tom waits

Tom Waits occupies a place that is truly unique in all of music. Early on in his career, Waits was known primarily as the guy who wrote all those great songs for laid back seventies "mellow-rock" artists from California like the Eagles and Linda Ronstadt. On his recent albums, even Bob Dylan has adopted the vocal "croak" made famous by Waits.

That same croak has become what people have come to know Tom Waits best by over the years, dating back at least as far as mid-seventies albums like Small Change and the classic Nighthawks At The Diner live set.

Tom Waits has taken on the role of everything from carnival barker to bohemian beat-poet, to seedy piano-bar lounge singer in his songs. There was even a period for awhile there in the nineties when he turned the Euro-noir of Bertoldt Brecht on its ear. The common thread running through most all of Waits' songs though is his embrace of the dregs of society's seedier underbelly.

With that unmistakable voice — it can best be described as the result of far too many nights of cheap, rot-gut whiskey and cigarettes — Waits has that part down to a science. From the guy eating his "Eggs And Sausage" on Nighthawks to the grifters hawking their wares on the corner of Heartattack And Vine, no one sounds quite like him. You'll find bloggers discussing and dissecting the music of Tom Waits at sites like Eyeball Kid and Tom Waits Fan.

by Glen Boyd Are you a writer, passionate about this or any other topic? Join Blogcritics!

Latest blogosphere posts tagged “tom waits”

• “Woyzeck” Featuring Tom Waits’ music to Play Hamburg

  
  Anti Blog — Authority: 134
  The renowned Thalia Theatre in Hamburg has announced that “ Woyzeck ”, the musical play by Tom Waits , Kathleen Brennan and Robert Wilson will premiere on January 23rd. The Thalia Theatre previously staged two earlier plays by the three collaborators: “ The Black Rider” (1990) and “ Alice ” ...
  4 hours ago

• Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards

  
  Wanderlust — Authority: 489
  Photo by Michael O’Brien Tom Waits’ gold-certified triple-disc masterpiece Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards (Anti-) will be reinvented on December 8 as a limited-edition vinyl set, complete with a deluxe 12″ booklet and six new bonus cuts. The collection totals 62 tracks over seven full-length LPs, ...
  22 hours ago

• Tom Waits | Musiteka

  
  VorisTrip — Authority: 582
  Tom Waits | Musiteka [IMG: http://9.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ktqd9fBGE21qzo0vqo1_250.jpg]
  1 day ago

• Died On This Date (November 26, 2008) Rob Partridge / Publicist; Helped U2 Get Signed To Island

  
  The Music's Over — Authority: 439
  Rob PartridgeJune 2, 1948 – November 26, 2008Rob Partridge was a UK music industry veteran who founded and ran the Coalition Group, a powerful management and PR firm.  Partridge began his career in the mid ’70s when he worked as a journalist Music Week.  By the late ’70s, he was the head of the publicity [...]
  1 day ago

• Top ten great singers who cant sing

  
  Family: News and advice on family matters children and parents — Authority: 972
  They are celebrated as great vocalists, but can the likes of Bob Dylan and Tom Waits really sing?
  1 day ago

• Drake’s Take: New Releases 11.24.09

  
  Bumpershine.com — Authority: 435
  Just in time for Thanksgiving, here’s the weekly new release wrap-up from Drake . -ed. Drake’s Take: New Releases 11.24.09 Another week, another short list of new releases filled primarily with gift-giving in mind. Wading through the wasteland of late year releases can bring a few plums, and this week sees ...
  2 days ago

• The New Tom Waits Live Album is Kinda Unnecessary

  
  City Sound Inertia — Authority: 115
  Everyone who’s considering buying a live album has the same burning question: “Does it have a bunch of cheering and clapping? I hate that.” Kiss Alive , Frampton Comes Alive and other inexplicably cheer-heavy double LPs totally ruined live albums until around the 1990s, when record companies finally got ...
  2 days ago

• Tom Waits: Glitter and Doom Live

  
  Crib Notes — Authority: 140
  Tom Waits’ first official live album since 1988’s Big Time captures every oblique aspect of the singer/songwriter’s funhouse mirror persona
  2 days ago

• Now Downloading: New Releases 11.24.09

  
  thus spake drake — Authority: 126
  Another week, another short list of new releases filled primarily with gift-giving in mind. Wading through the wasteland of late year releases can bring a few plums, and this week sees Tom Waits third live disc and a special reissue of a Drake fave from 94 (Jawbox). Elsewhere theres a new one from Tahiti 80, a ...
  2 days ago

