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?
Think it is well down his priorities to fishing, bringing up the kids and just hanging.
His kids are in their twenties now. But I’m sure you’re spot on with the fishing and just hanging.
Still, I wouldn’t mind another album.
Would you buy a Tom Waits album if all the songs were about fishing?
Of course I would. Once you’ve bought something called Swordfishtrombone, why stop at Gone Fishing – The Album?
I’ve followed his web site for years and it’s frustratingly inactive. You get a little flurry of activity ever few months. But that’s not enough.
Yeah, I’m really fed up waiting for new music. I’ve given up hoping for a new tour (I stupidly passed on seeing him in Edinburgh in 1996, a decision I’ve regretted ever since).
So I agree – pull the finger out Tom! What are you DOING all day???
He’s the ideal example of an artist who has matured and developed with age. And his voice is as ‘listenable’ as it always was. So why is he not doing more!? Give us a little album of piano cover ballads, a spoken word album, anything!
No no no! This kind of pressure for product is wrong wrong wrong. It’s inspiration or nothing, I say.
Six years since his last album? I think he needs a bit of pressure before he gets too old to cut it any more!
“pull the finger out Tom! What are you DOING all day???”
Yeah – what’s he BUILDING in there?
I literally can’t hear the word “Indonesia” without thinking of that track.
Mayor’s Income, Tennessee. Lovely place.
Uncut has one of these ultimate music guides on Tom Waits right now. I looked for it in Tesco and Asda yesterday but couldn’t find it. Does anyone know if they can be bought from a newsagent, or will I have to get it online?
My local WHS still has a pretty huge magazine selection, and if you have a local HMV or Fopp it’s probably worth a look.
Neither HMV or WHSmith on my high street any more. I should be in either Edinburgh or Stirling at the weekend. Fopp sounds good.
Agree with Gatz, though please be aware that it is a “remastered” version – i.e. updated a little – of his UMC that was published a number of years ago.
Bought one yesterday from WHS at Waterloo
What’s new in it from the last edition?
sorry dunno..it’s my first time
– “Ok Kathleen, here it is, 9 misty-eyed piano-based songs about life, love and regret. Should come in about 42 minutes”
– “Now Tom, we’ve had this discussion before. Call up Marc Ribot, I’ll tune the guitars randomly, get the big box of broken clock pieces and a few old radiators, throw them down the spiral staircase a few times, record the lot, then write some lyrics about screaming, killing and eyeballs – don’t worry about the tunes so much. 6 of those ought to do. That’s the formula and don’t fuck with it again”
– “Yes Kathleen. Er, did you happen to see my fishing rod?”
Exactly! Easy! Come on Tom….
I had heard he was dead already, actually, his wife shouting thru’ a hole at the back of his rictus growl.
(P.S. I will feel guilty if he does now succumb)
On a side note, a work colleague of mine hadn’t ever heard Tom Waits, although they recently got into Nick Cave, especially Into My Arms (as it was recently used as first dance at a wedding).
Anyway, I suggested six songs to get a feel for Tom Waits, and test the water. Do you agree with this selection or have I turned someone off Tom for life? (They have still to report back). (And I have to qualify this by explaining my love for Tom Waits is HUGELY weighted towards the post-Swordfishtrombones years….)…
1 – Come On Up To The House
2 – I’m Still Here
3 – Picture In A Frame
4 – The Earth Died Screaming
5 – I Don’t Wanna Grow Up
6 – In The Neighbourhood
All personal taste innit, but I’d replace Earth Dies Screaming with House Where Nobody Lives, Georgia Lee, Trampled Rose, Day After Tomorrow, Another Man’s Vine, Lullaby, Whistle Down the Wind or any number of others from Orphans and Alice.
(cough, splutter) no….! Earth Died Screaming may be my fave.
I do ‘Fannin Street’ and ‘Old Shoes and Picture Postcards’ at open mic nights. They usually go down well, and folks often ask who’s songs they are.
Try The Earth Died Screaming next time. Or not…
I’d find room for 16 Shells From A Thirty-Ought Six and Johnsburg, Illinois. Or Soldier’s Things and Frank’s Wild Years. Or Shore Leave and Gin Soaked Boy. Fuck it. Just give him Swordfishtrombones and have done with it.
“$29” And “Alice”
Not sure if Earth Died Screaming is the best place to start, but you get the full Waits for sure with that one.
How about Kommienezuspadt? Loud.
Oily Night!
Oily Night!
I have totally gone off him. Wonder if it is permanent…
Try some of Arthur and my song suggestions above, @dai. Very much of a kind with his earlier work, despite their proximity to the banging clangy shouty stuff. A good 40 minute album inside almost every TW album since the Swordfishtrombones upheaval, with the possible exception of the Black Rider
Thanks @Bartleby , I may give them a go. Agree that there is good stuff there, I just have way too much other things to listen to.