Vonnie, I'd go with Small Change, a good example of early Waits, then Swordfishtrombones for the Brechtian stuff and Bone Machine because it's my favorite.
Edit - not necessarily in that order, though.
I don't fancy spending the next month trying to get librarian out of the carpet.
Spike ,'Chosen'
Buffista Music 4: Needs More Cowbell!
There's a lady plays her fav'rite records/On the jukebox ev'ry day/All day long she plays the same old songs/And she believes the things that they say/She sings along with all the saddest songs/And she believes the stories are real/She lets the music dictate the way that she feels.
Hayden - Dec 12, 2008 6:16:08 pm PST #100 of 6436
aka "The artist formerly known as Corwood Industries."
DavidS - Dec 12, 2008 6:36:54 pm PST #101 of 6436
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
As Cor notes, Small Change is his early masterpiece.
Swordfish, definitely, though most Waits fans like Rain Dogs best of all.
Frank's Wild Years suffers slightly from the fact that it was originally a stage show. It doesn't bat a thousand like Rain Dogs. However, some of my very favorite Waits songs are on it.
Bone Machine can be a bit assaultive on first listen. It's raw. However, over time you realize that the song quality is consistently excellent and it's not quite as clangorous as it seemed on first impression. Waits tends to do that - being prone to put the challenging song up first, and the seductive one further in.
I have a whole set of Waits songs covered by other people up on Buffistarawk if you want to sample them.
Vonnie K - Dec 12, 2008 6:50:57 pm PST #102 of 6436
Kiss me, my girl, before I'm sick.
Thanks for the input, you two! I'll try out those albums. It's odd that he didn't have Rain Dogs in his collection (maybe he couldn't find the CD) but somehow, I seemed to have accumulated a handful of songs from that album from elsewhere.
I'll check out BR for covers. Thanks, David.
lisah - Dec 12, 2008 8:09:24 pm PST #103 of 6436
Punishingly Intricate
Ted Leo IS the American Billy Bragg. Also completely adorkable.
Jon B. - Dec 13, 2008 3:54:50 am PST #104 of 6436
A turkey in every toilet -- only in America!
anyone interested in some fast food Simpsons toys? both this current batch and a previous one. I think I have 3 or 4.
I love how this has become the de-facto Simpsons toy thread!
Yes, I'd be interested. Could you email me with details?
esse - Dec 13, 2008 8:27:30 am PST #105 of 6436
S to the A -- using they/them pronouns!
Hmm, I swear I read that they were just on a break.
There was a post on the forum from Brian saying they wouldn't be working together anymore, followed by a really long forum post by Amanda about how their breaking up was like getting a divorce, painful but necessary. So yeah. Definitely no more.
Steph L. - Dec 13, 2008 8:32:19 am PST #106 of 6436
Unusually and exceedingly peculiar and altogether quite impossible to describe
Anyway. I ripped the two compilation CDs as samplers ("Asylum Years" and "The Island Years".) I don't think I want to rip all of the other seven, but of the rest, which would you consider his essential albums?
I wouldn't call it essential, per se, but my .02 is that my favorite is Closing Time. And it's probably just my favorite because it was my first Waits CD. So there's that.
For essential-ness, though, I'd go with Hec's and Corwood's recs.
msbelle - Dec 13, 2008 8:33:22 am PST #107 of 6436
I remember the crazy days. 500 posts an hour. Nubmer! Natgbsb
Jon - insent
Shir - Dec 14, 2008 1:17:52 am PST #108 of 6436
"And that's why God Almighty gave us fire insurance and the public defender".
Did you get a Team Love library card yet?
Frankenbuddha - Dec 14, 2008 2:49:30 am PST #109 of 6436
"We are the Goon Squad and we're coming to town...Beep! Beep!" - David Bowie, "Fashion"
There was a post on the forum from Brian saying they wouldn't be working together anymore, followed by a really long forum post by Amanda about how their breaking up was like getting a divorce, painful but necessary. So yeah. Definitely no more.
Ah, I'd read a couple of things on Amanda that made it sound less definitive than that, though I also had read that the two of them came to a major creative conflict during the Onion Cellar project. Oh well.