[Music] Tom Waits - Chocolate Jesus

I like it.

 

One of the best story tellers in music. His instrumentation, including his voice, is so unique that you know you're listening to Tom Waits immediately. Most people wish they had one ounce of Waits' talent.

 

Man oh man, thank you to the op for starting this thread! I'll echo what dumbarton said but you know me, I have to say more.

The important thing to remember about Waits is that his career can essentially be split into 2 periods - pre Captain Beefheart inspired material and Captain Beefheart inspired material. On the first, he released 8 albums (I have 5) and this period was more of less Waits using conventional instruments and being more of a bluesy, smoky jazzy type artist with of course some of the best lyrics you will ever hear. To me, only Leonard Cohen can write like Waits and that is because LC is a poet who became a musician. Dylan is great as are guys like Neil Young and Van the man but they cannot tell a story like Cohen and Waits. Where Leonard is more analytical and intellectual, Waits will blow you away with his every man approach mixed in with beatnik quality. He utilizes a stream of consciousness style (at least that is what I call it) that allows the listener to be amazed at how he writes these things. Anyway, of the 8 albums, I own these:

Closing Time
Nighthawks at a Diner
Small Change
Blue Valentine
One From the Heart (movie soundtrack with Crystal Gayle!)

That leaves these 3 that I still need to pick up - Heart of Saturday Night, Foreign Affairs, and Heart Attack and Vine.

Closing Time is his debut and probably the only album in which Waits tries to sing in a "pleasing" voice. It is pretty much an anomaly in his catalogue because of this. Has great songs (like any of his albums) including "Ol '55", "Martha", and "I Hope I Don't Fall in Love With You" - "Ol '55" would later be covered by the Eagles of all people! Nighthawks is his 3rd album and one of the most unique - he actually brought in around 100 people to listen and watch him record this album "live". There is a lot of talking in it and it sounds like you are listening to a Las Vegas nightclub act at times. However, only Tom Waits would release an album like this. It is not one of my favorites but his wordplay and banter with the audience is remarkable. Small Change is usually cited as the masterpiece of his first era; it definitely contains his most sharply written songs and he plays with a great jazz group on bass, piano, and drums. If you like jazz music and great lyrics and can stand to listen to Waits' voice (by now he had started to sing in a rougher style - one of his hallmarks), then this album is for you. But I can understand how a lot of people wouldn't like it as Waits like Dylan and Cohen is an acquired taste ("he don't have a purty sounding voice"). Blue Valentine, IMO, is his most underrated album and was one of the first to have electric guitar in it (more of less for texture and as another "voice"). Includes great songs like $29.00, Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis, Kentucky Avenue, the title track, Whistlin' Past the Graveyard, and a great cover of the Broadway standard (from West Side Story) in "Somewhere". Finally, the soundtrack album (it was to a Francis Ford Coppola movie) is interesting as there are some songs where it is just Tom singing, some where it is just Crystal Gayle singing, and others where they sing as a duet. You won't find a more striking contrast to Waits' voice than Crystal Gayle who has a voice like silk.

As for the other 3 - Heart of Saturday Night is somewhat similar to the debut but Waits' voice was already starting to sound rougher. Foreign Affairs has a duet with Bette Midler (this led to the inspiration of getting Crystal Gayle to sing on One From the Heart also because Midler was unavailable) and features Waits' then girlfriend at the time, Rickie Lee Jones on the front cover. Finally, Heart Attack and Vine was a transition album that pointed the way to the next phase in Waits' career. It included one of his best known songs in "Jersey Girl" which has been covered by Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, and many others.

Starting with "Swordfishtrombones", Waits moved his music into a more experimental style. A lot of this had to do with Waits' wife (who he had just married), Kathleen Brennan who was a big fan of Captain Beefheart and turned her new hubby onto him. Ironically, the good Captain has been on the record of saying that he felt that Waits was trying to copy him and his style (the two do sound similar in their singing voices). But his music during this time included unconventional instruments and Waits doing things like compressing his voice and singing in a megaphone (pretty much like what was shown in the youtube video in the opening post). This was also the time that Waits started using spoken word pieces and he would do these bizarre instrumentals that sounded like circus music (he was also influenced by the music of Kurt Weill at the time).

Of his second period, I have these albums:

Swordfishtrombones
Rain Dogs
Franks' Wild Years
Bone Machine

I am lacking these albums - Big Time (live album), Night on Earth (soundtrack album that is out of print), The Black Rider (another soundtrack album), Mule Variations (the album that has "Chocolate Jesus" on it), Alice, Blood Money, and Real Gone. He also has a triple CD set called "Orphans" which contains unreleased and rare material.

Swordfishtrombones is a great album because of the new style and contains classic tracks like Johnsburg, Illinois (great love song that actually features Waits singing like he did on his debut), 16 Shells.. (great hard rocking track), In the Neighborhood (a hilarious ode in which Waits sounds like a drunk Louis Armstrong), Frank's Wild Years (great spoken word piece that would later inspire a "music opera" and album of the same name), and the title track. Rain Dogs would have 19 songs and be very similar to its predecessor but featured even tighter songs, both lyrically and musically. Keith Richards and Marc Ribot are on this album and allmusic describes it as "the Howlin' Wolf singing the Threepenny Opera" which is pretty much an accurate assessment. Downtown Train is on this album and would be a big hit for Rod Stewart a couple years later (that song probably remains Waits' most well-known song). Other favorites include "Walkin Spanish", "Big Black Mariah", "Gunstreet Girl", "Time", the title track, and "Clap Hands" among others. To me, this is my favorite and the best Waits album out there. It is absolutely amazing.

The last 2 I have, FWY and BM are really weird and scary. FWY has a lot of the same characteristics as RD and Sword but where both of those albums had lighter moments and eased up on the weirdness, FWY pretty much keeps it weird the entire album. "Cold Cold Ground" and 2 different versions each of "Innocent When You Dream" and "Straight to the Top" are probably the most well-known tracks off that album. I have only listened to Bone Machine once but I liked it a lot - can't really tell you my favorites other than the whole album. It is more scary than weird compared to FWY but it is brilliant nonetheless. I can't really comment on the other albums of this 2nd period because I don't own them. However, I do plan on one day having all of his albums as I love his music so much. Sorry for the long post but it has been awhile since someone has posted something on this board that has interested and excited me so much.