An Idea For A Fireworks Display

A young woman named Valerie messaged me the other day letting me know that she was really into Amanda Palmer and Nick Cave, so I'm going to upload an album by my all-time favorite musician, who I think sounds kind of similar to both of those artists! Awesome!



Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones (1983)

Yes, yes, we all know I have a raging love for Tom Waits that will extinguish only after I die. This album is no exception. Written just before Rain Dogs and a few years after Small Change, this album is in the direct center of Tom Waits' jazzy years and his experimental ones. This can sometimes make Swordfishtrombones seem a little schizophrenic, but more often than not, it strengthens the album by solidifying Waits' stranger ideas within conventional ones.

Overall, this is a great place to START with Tom Waits because it hits both of his worlds, but it also has a few of his absolute best pieces, and listening to it always transports me back to the first time I ever heard it, so I know that it has a special place in my heart. Also, Johnsburg, Illinois is one of the single most heartwarming pieces of music ever. Just Tom Waits, a piano, and a bassist. Conversely, Franks Wild Years is one of the creepiest and funniest pieces of music I've ever heard. Waits speaks over a funky organ track about... um, well, burning down your house to kill your wife's dog. Or something. This album is awesome, just try it out! See you next week!

Recommended Tracks: Shore Leave, Johnsburg Illinois, In The Neighborhood, Frank's Wild Years, Swordfishtrombone
Genres: Rock, Experimental
Link: http://www.mediafire.com(SLASH)?uo3bmmgmyg0

Tom Waits For Everyone

For those who didn't figure it out before, Tom Waits is my hero. Like, honestly. He's my all time favorite musician and this album is another testament to his pure genius. I can not recommend his music any higher than this. He is absolutely brilliant.

Tom Waits - Small Change (1976)

Okay, so a bunch of people got the other Tom Waits album I uploaded, Rain Dogs (isn't it AWESOME?), and I figured the natural progression would be my other favorite Tom Waits album and probably the most inviting out of all of them. Yeah, I know, the album cover features Mr. Waits himself... with a stripper... both looking sullen and lonely... That's... that's what this album feels like, to be honest. It's a jazz album at its heart, with Waits wailing in a lighter, younger version of his trademark growl, but with beautiful, beautiful backing music.

Songs are melodramatic and touching, with lyrics like "the large print giveth and the small print taketh away," "the piano has been drinking, not me," and "I don't have a drinking problem unless I can't get a drink," Waits' light humor really makes him sound like a down-on-his-luck bum from the 20's, just singin' a little song for you. I guess the real charm is how HONEST the whole cd is. Waits croons about lost love, strippers, advertisements, drinking, getting drunk, needing a drink, being drunk, and pretty much everything else. His song titles complete the image, with tracks like "Bad Liver And A Broken Heart," and "I Can't Wait To Get Off Work (So I Can See My Baby)," you know what you're in for. Tom Waits seems like a timeless character, and this album is what really established him as the genius that he is.

Oh yeah, and Tom Traubert's Blues is probably one of the greatest songs ever written by anyone. It's so unbelievably good.

Recommended Tracks: Step Right Up, The Piano Has Been Drinking, The One That Got Away, Tom Traubert's Blues
Genres: Jazz, Rock, Blues
Link: http://www.mediafire.com(SLASH)?dqwyyyyniwm

All The Donuts Have Names That Sound Like Prostitutes

Tom Waits - Rain Dogs (1985)

There are only a few albums I've heard that I would consider life changing. The first time I heard Rain Dogs, I stopped it after track 4, completely unable to listen to another word from the growling Waits, unable to stand one more squawk from the jarring rhythms, completely immobilized by the fact that this man was spinning madness, playing keyless ditties with cryptic, almost nonsense lyrics. And it was so GOOD. I started the cd over again.

Listening to it still gives me shivers sometimes. Tom Waits, for the uninitiated, is a singer/songwriter who smoked a few too many cigarettes. His voice transformed from Bob Dylan to Louis Armstrong. His songs range from very accessible, beautiful pieces, to xylophone songs that sound like a room full of men beating on percussion while he wails in the background. This cd is the perfect mixture of the two. It's one of the absolute greatest cds ever written, and the fact that it came out in 1985, before sounds like this had been thought of, proves both Tom Waits genius and his immense capacity to cherish each individual noise that goes on his records.

Oh, also, the very last track on the cd, Anywhere I Lay My Head, is the most beautiful piece of music I have ever heard. Bar none. Tom Waits is my only hero, and this is an amazing album.


Genres: Rock, Experimental, Blues
Recommended Tracks: Tango Till They're Sore, Rain Dogs, Downtown Train, Anywhere I Lay My Head
Link: http://www.mediafire.com(SLASH)?nmgcmam2j2x