just discovered tom waits as awesome
 

I just started listening to Real Gone over the past few days and it's one of the best records I've heard in a long time. I can't believe I didn't listen to this when it came out. I'd tried to listen to Tom before to mixed results, but real gone has won me over.

Anyone else a fan? Should i check raindogs next?

Uh, yeah.

Always good to learn. Tom Waits is the man.

I wish i had known about a month ago. I might've put up the money to see him live when he was in louisville

That sucks. I've had that happen to me before. Bands come to my area, and then just shortly later I rwealize how amazing they are and how affordable their shows would have been ahd I attended. Oh well. They all come back. You just have to wait a little while.

He's a pretty cool guy. Don't forget to check out his acting in Down by law too.

The first time I saw him was on a UK television show called The Tube about 20 years ago. Tom Waits is the kind of artist you remember discovering.

I'll remember one day hearing chocolate jesus for the first time and then learning the chords and recording a cover with a firend about an hour later. Then a few months later I've listened to real gone and did some cool drawings.

Well, I don't know about affordable hear... it was like 60$ a pop so I may not've gone even I had known his coolness

damn that blows. DFA1979 played here a ton... before i was into them. same with From Fiction... such a shitty feeling/thing.

Bone Machine is probably my favorite, though pretty much all of his records are strong to brilliant.

first time i heard him was actually on my way to a DFA1979 concert. odd... anyways it was on Sean Cullen's (the comedian) radio show on the CBC. i didn't like his voice then. it was also the last time i heard him (this was a couple of years ago though..)

my favorite tom waits movie role has gotta be as himself in "coffee and cigarettes"

i've posted this picture before:



brilliant!

anyway i like his stuff; im not a huge fan or collector but i enjoy it. back in the early 90s i knew this hippy chick who carried around a cassette with "diamonds on my windshield" on it. that's what got me-- the phrase "colder than a welldigger's ass"-- & the bass--

i think these are the lyrics:

Well these diamonds on my windshield
And these tears from heaven
Well I'm pulling into town on the Interstate
I got a steel train in the rain
And the wind bites my cheek through the wing
And it's these late nights and this freeway flying
It always makes me sing

There's a Duster tryin' to change my tune
He's pulling up fast on the right
Rolling restlessly by a twenty-four hour moon

And a Wisconsin hiker with a cue-ball head
He's wishing he was home in a Wiscosin bed
But there's fifteen feet of snow in the East
Colder then a welldigger's ass
And it's colder than a welldigger's ass

Oceanside it ends the ride with San Clemente coming up
Those Sunday desperadoes slip by and cruise with a dry back
And the orange drive-in the neon billin'
And the theatre's fillin' to the brim
With 'Slave Girls' and 'Hot Spurs' an' 'Bucket Full Of Sin'

Metropolitan area with interchange and connections
Fly-by-nights from Riverside
And out of state plates running a little late

But the sailors jockey for the fast lane
So 101 don't miss it
There's rolling hills and concrete fields
And the broken line's on your mind

The eights go east and the fives go north
And the merging nexus back and forth
You see your sign, cross the line, signalling with a blink

And the radio's gone off the air
Gives you time to think
And you hear the rumble
As you fumble for a cigarette
And blazing through this midnight jungle
Remember someone that you met
And one more block; the engine talks
Whispers 'home at last'
It whispers 'home at last'
Whispers 'home at last'
It whispers 'home at last'
Whispers 'home at last'

And there are diamonds on my windshield
And these tears from heaven
Well I'm pulling into town on the Interstate
I got me a steel train in the rain
And the wind bites my cheek through the wing
Late nights and freeway flying
Always makes me sing
It always makes me sing

(Hey look here Jack, ok)

I've been on a huge Tom Waits kick recently. I just picked up Small Change, Closing Time, Heartattack and Vine, and Nighthawks At The Diner. The latter two are my favorites of the lot.

his older cds are so goddamn cheap you'd have to be insane not to buy them all. I have not bought them yet.

A confession of insanity then.

haha

Rain Dogs, Heartattack & Vine, and swordfishtrombones are his best.

I liked Real Gone, but like everything else these days, it just didn't live up to the hype. Although, I did rank it as one of the best of '04.

I think I posted an mp3 once of his Chocolate Jesus performance on Letterman. It was in a thread where I was describing that I had played it on the stereo at a party prompting numerous requests to please change the music.

yeah, thats true

Heart of Saturday Night, baby.

Waits kicks ass, I've got

Small Change
Nighthawks at the Diner
Rain Dogs
Bone Machine
and
Mule Variations

All are great.

Yeah, I love the guy. Check out Rain Dogs, it's a good idea. But don't forget to pick up Blue Valentine, a very fine album, that nobody have mentioned yet.

Tom Waits is great. Can't believe no one mentioned Bone Machine in this thread. Everything Tom Waits touches is great. Although, I wasn't a fan ofCoffee and Cigarettes - thought it was a boring pile of dung.

Im very interested