Kill´s 50 greatest albums ever - #48

[Kill]

T o m           W a i t s

SWORDFISHTROMBONES
(1983)

When "Swordfishtrombones" came out in 1983, it was quite a challenge for people to get into. Tom Waits had radically broken with the traditions of his own music. Desisting from the piano-heavy soundscapes of his seventies´ records, he created odd compositions that seemed to border the insane and featured instruments such as brake drums or glass harmonicas. The arrangements, ranging from harmonic melodies to dissonant weirdness, were the blueprint to Waits´ later efforts, impressively individualistic and fascinatingly unique. Waits´ had made a giant leap away from the bar-piano poetry of his earlier records, presenting an LP that was hard to stomach for listeners, but marked a turning point in his career and was possibly the pinnacle of his creative work.

The lyrics, as much as they kept portraying the same circumstances and drawing the same picture Waits had been famous for before, were taken to another level, too. The depictions of life on the wrong side of the tracks reached from loopy scenarios on tracks like "Underground" or "Frank´s Wild Years" and the raw storytelling of "16 Shells From A Thirty-Ought Six" to the pure sarcasm of the ironically bombastic "In The Neighborhood" that sounds like a jingoistic anthem gone wrong.

What makes this self-re-invention of one of the most innovate American artists of the eighties even more intriguing, is the peculiar way Waits delivers his weird poetry: His vocals resemble the sound of a rogue dog barking in the streets, and while never erupting into aggressive bawling, the slightly menacing tone of the singer´s voice makes the album seem even more unadulturated and rough. "Swordfishtrombones" is hard to get used to, but once you have, you will probably feel it is impossible to replace. It is "The Three Cent Opera sung by Howlin´ Wolf", said one critic. You get the picture.

[Kill]

I´m sorry the hook-up ain´t here yet. I won´t forget about it, and I haven´t forgotten about the Massive Attack either. Be patient with my wack ass computer...

[HD]

this looks gangsta as fuck...props

[Lincoln]

Tom Waits is fucking crazy music. I have Rain Dogs on my computer, I'm looking forward to hearing this one.

[Kill]

link´s up (click on the cover)

[Lincoln]

link´s up (click on the cover)

Thanks eh? Appreciated.

[7even]

link´s up (click on the cover)

Hättest du das bloß mal in den Knuckles-Threads erwähnt 

[Kill]

^^ lol, I don´t usually feel very obliged to tell people what to do in threads that aren´t mine, abgesehen davon, dass ich nicht vermutet hätte, dass das jemand nicht kapiert hat, mit all den "yo, thanks for the hook-up"´s. Guess you need to get into Tom Waits

...and Lincoln, no prob. "Rain Dogs", btw, is about equally dope, this one was just more of a milestone in Waits´ career and more of a novelty to the music world

[big mat]

what the fuck is this nerd shit, c'mon man, only a few old internet jerks would be interest in your top 50.

pick albums we have a lil idea about

[Kill]

what the fuck is this nerd shit, c'mon man, only a few old internet jerks would be interest in your top 50.

pick albums we have a lil idea about

this is, whatever you wanna define it as, not "nerd shit". But albums that were indeed important, unique and almost immaculate but are not THAT known about, even being better than more known-about albums, will be part of what pops up in the 40´s. It´s not the most famous albums, otherwise I could think about putting The Marshall Mathers LP up, fame is just an aspect...and apart from that, Tom Waits is not some underground nerd, I´ve seen his albums in other top 100´s

[big mat]

okaaaay