I want to discover the music of Tom Waits. Where to start?

I got the DVD SE a few years ago, and really enjoyed it.

EG.

 

This is accurate.

 

I started with 3 albums... Closing Time, Rain Dogs and the at the time new Mule Variations. Three wonderful albums from three different points in his career.

 

This.
If you stop at 3 I’d be amazed.These albums touch a lot of his musical bases.After those you can veer off into the strange and fantastic which is a good description for his whole catalogue.

 

Rain Dogs and his first album Closing Time. That will steer you where you go next...

 

I started with Closing Time just recently. After that, I bought Heart of a Saturday Night, Swordfishtrombones and Rain Dogs. Also gonna get Nighthawks at the Diner, guy has got me hooked!

 

Heart of Saturday Night for the blues/jazz hobo asylum years

Rain Dogs for the cinematic/experimental island years

Mule Variations for the avant-garde anti years

Alice is secretly my favorite album

Chronologically is the way to go as you’ll ease into the more challenging material. Even at his most abrasive the songs are always solid.

I’m jealous that you get to experience the whole catalog fresh!

 

That's quite the variety. The Black Rider is one of the more wonderfully out there albums he's ever done. If you're a Stones fan, you simply have to listen to Bone Machine.

 

Speaking of fresh, we need a new Waits long player.

 

I've always thought that this is what it would sound like if Waits had joined the Rolling Stones:

 

Just sampled some Frank's Wild Years song from Swordfishtrombones. He's gotta wicked sense of humor, makes me wonder if he was ever a comedian.

 

Mine as well. It really is a hidden gem, isn’t it?

 

Oh, yeah, that humor runs through his entire career. It's in the DNA of his art and persona. It is absolutely worth searching the web for Waits interviews from books, magazines, music websites, YouTube TV appearances, etc - as well as tracking down recordings of his live, in-between song banter and stories to the audience, which, I believe, an entire CD was officially released, as well. He's not only hilariously funny, he's remarkable insightful and also speaks in sentences as bizarre and beautiful as his lyrics. I have no idea how affected his persona truly, truly is, but, from all accounts (and from everyone I know who has met him), what you see is, more or less, what you get. Tom Waits IS, apparently, Tom Waits.

 

Great interview:





Wit and wisdom:

Tom Waits

 

I would start with Small Change and Swordfishtrombones. Small Change because it has his greatest song, Tom Traubert’s Blues, and Swordfishtrombones because it shows his more experimental side, and it is the direction he would follow in later years. Contrast and compare.

 

"I do field trips now. Well, I drive on field trips. I don’t know, the children seem to like me as a driver. I have a lot of room in the car and I take the turns really fast. The radio’s on full blast. The most interesting one was when we took about 30 kids to a music store and I figured ‘well, okay, I’ll drive on that,’ and we got there and I’m kind of standing over by the piano, and I was thinking ‘well, I’m gonna get recognized any minute now.’ Then I decided to move over by the percussion and I found an interesting lighting situation and I’m ready for ‘aren’t you that guy?’ Nothing. I went over by the guitars and I waited. Nothing. I was a little let down. A week later they asked me to drive on another field trip, this time they’re going to the dump. 12 guys surrounded my car. Go figure. Everybody knows me…at the dump."

 

Hey, aren't you the driver?

 

Great suggestion: I recently bought Rain dogs /Swordfish trombones @ a goodwill. If i ever come across vinyl, i might pull the trigger, but odds of that rare unless i order online

 

I would start with the early 70s stuff - great songs with just Tom @ the piano

Then it would be time for the experimental stuff like Swordfishtrombones from 1983 and onward.

I love both Eras !

 

I have a pipe dream of an audiobook read by Tom. Specifically, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, combined with the sounds and otherworldliness to go with it, ala “What’s He Building in There” from Mule Variations.

 

My pipe dream is the album he does with Keith Richards....or a hodgepodge collection of only the Keith and Waits tracks.

 

"Tales From A Cracked Jukebox" was a fantastic documentary from a couple of years ago. BBC4 screened it, but I don't think it's still on the iPlayer and I can't link to the other versions available online (but it's there).

EG.

 

Same here. For the adventurous, that's where I'd start. For the uninitiated, I'd start with either Closing Time or Heart of Saturday Night.

 

Heartattack and Vine is worth it alone just for "On the Nickel" and "Jersey Girl".

 

Well articulated and a good road map to a singular artist. A great trip awaits. I envy your exploration. There’s only one virgin experience.