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Swordfishtrombones [CASSETTE]
 
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Swordfishtrombones [CASSETTE] [Import]

Tom Waits | Format: Audio Cassette
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)

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Biography

Tom Waits, according to the esteemed American critic Robert Hilburn, is "clearly one of the most important figures of the modern pop era". It's been just over 30 years since Tom Waits made his recording debut. In that time his music has taken adventurous twists and turns, from confessional country-blues and jazz-flavored lounge to primal rock and avant-garde musical theatre.

In 1999 Tom Waits… Read more in Amazon's Tom Waits Store

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Product details

  • Audio Cassette (17 Oct 1990)
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Format: Import
  • Label: Polygram Records
  • ASIN: B000001FTK
  • Other Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 736,474 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

The first album of the loose trilogy that also includes Rain Dogs and Franks Wild Years, Swordfishtrombones marked a radical departure for Waits, whose avant-garde ambitions became plain not so much in his lyrics or subject matter--the songs here deal, as do his older albums, with hard life on the wrong side of the tracks and dreams of escape and transcendence--but in the music, a sound somewhere between German cabaret music from between the wars and contemporary Manhattan rush hour. Odd time signatures, unusual instrumentation (glass harmonicas and brake drums, among others), and Waits's barked vocals make this one of his most individualistic and challenging albums. --Daniel Durchholz

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By Sebastian Palmer TOP 1000 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Audio CD
You may think everything's already been said about this album... you're wrong!

Tom's change of direction, marked by this release, has left me gradually less and less inclined to put the later albums on. It's like he feared becoming a caricature barfly, so instead became a caricatured carnival freak. His relationship with Kathleen Brennan undoubtedly has some bearing on this (more on this later).

On this pivotal release however, you get the best of both worlds. Most albums since (and including) SFT start with a rumbling uptempo oddball number (uptempo by Tom's standards as opposed to Slayer's): here it's 'Underground' (Frank's Wild Years starts with 'Hang On St Christopher', and Rain Dogs with 'Singapore' etc). The fact this has become a bit of a formula is sad, but all three tunes referenced are utterly brilliant.

Enough's been said elsewhere about the Beefheart and classical modernist influences. What I want to focus on is the remaining strain of simple romanticism (what Brennan calls his "Grand Weepers"). Brennan's appearance in Wait's life seems, from his interviews, to signal a complete change (of personal perspective/heart), redemption and rescue even. Testament to this wonderful and simple enduring love continues to be evident in his work: 'Take It With Me' from Mule Variations being a wonderful example: "ain't no good thing ever dies". I cry every time I listen to that song.

Johnsburg Illinois is, so I've read, written as a love song to Brennan, and, fittingly, it transcends the theatricaltiy of other material here with its straightforward and honest confession of love. I've always like this side of Tom most. And it's in the very fabric of his best music. I feel that one of his most sublime recordings is the fabulously minimal and haunting Rainbirds. After a brief but exquisite 'glass harmonica' intro, Waits piano and Greg Cohen's bass paint a picture of such desolate blue beauty it floors me, it's my all time melancholy desert island disc number one!

One more testimony as to why you should buy this CD!

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I first heard this album in 1987 and it was the first Waits album I ever owned. On the first few listens, it was one of the strangest albums I'd ever heard, and the only immediate song was "In the Neighbourhood". However, after a bit of work from me, I grew to appreciate it, and moved on to "Raindogs" and "Franks Wild Years" when it came out. I also had the pleasure of seeing Waits at the Hammersmith Odeon in '87 and it was a great show. Hard to believe this was the last time he played in the UK - come back Tom! A great album, and essential to an understanding of the new direction he took after his more jazzy balladry of the 70's.
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Audio CD
Tom Waits' earlier albums can be pinned down like wild dogs and just about forced into their specific genres. 'The Heart of Saturday Night', 'Heartattack and Vine' and to an extent 'Franks Wild Years' can be defined loosely as jazz. But quite where to start with 'Swordfistrombones' is a hefty challenge for the most ardent of listener. Each song tells it's story of life at it's quirkiest and the intertwined variety achieved is facinating, humourous and strangely addictive.
From the romantic wheeze of 'Johnsberg, Illonois', which was written for Waits'partener Kathleen Brennan, to the jolting pound of '16 Shells From ..' and 'Dave The Butcher' this is one of few contempory albums that really does have the lot, even bagpipes! 'Swordfishtrombones' is simular in diversity to 'Raindogs' but if the gun was at my head I'd favour the former.
For what it's worth my favorite track on the album is 'Just Another Sucker On The Vine', a instrumental lament which conjures a fresh image with every engagement.
Nineteen years on and this album has lost none of it's vigour or the raw uniqueness that typifies this most gifted of artists. Frank's 'little Sedan' may be rotting in the knackers yard but Waits is still wringing his strands of creativity in the questionable modern music scene. If your looking to explore Tom Waits then make 'Swordfishtrombones' your first endeavour.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
One of the most inspirational albums!
I adore this album, this is Waits at his best for me. His pulp, urban lyrics are a huge inspiration to me; full of sardonic wit, imagery of desperation, urban inequality, true grit... Read more
Published 21 days ago by J. D. Chadwick
the first of waits' defining trilogy
tom waits has a long and illustrious career, covering many different styles. his quality control has always been excellent too. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Biffer Spice
Good, if erratic
This was the album on which TW finally broke with his "old soak at a piano / in the gutter" persona of the 70s. It contains some truly magnificent songs, e.g. Read more
Published 7 months ago by oldhasbeen
The musicians musician
How do you describe this album ? ballads, country, blues, folk & rock ,tales from the wrong side of town . Read more
Published 8 months ago by D. S. Sample
Cuff links & hub caps, trophies & paperbacks
"A tinker, a tailor
A soldier`s things
His rifle, a boot full of rocks,
Oh and this one is for bravery
And this one is for me
And everything`s a... Read more
Published 8 months ago by GlynLuke
First Jungle-jazz album.
Tom Waits is one of the few artists who've simply (and only mostly) grown in talent from album to album. He started out making good records, but not particularly revolutionary. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Troels Stampe Johansen
Tom Waites makes other singer/songwriters seem average!
This album is an old favorite of mine,and is the second copy i`ve purchased from Amazon(my lap-top crashed,and I didn`t have a saved copy). Read more
Published 19 months ago by M A Newman
Change over
I like Tom Waits but I don't like his seventies stuff on vinyl as I find it covered in horrible seventies singer-songwriter major label arrangements, Never did like that dog! Read more
Published 19 months ago by A. E. Purcell
It just keeps getting better
You know from the first track this is going to be a special album. Mental songs (Underground); heartbreakers (Soldier's Things; Town With No Cheer); instrumentals that speak... Read more
Published on 10 Nov 2007 by Golowy
If you liked Rain Dogs you'll like this
Swordfishtrombones is extremely similar to Rain Dogs - which can only be a good thing. In fact you could probably jumble up the tracks on both albums and put them back together in... Read more
Published on 19 Sep 2005 by Nigel Collier
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