Tom Waits???

[Deadbolt23]

I want to get into this guy. Where do I start?

[Yellowcard2006]

Probably asking a different forum. I'd be happy to tell you how to get into Yellowcard though.

[poppa Q]

for no one.

[jbaseball44]

You will probably do better in the official thread (http://absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=221147) but he has a ton of great albums (Rain Dogs, Bone Machine, Heart of Saturday Night, Heartattack and Vine, Franks Wild Years, etc.)

[El_Jeffe]

A lot of people will recommend some very early year albums, which are very good & I do encourage you to check them out. But to get started I suggest his more recent material (well the last 2 decades haha). Albums like orphans: brawlers, bawlers & bastards, bone machine, & mule variations are great starting points in mind my, with a listen to rain dogs to get an idea of his earlier material.

[Signals Corrupted]

mule variations is definitely my favourite. You could start anywhere with his discography: all his stuff sounds classic and fresh, innovative and familiar, curious and easily-accessible, creepy and warm. To listen to Tom Waits is to listen to hundreds of forgotten influences throughout musical history that Tom keeps in his toy chest.

[spansen]

bone machine and heart attack & vine rule.

glitter & gold? that new live album? avoid it.. in my opinion, at least, the production quality was low.

[Deadbolt23]

k thanks

[Joel Ion]

I would suggest starting at the very beginning: Closing Time - It's an amazing album and perfect for late night driving in the winter. After that, I would get The Heart of Saturday Night and Blue Valentine. If you want to (and you should) Mule Variations and Orphans have some absolutely amazing tracks on them... all in all, get everything you possibly can. In the mid-80s he got pretty crazy and experimental, but if you start at the beginning you can see the transformation coming and you won't get all weirded out by it, rather than starting there and being turned off by it.

[rawesome]

To get an idea of the main parts of his career buy four albums. If you like more, get more, because he's pretty amazing, but these four definitely stand out as the best in his different career phases.

Closing Time
Small Change
Rain Dogs
Mule Variations

[GhostFight]

rain dawgz

esp. gun street girl (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0l1ZhXH2tQ)

[cryates]

I'm a HUGE Tom Waits fan, and the first album I heard was Heart of Saturday Night and instantly fell in love with his voice and the simplicity of the songs. The next album I heard was Rain Dogs so I could get a feel of his more experimental stuff and fell in love with the variety of the album and the experimentation. Basically, I would start with these two because if you like these two albums, you'll like everything else.

[Dr. Acula]

Where you at Chriskilo?

[jeremyc]

his son was in my dorm back in college. funny rarely anyone made the connection.