Tom Waits...anyone?

Doncha love the "Weather Report"?

Tw is a great songwriter/storyteller but I prefer his earlier work with Bones Howe. "Small Change" is an absolute classic.

How much for your Blue Valentrane? I'll take it.

I recently discovered Tom, I bought Alice then Blood money
then I bought Beautiful Maladies which projected me into his early stuff.I would not recomend Black Rider.
Try :
Mule Variations
Bone Machine
Swordfish Trombone
Blue Valentine
The heart of Saturday Night ( listening to this right now)
closing time
The Early Years Vol 1&2(demo recording in 71') Awsome!!!!!!!!! some never released songs and raw versions of some of his best!
Tom is great! don't know why it took other artists to redo his work to get radio play (Eagles , Rod Stewart I think)Anyway he is a no brainer if your looking for some new music to get into .Lots there to enjoy, 30+ albums.

sreno, from top to bottom, is that the order you would recommend tom waits to a newbie?! you dove hard core into this guy pretty quickly! i would suggest easing someone in with Blue valentine or heart of a sat night. and i agree, the early years stuff is great, raw and the sign of a budding genius. i would also put swordfishtrombone before mule variations and bone machine. good lord man, we dont want to scare people away from our guy.

anyone who 'gets' waits starting with the recordings you did has my respect...and fear.

I must confess that a few years ago I felt as Nrchy seems to feel. However, this year my brother made me listen to Alice, and I cannot believe how good it is! Needless to say, I am now a believer... and I now own both Alice and Blood Money. Now I'm trying to figure out where to go next... should Swordfishtrombone be next? Anyway, great thread on an amazing artist!