It's time to turn my attention to the vast discography of TOM WAITS. I wasn't always a fan, yet once I came around to his music I wanted to hear it all. I've never gotten to know any of his albums that well, even though I've listened to all of them at least a couple of times, but I love his overall body of work and over the next couple of months I hope to finally get to know all of his albums. This week I prepared for this by listening numerous times to two CD compilations ("Used Songs 1973-1980" and "Beautiful Maladies - The Island Years") as well as both volumes of "The Early Years" demos, and I'm already loving it. Click this link for my first post on Mr. Waits:
http://kamertunesblog.wordpress.com/201 ... rly-years/

For those of you who don't know me, I'm revisiting the complete catalogs of artists in my music collection, and posting my thoughts on a few albums at a time. Instead of focusing on my favorites, I'm choosing artists whose catalogs I own but haven't spent enough time with and fully embraced. So far I've covered Van Morrison, Talking Heads, The Band, Roxy Music, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Television, David Bowie, Nick Drake, Black Sabbath & Big Star. If you'd like to know more about me and the reasons for starting the blog, check out the "About" page here:
http://kamertunesblog.wordpress.com/about/

I'm sure there are lots of Waits fans here, and I hope to hear from you as I progress through his catalog. Thanks.

I jumped right in to the Tom Waits catalog this past week, revisiting the albums "Closing Time," "The Heart Of Saturday Night," "Nighthawks At The Diner" and "Small Change." I have a lot of new favorite songs, and there's one particular album that stood out above the others for me. Click this link to find out more, and let me know what you think of these albums.

http://kamertunesblog.wordpress.com/201 ... -right-up/

I've recently become a fan of Waits myself. I mean, I'd heard of him long ago, and heard a few songs here and there as well, but never really listened. Good stuff!

Hey Jeff. Are there any particular albums that stand out for you? Some people seem to only like the early Asylum records, while others only like his kookier post-70s work. Of course, there are a lot of people like me who enjoy his music from various eras. I'm still getting to know them, though, even though I already own his whole catalog, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved his first album.

I like Rain Dogs best out of what I've heard. Speaking generally, I'd say his 80s and 90s music is what I've found most interesting. There's still a LOT of Waits I've never listened to, of course.

Rain Dogs was the first of his individual albums I got. I remember liking it a lot, but it's been years since I listened to it. It'll be another couple of weeks before I get to that part of his catalog, and I can't wait to get reacquainted with it. Jeff, have you listened to any of his '70s albums? Since you like his '80s & '90s music, I'm curious to hear what you think of his less quirky early material.

I haven't, Rich. It's the quirkiness that drew me to him, so I don't know if that will be for me. I'm probably going to check it out sooner or later though...it's likely to come up on my Pandora Tom Waits channel I made, if nothing else.

There's still a lot of quirkiness on his earlier albums, but it's more on the lyrical side than the performances. I've been surprised, though, how quickly he morphed into the gravel-voiced singer he's most known as. I thought the transition didn't happen until his final Asylum album, "Heartattack And Vine," but it occurred as early as "Nighhthawks At The Diner."

I meant to post this appropriate video the other day, but forgot. It's highly entertaining.

That's great, Jeff. I'm guessing that wasn't officially sanctioned by whoever owns Sesame Street, but it was done extremely well. It actually looks like Cookie Monster is singing the song. I was also pleased to find various youtube clips of Cookie Monster performing death metal, which is just as appropriate for him as Tom Waits.

There's a bunch of muppet death metal videos, most of which never fail to crack me up (unless they drag on too long). And no, none are formally sanctioned!

My latest Tom Waits post covers his final three Asylum albums: "Foreign Affairs," "Blue Valentine" and "Heartattack And Vine," as well as his soundtrack to the Francis Ford Coppola film, "One From The Heart." If you're interested, here's a link:
http://kamertunesblog.wordpress.com/201 ... t-attacks/

Thanks for checking it out.

My latest blog post covers Tom Waits' first four albums for Island Records: Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs, Franks Wild Years and the live album Big Time. One of them is nearly perfect, while the others are good but not as consistent. Wondering if longtime fans will agree with my assessments. Let me know what you think. Thanks.

http://kamertunesblog.wordpress.com/201 ... -big-time/

P.S. Does anyone know why he left the apostrophe off the title of the Franks Wild Years album?

My latest blog post covers the 3 albums Tom Waits released in the '90s: Bone Machine, The Black Rider and Mule Variations. It took some time to get into these, but it was worth the effort. Wondering if anyone here is a fan of these albums.

http://kamertunesblog.wordpress.com/201 ... -in-there/

I'm still waiting...

To get into these albums?

Brotoro's real name is Tom. Therefore, Tom waits... and he's still waiting.

If that's true, I must say: well-played.

My latest...and penultimate...post on Tom Waits' catalog covers the following albums: Blood Money, Alice, Real Gone and Glitter And Doom Live. All of these are excellent records, and even though they're not quite up there with his all-time best, there are some truly amazing songs on all of them. I included a link to the Cookie Monster/"God's Away On Business" video, which was embedded in an earlier post above by Jeff. Thanks for that, Jeff.

http://kamertunesblog.wordpress.com/201 ... d-to-find/

I just wrapped up my re-appraisal of the Tom Waits catalog with his two most recent studio releases: "Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards" and "Bad As Me," and both of them are excellent. Not bad for a guy 40 years into his career. Click the link below to read my latest blog post, and let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

http://kamertunesblog.wordpress.com/201 ... onclusion/