Tom Waits - Frank's Wild Years (1987) & Real Gone (2004) [S2]

 

This is the first Tom Waits album I ever heard. I downloaded it from a Utah resident (ZoobieWa)'s FTP server as a 14 year old who had recently discovered MP3s and the illicit music and software trading world of the Internet. I discovered Aphex Twin and numerous other EDM artists from this character, so I downloaded this album uncertain of what it was.

Fast forward 3 more years. I was seventeen years old and sorting through my CD-Rs and original album collection and remembered downloading this album and burning a copy. I put it in and the first track was Telephone Call from Istanbul (who knows what happened to the proper sequence of tracks). I was confused, so I listened again, and again, and again. After about a dozen listens of this song, I realized how brilliant the composition and lyrics were. The full album did not disappoint and to this day, it's one of the few albums I never grow tired of.

TIER: S

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In my early years as a Tom Waits fan, I would have likely said my favorite albums were Mule Variations, Bone Machine and Rain Dogs. Not so much any more. Real Gone, The Black Rider, Swordfishtrombones, and Frank's Wild Years have grown on me. Depending on the day, I might even put Real Gone in the top 3 favorite Tom Waits albums. It's definitely one of my top 8.

Marc Ribot's guitar work is preserved on this upload's version of Hoist That Rag. I prefer the raw guitar over the remastered version, but each has it's fans.

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