Tom Waits working on new album for Fall release!

[Sporkimata]

http://www.anti.com/news.php?newsid=86720

Yipppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[DeToxRox]

tom waits is so talented its unreal.

[Fritz]

and he is crunchy in milk

[McSweeny]

is it just me or do i remember hearing one of his songs on one of Epitaph's Punk-o-Rama comps? Did he put an album out on Epitaph or am i going crazy?

[Fritz]

Big In Japan ws on Punk O Rama 4

[Fritz]

dola, and his version of High Ho is facinating

[NoMyths]

Great news. Big Tom Waits fan here. He's on my list of top three shows I'd like to see.

[Anthony]

Tom Waits makes some of the most horrible music. i'm rather schooled in many types of music and i can appreciate many genres, and i can tell shit when it's brown, steaming and stinky. Waits is for people who like being in on something the general populace ignores. there are no redeeming qualities about his music. his voice is bad, he has no singing talent, and many of songs sound somewhat alike. the only thing i can think of Waits' music being useful is perhaps being played in the background of some intellectual gathering. bad music.

[Sporkimata]

Bad? Not for everyone I agree. A tad bit harsh. What than do you consider good music Hell Atlantic?

I have been to a Tom Waits concert, and I thought it was the best I have ever gone too.

[Anthony]

far be it for me to tell someone what is and isn't good. i'm just saying i'm very knowledgeable about music and enjoy (or at least appreciate the musical quality) in a large variety of genres. there isn't anything good about Waits music. i suspected this for a while, but then i read this thread and saw he had some avid fans. i deicded to listen to some selected songs on that website provided above. i listened to 2 songs - "another man's vine" and "alice" and still found it not good.

this is just one of those things where i can tell something is truly bad - all personal tastes aside. there are acts that i don't like that i still acknowledge as being good - i'm not into the Beatles but i regard them as the greatest music group ever (as one should), Metallica ain't my cup o' tea but i still appreciate their place in music history, i absolutely hate Pink Floyd, but i admit their music has a high level of talent and quality.

nothing really good about Waits except for like i said, you can put it on and go about your business somewhat as it plays in the background and it won't be too in your face.

[Fritz]

In another life, HA was Jamie Farr on the Gong Show

[Anthony]

as soon as i read that i scratched my nether-region and sniffed my hands. i don't think Jamie Farr ever did that.

[Sporkimata]

lol. To each man his own I suppose.

[NoMyths]

Alice is a staggering album. Being someone who is pretty familiar with tunes myself, I guess I'll just have to respectfully disagree with HA.

He's definitely an acquired taste...first few times I listened to him I wasn't impressed. Then I gave Blood Money and Alice a little more attention and found out what I was missing.

Besides, how can you hate on the guy that wrote "Ol' '55" and "Ice Cream Man"? :)

[cornbreaD]

Tom Waits makes some of the most horrible music. i'm rather schooled in many types of music and i can appreciate many genres, and i can tell shit when it's brown, steaming and stinky. Waits is for people who like being in on something the general populace ignores. there are no redeeming qualities about his music.

For what it's worth, my wife loves Tom Waits (as do I) and she has a degree in Music Performance. I know that he's not for everyone, but to say that his music has no redeeming qualities is silly. I think you would be surprised at how many musicians enjoy Waits and are influenced by his music.

his voice is bad, he has no singing talent

What do you think of Bob Dylan? Neil Young? Tom Petty? They all have horrible voices, but where would we be musically without them?

many of songs sound somewhat alike

Here I have to question your comment that you made about being "somewhat schooled in many types of music." How many Waits songs have you listened to? Listen to his first album, Closing Time, and then Mule Variations. Compare the two. See how similar they sound.

[chinaski]

as soon as i read that i scratched my nether-region and sniffed my hands. i don't think Jamie Farr ever did that.

unknowledgeable in good music and Jamie Farr!

[Anthony]

For what it's worth, my wife loves Tom Waits (as do I) and she has a degree in Music Performance. I know that he's not for everyone, but to say that his music has no redeeming qualities is silly. I think you would be surprised at how many musicians enjoy Waits and are influenced by his music.



What do you think of Bob Dylan? Neil Young? Tom Petty? They all have horrible voices, but where would we be musically without them?



