Black Cat Bone

Waits' Asylum back-catalogue has been remastered and is set for release in a couple of weeks.

Which two of these albums have given you the most pleasure?

What are your top 3 TW tracks from this era?

The Heart of Saturday Night
Tom Traubert’s Blues
Kentucky Avenue

... and you really should include the marvellous Nighthawks at the Diner

I'm looking forward to these releases as well. The first time Waits has been remastered on CD as far as I know.

I went with Blue Valentine and Small Change of the ones you listed.

The Heart and Blue Valentine.

With Valentine the top one.

Small Change would be the standout for me (vies with One From the Heart as my favourite Waits), with the last three very close for second (no Nighthawks at the Diner btw?). Today I gave it to Foreign Affairs
My first exposure to Waits was a single of Step right Up and the Piano Has Been Drinking, and those two are still favourites, along with most of side one of Small Change. Let's say Tom Traubert's Blues. Not that there's anything wrong with side two

small change and heartattack and vine.

one from the heart is my favourite.

The pots and pans got boring quickly though Frank's wild years is brilliant

Small Change is under consideration for his best album all told. "Invitation to the Blues" in particular is a wonderful song but it's got a great flow, something that can't really be said about anything else by him.

Heartattack and Vine is the start of the tramp with his pots and pans. But of course I love transitional albums, so...

I voted for the first two - but all of these are good to great.

Favorite three songs:

Please Call Me, Baby
Heart of Saturday Night
Ruby’s Arms

I like them all, voted for Closing Time and Small Change. Fave songs: Tom Traubert's Blues, Invitation to the Blues and I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You.

As for albums, I still rank Swordfishtrombones as his best, maybe because it was the first I heard.

The first 3 are very hard for me to separate, but if I need to i'll probably go for HoSN and CT. They're the ones I find myself reaching for most these days, but all the others have moments I love too.

The stumbling, weary romanticism of something like 'New Coat', with those hopped-up sections between the verses, just makes my fucking day every time I hear it.

fange wrote:The stumbling, weary romanticism of something like 'New Coat', with those hopped-up sections between the verses, just makes my fucking day every time I hear it.

It's a wonder, isn't it? Kind of like something from a Broadway musical (which I suppose characterises more of his music than you might at first think), it's so evocative, so stirring.

I'm actually a bit surprised The Heart Of.. isn't walking it here - surely with the aforementioned opener, the title track, 'Please Call Me, Baby' and 'San Diego Serenade' at least, it's his strongest selection of songs?

I've always thought so, yeah. It's a really strong collection of songs, as well as sounding fabulous.

The Heart of ... is an album I rarely play, but when I do I’m overwhelmed by how great it is. Even as a lover of the early ‘Shed full of one legged dwarves’ period I really don’t think he bettered it.

So I bought the remaster of Small Change - partly because it was the winner in this poll - and it features that horrible growling Waits' vocal throughout. I thought he didn't start with that shit until the 80s?

Anyway I'm going to return it. Absolute waste of cash.

Now and again John has a couple of beers and gets angry about stuff he cannot understand.

Anyhow - don’t return it John. It will grow on you.

But yeah - this is where the stupid Cookie-Monster-doing-a-Louis-Armstrong-impression shtick begins to undercut his work.

He always sang like that. Asylum ran his vocals through the de-flavoriser. I always thought the earliest Asylums sounded kinda homogenized. Sir John’s distaste has piqued my interest.

..as it so often does!

HA!

Nah, it's those first two for me. Better songs, better albums. He doesn't sound like he's throwing up either.

After that I can get with most of Rain Dogs but that's it.

He's a fraud.