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Originally Posted by grendel
the only thing i have from waits is Mule Variations (i think that's the name of it...). i like most of the stuff on it, and most of the other things i've heard from him (like when i've seen him on letterman, for example), but i have never taken the step to becoming more familiar with his career. do you have a recommendation for a good place to start? maybe this release?
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Mule Variations is an excellent album, and probably the one I would have recommended, since it's like a bridge between the two sides of Tom Waits.
Back in his earliest years, like 30 and more years ago, he had more of a piano-soothing-melodies kind of sound, which is great stuff, and two good albums for that would be Closing Time or Small Change. If you wanna try to download a song or two, Heart of Saturday Night is a good one, as is The Piano Has Been Drinking, or Ol' 55.
Then there's this maniacal barky funky sound he developed in the 1980's, which is more of where he's at right now. On Real Gone in particular, there's almost nothing that's pleasing to the untrained ear, and by that I mean an unassuming person putting it on as background music. I hope that sort of makes sense... you can see it Mule Variations anyway.
Either way, he's always been a mind-blowing lyricist, you can count on that.