Here I have to question your comment that you made about being "somewhat schooled in many types of music." How many Waits songs have you listened to? Listen to his first album, Closing Time, and then Mule Variations. Compare the two. See how similar they sound.

perhaps phrasing it "his music has the same characteristics" would have been better. i am not a fan of his music, i can only go off of the limited exposure i have to it. i tried to give it an open mind and listened to some of his songs available on that website, if i was able to stomach his stuff i'm sure i'd have a more detailed analysis of his music - as it stands i can't listen to no more than a few minutes of anything he puts out. you listen to "Another Man's Vine" and "Alice" and you tell me other than different lyrics and different chord changes - what is different between those 2 separate songs from two different albums. they have the same characteristics - somber sounding voice, jazz lounge background music, non-rhyming verses, no hooks.

and, no, i have no degree in "music appreciation" or whathaveyou, but i have one of the most varied interests in music out of anyone i know (not that i'll get a medal for that). and i'm very adept at breaking down a song and hearing the interplay between instruments and i can pretty much analize "what's going on" in a song. i can find at least one or two good things in most any song i hear, or redeeming qualities if you will, but no, out of the handful of Waits songs i've heard i've yet to hear any saving grace.

it seems Waits' reputation is that he's another in a small group of artists that endears itself to an eclectic taste and the small group that shares that taste all pride themselves in being down with something mainstream america hates. as if "mainstream america are the ones who don't get it". just because an artist is not like anything you can hear on the radio does not make him "cool". i think any more talk out of me will be self-defeating, i obviously can't tell people what to like and not like. just giving you my perspective.

[cornbreaD]

it seems Waits' reputation is that he's another in a small group of artists that endears itself to an eclectic taste and the small group that shares that taste all pride themselves in being down with something mainstream america hates.

Beck, Eddie Vedder, Ani DiFranco, Los Lobos, Les Claypool, among others claim Waits as a major influence. Not to mention those that have covered some of his songs (the Ramones, Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen, Violent Femmes, the Eagles, Manhattan Transfer, Bob Seger, John Hammond, Tori Amos, 10,000 Maniacs, Johnny Cash, Sarah McLachlan, Diana Krall, etc.). I'm happy to be included in this "small group of artists" and can enjoy him for the musician he is and not care one bit what mainstream America loves or hates. Personally, I would love it if Waits hit the Big Time (get it?) so that he could be compensated for all the great work that he has put out over the years.

[Fritz]

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=UIDMISS70311190647021550&sql=TPp9m8b5c4tsqa~C

not exactly a star but not exactly obscure either.

[Fritz]

Tom Waits makes some of the most horrible music. i'm rather schooled in many types of music and i can appreciate many genres, and i can tell shit when it's brown, steaming and stinky. Waits is for people who like being in on something the general populace ignores. there are no redeeming qualities about his music. his voice is bad, he has no singing talent, and many of songs sound somewhat alike. the only thing i can think of Waits' music being useful is perhaps being played in the background of some intellectual gathering. bad music.

After revisiting Waits this weekend the idiocy of this post came rushing back. For instance, anyone who thinks Time has no redeeming qualities is well suitied for picking lice from a cage mate and throwing crap at visitors who are trying to feed them peanuts.

[NoMyths]

After revisiting Waits this weekend the idiocy of this post came rushing back. For instance, anyone who thinks Time has no redeeming qualities is well suitied for picking lice from a cage mate and throwing crap at visitors who are trying to feed them peanuts.Well he came home from the war
with a party in his head
and modified Brougham DeVille
and a pair of legs that opened up
like butterfly wings
and a mad dog that wouldn't
sit still
he went and took up with a Salvation Army
Band girl
who played dirty water
on a swordfishtrombone
he went to sleep at the bottom of
Tenkiller lake
and he said "gee, but it's
great to be home."

Well he came home from the war
with a party in his head
and an idea for a fireworks display
and he knew that he'd be ready with
a stainless steel machete
and a half a pint of Ballentine's
each day
and he holed up in room above a hardware store
cryin' nothing there but Hollywood tears
and he put a spell on some
poor little Crutchfield girl
and stayed like that for 27 years

Well he packed up all his
expectations he lit out for California
with a flyswatter banjo on his knee
with a lucky tiger in his angel hair
and benzedrine for getting there
they found him in a eucalyptus tree
lieutenant got him a canary bird
and shaked her head with every word
and Chesterfielded moonbeams in a song
and he got 20 years for lovin' her
from some Oklahoma governor
said everything this Doughboy
does is wrong

Now some say he's doing
the obituary mambo
and some say he's hanging on the wall
perhaps this yarn's the only thing
that holds this man together
some say he was never here at all

Some say they saw him down in
Birmingham, sleeping in a
boxcar going by
and if you think that you can tell a bigger tale
I swear to God you'd have to tell a lie...

[Hurst2112]

Never been a Waits fan. John Waite, but not the prior. ;) I can say that I have heard some of his stuff, and thought it was 'average'. I can't argue with his influence and his talents though. I guess I'll just be one of those cats who never gets into his work.