• Album Review: Tom Waits – Glitter And Doom Live (Anti-)

  
  pampelmoose Dave Allen of Gang of Four's Music and Media Blog — Authority: 422
  Live albums are a tricky proposition for any artist. No matter how dynamic or fiery the band was, there’s always that essential disconnect: you aren’t there, drinking in the atmosphere of the venue and feeling the power of a full PA blast in your sternum.Few are the live albums that capture the lightning in a [...]
  2 days ago

• CD Review: Tom Waits, “Glitter & Doom Live”

  
  Popdose — Authority: 618
  It’s dark in here. Really dark. That’s probably for the best, because it makes it hard to see the creepy and crawly things. The slick and the slimy things. And that’s just the characters at the bar. The place smells like a unique blend of stale cigarettes, cheap perfume, and over-saturated urinal cakes. Over in ...
  2 days ago

• New Music Tuesday | 11.24.2009

  
  Deaf Left Ear — Authority: 137
  Here’s what is new in stores this week.:: Andrea Bocelli My Christmas Philips:: Birdman Pricele$$ Cash Money Records:: Blur All The People… Blur Live In Hyde Park 7/2/2009 Phantom Sound & Vision:: Bon Jovi The Circle Island:: Boyz II Men Love Decca:: Bryan Ferry Best of Bryan Ferry Phantom Sound & ...
  2 days ago

• don’t trip off the glitz that i’m gonna display (or: november 24 — a thumbnail sketch)

  
  Brandon's Buzz — Authority: 119
  Thanksgiving week is an unusually muted affair this year: this is typically the “official” kickoff of the holiday shopping season, and so the record companies generally wait until this week to unleash their biggest and most interesting firepower. But, because I’m decidedly not a Glambert, and because I find ...
  2 days ago

• Out This Week 11/24

  
  The KEXP Blog — Authority: 578
  Despite the big top excitement of Tom Waits ‘ 2-disc set of live recordings out this week, culled from his 2008 Glitter and Doom tour, the new release circus is mostly closed for the year. A few worthwhile releases pop up here and there, like the latest from the prolific Bill Baird and his group {{{Sunset}}} , and ...
  3 days ago

• 20 Watts Reviews Tom Waits’ Glitter & Doom

  
  20 Watts — Authority: 144
  A live album highlighting the best of Waits latest tour PREVIEW: VISIT Tom Waits’ Website WE GIVE IT: 15/20 Watts Getting older and piling years onto his prolific career hasn’t worn  Tom Waits in the least. In fact, age has had just the opposite effect on the veteran. For a musician whose work is ...
  3 days ago

• Tom Waits: "Glitter and Doom Live" (album review)

  
  Snob's Music — Authority: 547
  I dont know about you, but ever since I was a teenager Ive been keeping a list of musicians that I "must see before I die".  Ive been doing a pretty good job of it, with only a handful left to cross off.  One of those lingering on my list is the legendary musician and storyteller Tom Waits.Unfortunately the ...
  3 days ago

• tom waits

  
  THE FOURTH — Authority: 134
  So for a long time I’ve been apparently acquainted with the nephew of Tom Waits, TOM freaking WAITS people, and I’ve only just now heard about it (well not really, I think I heard about it before, but I didn’t realize the magnitude of that fact). Unfortunately, I don’t really have a chance of meeting him, but ...
  3 days ago

• New releases for Nov 24th: Tom Waits, Fever Ray

  
  Snob's Music — Authority: 547
  Heres a look at whats new and hot in music this week:Fever Ray- ReviewJawbox (reissue)Los StraitjacketsMedeski, Martin and WoodTommy T- ReviewTom WaitsWe Are the Willows- MP3
  3 days ago

• The Bridge School Collection, Vol.IV Features Death Cab, Band of Horses and Many Others

  
  The Silver Tongue — Authority: 146
  November 24 marks the day that The Bridge School Collection is made available digitally at iTunes, featuring a 22-track collection of live performances including John Mellencamp, Josh Groban, Trent Reznor, John Mayer, Tom Waits & Kronos Quartet, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ministry, My Morning Jacket, Norah Jones, Tegan ...
  3 days ago

• Tom Waits “Glitter & Doom” Out Today!

  
  Anti Blog — Authority: 134
  (pic by Vincos ) Tom Waits much anticipated two disc live album “ Glitter & Doom ” is officially out today! The record offers a riveting musical document of Waits’ sold out, highly acclaimed Glitter and Doom tour of the US and Europe in the summer of 2008. Disc One is designed to sound like an ...
  3 days ago

Comments about tom waits