Swordfishtrombones - Tom Waits (1983)

I wouldn’t say that Tom Waits’ first seven records were boring or anything, but at the time they didn’t make him stand out. Waits distinguished himself both as a gravelly-voiced troubadour and a talented songwriter, but a lot of those early records were the kind of jazzy, bluesy crooning that a lot of people were doing in that era.

Then this record knocked the world over the head. No one thought Tom Waits sounded anything but original after this.

This is just the sound of someone reinventing himself. The arrangements are clanky and claustrophobic, and the anger and urgency comes through in the vocal delivery as well as the lyrical stories of disaffection and bad luck.

It’s all darkly comic, but also sad and profound in ways that pop music often isn’t. An amazing accomplishment, and only one of a bunch of great Waits albums to come after it. He’d found a new gear and this record was him hitting the gas.

Tracks I Liked

16 Shells From A 30.6 - the genesis of a mean new junkyard rock sound that Waits would use over and over again.

Frank’s Wild Years - I mean, just listen. it’s a fantastically funny and fatalistic story

Swordfishtrombones - If you think that you can tell a bigger tale, i swear to God you’d have to tell a lie.