[Samdari]

perhaps phrasing it "his music has the same characteristics" would have been better. i am not a fan of his music, i can only go off of the limited exposure i have to it. i tried to give it an open mind and listened to some of his songs available on that website, if i was able to stomach his stuff i'm sure i'd have a more detailed analysis of his music - as it stands i can't listen to no more than a few minutes of anything he puts out. you listen to "Another Man's Vine" and "Alice" and you tell me other than different lyrics and different chord changes - what is different between those 2 separate songs from two different albums. they have the same characteristics - somber sounding voice, jazz lounge background music, non-rhyming verses, no hooks.

and, no, i have no degree in "music appreciation" or whathaveyou, but i have one of the most varied interests in music out of anyone i know (not that i'll get a medal for that). and i'm very adept at breaking down a song and hearing the interplay between instruments and i can pretty much analize "what's going on" in a song. i can find at least one or two good things in most any song i hear, or redeeming qualities if you will, but no, out of the handful of Waits songs i've heard i've yet to hear any saving grace.

it seems Waits' reputation is that he's another in a small group of artists that endears itself to an eclectic taste and the small group that shares that taste all pride themselves in being down with something mainstream america hates. as if "mainstream america are the ones who don't get it". just because an artist is not like anything you can hear on the radio does not make him "cool". i think any more talk out of me will be self-defeating, i obviously can't tell people what to like and not like. just giving you my perspective.

Perhaps Tom Waits as a performer is not mainstream, but as a songwriter he kind of is. He is one of the most covered artists in history. His status is not "seen as cool only by people who want to think they are superior by listening to non-mainstream music" but rather "universally regarded as a god by people who make money making music and can fully appreciate his genius."

If you are indeed schooled in many kinds of music as you claim, then I submit at least 50 times in your life, you have heard a song penned by Waits and thought to yourself it was an awesome song - not knowing that it was a Tom Waits song.

[Fritz]

Time

Well the smart money's on Harlow and the moon is in the street
And the shadow boys are breaking all the laws
And you're east of East Saint Louis and the wind is making speeches
And the rain sounds like a round of applause
And Napoleon is weeping in a carnival saloon
His invisible fiancee's in the mirror
And the band is going home, it's raining hammers, it's raining nails
And it's true there's nothing left for him down here

And it's time time time, and it's time time time
And it's time time time that you love
And it's time time time

And they all pretend they're orphans and their memory's like a train
You can see it getting smaller as it pulls away
And the things you can't remember tell the things you can't forget
That history puts a saint in every dream

Well she said she'd stick around until the bandages came off
But these mama's boys just don't know when to quit
And Mathilda asks the sailors "Are those dreams or are those prayers?"
So close your eyes, son, and this won't hurt a bit

Oh it's time time time, and it's time time time
And it's time time time that you love
And it's time time time

Well things are pretty lousy for a calendar girl
The boys just dive right off the cars and splash into the street
And when they're on a roll she pulls a razor from her boot
And a thousand pigeons fall around her feet

So put a candle in the window and a kiss upon his lips
As the dish outside the window fills with rain
Just like a stranger with the weeds in your heart
And pay the fiddler off 'til I come back again

Oh it's time time time, and it's time time time
And it's time time time that you love
And it's time time time
And it's time time time, and it's time time time

And it's time time time that you love
And it's time time time

time

[Ksyrup]

Never been a Waits fan. John Waite, but not the prior. ;) I can say that I have heard some of his stuff, and thought it was 'average'. I can't argue with his influence and his talents though. I guess I'll just be one of those cats who never gets into his work.
Man, you and I are on the same wavelength. Down to John Waite, even. Pretty scary.

As for Tom Waits...uh...I enjoyed his work on Tommy the Cat.

[QuikSand]

Never been a Waits fan.

I can say that I have heard some of his stuff, and thought it was 'average'.

One of the farthest words from my mind when thinking of Tom Waits is "average."

[Ksyrup]

I think calling it "average" just means it doesn't have any kind of connection with that listener. I'd call it "blah." It's just there, without doing anything for me whatsoever. I guess it's his style. Doesn't mean I think he's a terrible musician, songwriter, or singer (well...), just that his music isn't my style and doesn't connect with me.

[Hurst2112]

One of the farthest words from my mind when thinking of Tom Waits is "average."


What Ksyrup said. Like I said, I can respect the shit out of his talents and influence on music. I just don't connect with him or his music at all (besides the mentioned "Tommy the Cat" and his acting in Mystery Men ;)).

I am sure I could list about 20 bands that I think are God's gift to the music world and you would have a similar response to my list as I did to Mr. Waits.

[QuikSand]

I think calling it "average" just means it doesn't have any kind of connection with that listener.

I understand the intent. Just thought it was an amusing word choice.