Shelf Essentials: The five Tom Waits you should own on vinyl
For some iconic artists, it is easy to pick out a top-five album list. Take psychedelic rock band Cream as an example; if you’re a fan like myself, I would recommend you buy the four studio albums and Live Cream and be done with it. However, when it comes to artists like Tom Waits or Bob Dylan, things can get a little tricky.
Long-lived singer-songwriters like Dylan and Waits have poetic discographies that trace several waves of artistic evolution. Thus, in Dylan’s case, it could seem wise to select an album from each major period: early folk material, mid-’60s folk-rock, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s comeback. Yet, can we really justify selecting Shot of Love on the merits of ‘Every Grain of Sand’ in place of three mid-’60s masterpieces?
I hope this goes some length in describing the difficulties faced when picking just five essential albums by certain artists. In Waits’ case, we encounter another innovative artist who has evolved his sound over half a century of critically acclaimed music. From a baptism in singer-songwriter balladry, Waits flourished through genre-bending experimentalism and conceptual theatrics, winding up with a colossal track record of verdant originality and resonant oddity.
In my five selections below, I attempt to summarise Waits’ artistic grandeur in just five studio releases from a total of 17. While it seems impossible to cover all bases, these five selections include the artist’s most iconic releases and ensure good coverage of his artistic development, from the balladry of Closing Time to the shrieking blues of Mule Variations.
The five essential albums by Tom Waits to own on vinyl:
Closing Time (1973)
Fittingly, Waits named his opening discographic entry Closing Time. Just as the title and the shady album cover suggest, the music within is inebriated, dejected and timeless. A 24-year-old Waits weaves words wise beyond his years with a voice apparently already aged by half a century of whiskey and secondhand smoke.
As a perfect accompaniment to the last orders atmosphere, songs like ‘I Hope That I Don’t Fall In Love With You’ and ‘Martha’ are romantic ballads of tongue-tied emotion, desperation and hopelessness. This album is just the beginning of a colossal oeuvre, but as the accessible introduction of Waits’ genre-blending ways, it undoubtedly deserves a place in your collection.
Blue Valentine (1978)
Waits continued to evolve his eclectic sound through the 1970s, maintaining, for the most part, his penchant for the mournful ballad. 1978’s Blue Valentine is widely considered one of Waits’ finest releases from this early chapter, teeming with imaginative instrumental compositions and lyricism fit for a Bob Dylan anthology.
Despite channelling classical, jazz and folk, the album has reached the hearts and minds of artists from all walks of life over the years. Blue Valentine is a particular favourite of Melvins frontman, Buzz Osbourne. “He’s a beast,” Osbourne told Spin while picking the album out in 2022. “I don’t know what you’d call this music. I guess it’s sort of twisted lounge music, but I’m not sure. I can’t live without it.”
Swordfishtrombones (1983)
Arriving in 1983 between Waits’ soundtrack album for Francis Ford Coppola’s One From the Heart and the more accessible scapes of Rain Dogs, Swordfishtrombones is a cinematic trove of ingenuity. Never a dull moment, this album is an experimental overhaul often regarded as a turning point in Waits’ career.
With eclecticism now rife within each song, Waits shows his musical dexterity, incorporating a vast range of instruments. Whether dejected or stimulated, the lyrics are ubiquitously engaging, bleeding into dense imagery with palpable instrumentals: ‘Underground’ and ‘16 Shells From a Thirty-Ought-Six’ are veritably industrial, while ‘Shore Leave’ and ‘Frank’s Wild Years’ introduce shady lyrical narratives.
Rain Dogs (1985)
As an individual and dignified artist, no Tom Waits releases could be labelled pop music, but as most fans’ gateway LP, Rain Dogs is the most radio-friendly. Widely recognised as the artist’s consummate product, Rain Dogs continues to stress the pre-conceived bounds of musical convention while remaining decidedly accessible with enduring hits like ‘Downtown Train’, ‘Hang Down Your Head’ and ‘Clap Hands’.
Rain Dogs benefits from colourful instrumentation and discerning production finesse from Mr Waits. With 19 tracks over just 53 minutes, each snappy chapter propels a loose concept of the “urban dispossessed,” inspired by a period of reclusion in a Manhattan basement where Waits wrote most of the album.
Mule Variations (1999)
The list wouldn’t feel complete without one of Waits’ 1990s albums. Unlike many of his peers, Waits has remained relevant through half a century of songwriting thanks to individuality and pouncing on an opportunity for reinvention. Released in 1999, Mule Variations is distantly reminiscent of Bone Machine but breaches plenty of new sonic territory.
At 70 minutes in length, fans were blessed by a markedly consistent and cohesive set of tracks, broadly bound by a heavy blues influence. In ‘Big In Japan’, ‘Filipino Box Spring Hog’ and ‘Cold Water’, the guitars are distorted, accompanied by Waits’ rusty vocals. Meanwhile, ‘House Where Nobody Lives’, ‘Picture In A Frame’ and ‘Take It With Me’ continue an impressive ballad canon.
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