About Rainy Stanford Expertise I am best at helping with info about actual music, songs, lyrics, etc. I can also alswer questions about personal info but it`s not my strongest point.
Experience I am a huge fan of Tom Waits and try to find out everything about him.
Expert: Rainy Stanford Date: 9/4/2001 Subject: Tom Waits
Question Hi,
Well, in my search for music I've made a list of over 50 artists I may be interested in. Today I bought my first Tom Waits album (Small Changes). I barely know anything about him. Could you please give me some basic background info (not a huge biography, but some of the highlights of his life and his career). How many albums has he released? They seem to be quite different from each other, although I haven't listened to any (besides Small Changes, of course). How do the rest compare to Small Changes? Bone Machine, for one looks highly intimidating. Which would you reccomend as the next few to get? Thanks,
Ophir
By the way- has his voice always been like that?
Answer Yay! A new Tom fan. :)
Well, I'm not really sure where to start- Mr. Waits was born in Cali on December 7th, 1949. He began learning piano at a young age and then taught himself guitar. He was always huge into music and would learn Bob Dylan songs, write simple songs, etc. He started out pretty much just trying to get someone to listen to him and eventually was able to play small shows with his piano in places like airports. His first album, "Closing Time" came out in 1973, "The Heart of Saturday Night" in 1974, "Nighthawks at the Diner" and Small Change in 1976. (If you liked "Small Change" you'd probably love these.) His voice just kind of gradually changed into what it is now, low, thick, and powerful. No, it hasn't always been that way- basically he smoked too many Camels. If you think it's unique in Small Change you ain't heard nothin yet, check out his most recent CD, "Mule Variations" (2000). Tom is married to Kathleen Brennan, and has 3 kids, Kellesimone, Casey Xavier, and Sullivan. (1983, 1985, and...something really close after that.) Tom has done a LOT of music and movies, it's not even funny. In 1988 Tom Waits' "Big Time" came out in theatres, and is now incredibly rare. (I managed to find a copy but it was used and cost me ::cough:: around $70. VERY WORTH IT THO!) Honestly I don't know the exact number of albums Tom has put out, I probably should but I am not a woman of details lol. I have most of them either way, along with some singles and weird imported stuff.
If you want something like Small Change, I'd suggest picking up Nighthawks or something from that era. Personally, tho I was born in 85, my favorite sound was between maybe 82 and 94. Bone Machine as you mentioned is phenomenal. Very 'intimidating' as opposed to the earlier stuff but so so good. Actually, you know what? You should probably get "Beautiful Maladies, The Island Years." This is a great collection (fairly recent) and you can see what stuff from the different albums sounds like.
Well I must run and leave you with that but hopefully it helped.
