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From: mls@husky.uucp (Mark Stevans)
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: Tom Waits
Message-ID: <244@husky.uucp>
Date: Wed, 23-Oct-85 11:53:38 EDT
Article-I.D.: husky.244
Posted: Wed Oct 23 11:53:38 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 26-Oct-85 04:34:10 EDT
Organization: Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, NY
Lines: 29

Oleg Kiselev wished to know more about Tom Waits.  For his benefit, and any
other possibly interested third parties, herehenceforthwith:

Tom Waits is from Los Angeles, California, and he has been recording since
about 1969.  He plays piano, organ, and guitar, sings, and writes almost
everything he performs.  His image is that of a down-on-his-luck hobo
minstrel, lonely, downtrodden, but good-natured, humorous, and optimistic.
He is reputed to have arisen from the coffehouses of early 1960's California,
where bongo players wearing dark sunglasses, goatees, and black French artists
berets would exclaim "Like wow, man....  Cool, daddy-o!" at irregular
intervals.

Waits is widely acclaimed for his transcendentally beautiful melodies.  He
does not fall into any single musical category, encompassing as he does
elements of jazz, rock, classical, and popular music of the 1940's.  In terms
of instrumentation, no two Waits songs ever sound the same: he has used
African drums, carillons, full orchestras, marching bands, synthesizers, and
everything else imaginable.  On the other hand, some songs consist of almost
nothing but Tom's voice.  There is only one consistency: all vocals are
supplied by a single track of Waits (except for one duet).

"Closing Time" is Tom's first and best album; in my opinion, a masterpiece.
He is known for his deliberately rough vocals, where he tries to sound like a
chronic alcoholic.  This album is a definite exception to that, but I guess
Tom felt that his voice sounded too ordinary or something.  Recommended other
albums are "Heartattack and Vine", "Small Change", and "Swordfishtrombones".

					Mark Stevans
					ritcv!husky!mls