personally wouldn't recommend starting with it.

I love Big Time, the video was great, wish it was re-released on DVD.

[TheWarmth]

Somebody suggested starting with Frank's Wild Years. Not sure I can agree with that. It's not a bad album, but sort of a weird spot to start.

I don't own a copy of Rain Dogs, so I may pick it up today as Reckless has an original copy for $20 in stock.

[Broc]

Somebody suggested starting with Frank's Wild Years. Not sure I can agree with that. It's not a bad album, but sort of a weird spot to start.

That was me, it's where I started with him back in the late 80s. I suppose there's loads of albums you could start with, look at all the previous posts. I like FWY an awful lot as it covers a lot of his styles. I dunno

[Multi]

.

[BzaInSpace]

My advice: stay away from everything that sounds like drunken pirate music.

HAHA! That pretty much rules out most of Waits' modern oeuvre then...

[robotoilet]

When I was maybe 17 or 18, saw these two clips and fell for his music.
http://youtu.be/Zo4Y0TxW41g
http://youtu.be/hZhW76LAnTY
Then I started with Rain Dogs.
However, I had lent Rain Dogs to two friends. One never took it back so I had to buy the new one. And the other one showed the same reaction as this.

My advice: stay away from everything that sounds like drunken pirate music.

Since then I have never recommended him to anyone.
Although I don’t have all of his albums, Rain Dogs and Bone Machine are my favorites ever. And if I pick up my desert island songs, three of them would be his songs, I Don't Wanna Grow Up (Bone Machine), Martha (Closing Time), and Innocent When You Dream (Frank’s Wild Years).