His early stuff is certainly in the tradition of American songwriting, but it’s an evolution of that style, not a pastiche, imho. Ol’ 55, Tom Traubert’s Blues, Burma Shave, Grapefruit Moon, Kentucky Avenue, The Ghosts of Saturday Night are all close to magnificent. There used to be a fabulous compilation of the best of the early albums called Asylum Years which I bought very shortly after Swordfishtrombones. Those albums were my ‘way in’!
I was listening to "Real Gone" last night. I had this CD a while and thought it was OK. I put it on, on my computer while I was working and it really hit me.
I know there's a To Each His/Her Own element to everything, and I'm a firm believer in people liking what they like....but I do think that those early albums will get ya eventually. They are just so good. Here's a performance from five years prior to Rain Dogs and I can't imagine any Tom Waits fan not liking this.
I'm right there with you on your first two. As for the third, it reminds me of a conversation I had with a musical guru of mine where he argued that the early Waits was more authentic than the arty Waits. I disagreed, and still do, but I have a fondness for the early albums. They're certainly more authentic than Leon Redbone! As for my friend, he's long gone and left me his copy of Rain Dogs :-(.
Oh, man, The Heart Of Saturday Night is one of my favorite albums, but I understand why, if the format requires symbolically killing one album, that would be the choice.
But, for example, if you really listen to the words of "Please Call Me, Baby" it's amazing songwriting.
"We're always at each others throats / It drives me up the wall / Most of the time I'm just blowing off steam / And I wish to God you'd leave me / And I wish to God you'd stay / Life's so different than it is in your dreams"
I wouldn’t write off Waits’ early career so easily. You call it schtick, but to me what he did afterwards was and is just a different kind of schtick. In fact I love both those kinds of schtick. Tom Waits is present in all of that work and all the beauty of his artistic temperament too.
I’d also signpost people to Blue Valentine and Heart Attack and Vine. The guy is a wizard.
His early stuff is certainly in the tradition of American songwriting, but it’s an evolution of that style, not a pastiche, imho. Ol’ 55, Tom Traubert’s Blues, Burma Shave, Grapefruit Moon, Kentucky Avenue, The Ghosts of Saturday Night are all close to magnificent. There used to be a fabulous compilation of the best of the early albums called Asylum Years which I bought very shortly after Swordfishtrombones. Those albums were my ‘way in’!
This is such a fun weekly feature idea - so excited for future publications!
Really enjoyed this personal and comprehensive deep dive!
I was listening to "Real Gone" last night. I had this CD a while and thought it was OK. I put it on, on my computer while I was working and it really hit me.
I know there's a To Each His/Her Own element to everything, and I'm a firm believer in people liking what they like....but I do think that those early albums will get ya eventually. They are just so good. Here's a performance from five years prior to Rain Dogs and I can't imagine any Tom Waits fan not liking this.
https://youtu.be/C49H3aWdiK8?si=n2rv-4aDfl4w4dZn
That was brilliant. Thank you! 🤘👊🎸
I'm right there with you on your first two. As for the third, it reminds me of a conversation I had with a musical guru of mine where he argued that the early Waits was more authentic than the arty Waits. I disagreed, and still do, but I have a fondness for the early albums. They're certainly more authentic than Leon Redbone! As for my friend, he's long gone and left me his copy of Rain Dogs :-(.
Funny, am writing about “Saturday Night” this week! I liked it but love that you hated it.
Oh, man, The Heart Of Saturday Night is one of my favorite albums, but I understand why, if the format requires symbolically killing one album, that would be the choice.
But, for example, if you really listen to the words of "Please Call Me, Baby" it's amazing songwriting.
"We're always at each others throats / It drives me up the wall / Most of the time I'm just blowing off steam / And I wish to God you'd leave me / And I wish to God you'd stay / Life's so different than it is in your dreams"
I wouldn’t write off Waits’ early career so easily. You call it schtick, but to me what he did afterwards was and is just a different kind of schtick. In fact I love both those kinds of schtick. Tom Waits is present in all of that work and all the beauty of his artistic temperament too.
I’d also signpost people to Blue Valentine and Heart Attack and Vine. The guy is a wizard.