Truly Great Album Series

by Terrance and Jeff Terich; Treble Staff

10.19.2004

In choosing the Truly Great albums of Tom Waits' to review, it's hard to pick a favorite without choosing one from each of his distinct phases. For a period of six years in the seventies, he released seven albums under Elektra's Asylum label. These albums were his version of an alcohol and cigarette fueled beat odyssey. It was as if Bukowski and Louis Armstrong went on a trip through the slums of America, hitting dive bar after dive bar, strip club after strip club, ending up drunk in alleyways or crying at the seat of a piano, remembering adventures and tragedies from the past. The eighties brought Waits to Island Records and a phase of experimentation that took him from the bars and jazz clubs to streets full of madness, pirate ships, New Orleans Mardi Gras parties, and a film career. Not only did he begin to star in films as an actor, but he began scoring films and collaborating on thematic plays. The late nineties started Waits' third phase, his `legend status' period which is still in full swing. He signed on with Epitaph's Anti label and continued to write challenging and experimental unclassifiable work with his wife and partner Kathleen Brennan. Waits even won a Grammy for "Best Contemporary Folk Album" which seems to lately be the award that goes to unclassifiable work.

Waits' career has lasted over thirty years and has shown more growth in just one songwriter than we usually see across entire genres. He's influenced many, from Nick Cave to Ed Harcourt and even Coldplay's Chris Martin, proving that his worth as a vital musician and innovator is almost immeasurable. Though just about any of his albums are worth listening to, each era had its standouts. On Asylum, Small Change was his most consistent and challenging work, mixing in beat poetry and jazz with his drunken piano ballads. On Island, the trio of Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs and Frank's Wild Years proved just how unique and ambitious Waits was as a songwriter. And on Anti, Mule Variations proved that he still had it and his latest, Real Gone is awesome enough to suggest that he always will.

Tom Waits is easily one of the most important musicians of the 20th and 21st century, constantly reinventing himself and showing just how far he can stretch the limits of conventional songwriting. And though his style may consistently be in flux, two things will never change — his unmistakable gravelly, booze-stained voice and the quality of his songwriting.

Selected Discography

Small Change
Swordfishtrombones
Rain Dogs
Frank's Wild Years
Mule Variations
Real Gone