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Tom Waits. A novice needs help

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The guest on BBC4s Inheritance Tracks this week was Neil Oliver* & he picked a Tom Waits song that floored me a little! The song in question was Martha & it has made me want to dig deeper into the back catalogue, but I have no idea where to start & it’s quite overwhelming! I have tried previously & it felt like climbing Everest wearing a pair of sandals so I promptly gave up. Can you help?

The Tom Waits songs I like are as below. Most of these have jumped out & impressed me or I have found by using Shazam whilst watching a film due to liking what I hear. I love the melodies on these & really like his voice** so I am not sure why I can’t just jump in two footed

– Martha – All The World Is Green – I’m Your Late Night Evening Prostitute – Grapefruit Moon – I Don’t Wanna Grow Up – Innocent When You Dream – I Hope That I Don’t Fall In Love With Yu

I also loved the Scarlett Johansson album where she covered her favourites of his. However, when I have delved deeper, some of » Continue Reading.

Jonathan Whitehead

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Sad to hear that Jonathan Whitehead, responsible for theme toons for many much loved TV comedies, has passed away recently. The music was such an integral part of series such as Nathan Barley, Brass Eye, Smack the Pony, Peep Show and particularly the manic Green Wing.

He often composed under the name ‘Trellis’ and will be forever remembered by me for the theme to the perennial favourite, Black Books, (with more than just a slight nod to Tom Waits’ Jockey Full of Bourbon). I couldn’t find a clip of the opening credits online, but did find this charming rendition on Ukelele.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YishN3MxvT0%20

Happy 70th Tom Waits!

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Tom Waits is 70 today, a fact which would probably have surprised everyone including him a few decades ago.

I bloody love Tom Waits, whether he playing the lovelorn gin soaked hobo, crooning to his piano in the small hours, or sounding like Captain Birdseye has been at the cough syrup again, to the accompaniment percussion which sounds like a Victorian wardrobe being dropped down a lift shaft.

Rain Dogs is probably my favourite album of all time, so here’s a track from that magnificent record.

https://youtu.be/IgMP9O-cIV8

What´s Tom Waits doing all day?

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Last week I received an e-mail from the official Tom Waits thingy informing me all (I think) his albums are soon to be reissued on vinyl. Surely that´s good news for anyone who waits (see? clever, right? I´ll be here all week, no that´s not my coat, etc).

But it´s been six years since Bad As Me, his latest studio album. Has he retired? After all, he turns 68 next month. Should we hope for new music?

The Return Of The Son Of 1001 Albums etc.

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Now where was I? Oh yes… “The Blueprint” by Jay-Z. For the first couple of tracks I was wondering “When’s it going to start?”. Somewhere in the next one it did start, eventually. The tempo of the entire album seems to be a sort of slow shuffle. Some nice musical ideas throughout, but basically it’s this geezer going on and on about how f***ing great he is despite the hardships and troubles of his life. A too-long (well over an hour) borefest in my opinion. I nodded off for a while about 2/3 of the way in and don’t think I missed very much. “Blunderbuss” by Jack White shows his versatility in that just about every song is different from the others. All original compositions apart from one cover, too. The playing is exemplary, the material not quite there I feel, and I’m not sure I like his voice much when he’s singing in the higher registers. A good but not great one. I don’t feel a need to own this. “Bone Machine” by Tom Waits. I was surprised to discover I didn’t have this and was unfamiliar with nearly all of it. Some pretty extreme examples of what has » Continue Reading.