Swordfishtrombones

Not really my style

First Tom Waits album I owned and loved then but had not listened in at least 3 decades… still wonderful and now I can understand how it prepared me for enjoying Captain Beefheart, the Fiery Furnaces, Minutemen and other bands that played by their own rules yet still were musically beautiful. My favorite album by him too.

His voice done my head in.

I liked how “weird” this was, and I really liked the storytelling.

To the album’s benefit, there are very few places this LP won’t go over its 40 or so minutes. Definitely a Beefheart influence filtered through something else entirely. Even down to the instrumentation used from track to track, Waits is going to leave you pleasantly, puzzlingly guessing as to what’s coming next. Even as the record’s grout tracks waltz their way in and out like tertiary characters in a haphazard theater play, this album has a brilliant flow to it. Just Another Sucker On The Vine following the might In The Neighborhood as one particularly potent example. Although I think he goes on to better this.. whole thing(..?) ever so slightly with the Rain Dogs LP to follow, this is pretty fuckin cool too. 8.5/10

The short interlude-like tracks prevent this being a perfect album for me, but it is so SO close. I love this project. The musicians are locked-in, grooving and elastic. Tom is sinister, vulnerable; and sharp-tongued as ever.

low 2, thanks for this sound, no more of that, alright, that was tom waits

Pre-listening thoughts: oh fuck off I hate tom waits Post/during listening thoughts: ROBOTS?! Literally forgot tom waits has a song in robots. I thought Spotify had just queued something random bc I had a bunch of these albums queued one after the other and right after Iron Maiden finished this started and all I could think of was Robots 😭😭. Well the rest of this was mostly terrible, some of the clanky industrial stuff was cool I suppose but overall it’s a mess. The spoken word is awful and the instrumental stuff is bizarre. 3/10 DID I NEED TO HEAR THIS BEFORE I DIE: no Fav tracks: Underground, 16 Shells from a 30.6 Least fav tracks: lowkey all of the rest of it. The two songs above are the only things keeping it from a 1

Love it! Although it's difficult for me to tell exactly why (or how this is different from other Tom Waits).

There is a lot of artistic merit here but there are so many tracks that I would never return to for any enjoyment. Bro nailed the sound for Halloween music though.

Ok

Just not a fan.

What in the world!?

Raspy voice. Not his best

Alguna buena canción, pero en su estilo.

I admire Tom Waits for his bravery, but this was trash

Remember… I’m not saying this isn’t a great, influential record, because all 1,001 of these records are… just really wasn’t my style

Good old Tom Waits - I enjoyed this album

No, I won't listen to another Tom Waits album. Does the guy who made this list really believe every album Tom Waits ever put out is so superior to other albums or did he just need to fill 1001 of them and this is the person he chose as filler.

I love Tom Waits' stuff when it's unhinged and rough and this album is really the start of that. It still holds up as well. I love the vocals and the instrumentation compliments them amazingly.

This album holds a dirty twisted mirror up to the dark underbelly of civilisation and kinda likes what it sees. One of the best ever recorded and my favourite Tom Waits album. Favourite tracks: Town Without Cheer, 16 Shells From A 30.6, Rainbirds, Frank's Wild Years, basically all of it

Odd. Very odd. Many will hate this, many will adore it. I am indifferent to this one. I don’t mind Waits, but this just seems slightly “off” in so many ways!

Not keen. I mean it is okay… this guy has FIVE albums in this list (in the edition I am reading. I am trying to appreciate this.

Like a second debut. I hadn't listened to it in a while. It's just incredible and might be my favourite of his 80s Island Records trilogy, although maybe if I'd just listened to either of the other two I'd pick one of those. I enjoyed reading some of the musicians bios off the Wikipedia page. I suppose I shouldn't be so surprised how accomplished a group of session musicians it is but it almost seems at odds with how otherworldly the music often is. You've got the bass player from Canned Heat and a guitarist from Little Feat here! It's easy to forget how just a little bit of grit or discordancy upsets people. These 1 star reviews read like slugs doused in salt.

If you told me Tim Burton was an alter ego of Tom Waits I'd believe you.

First Tom Waits album I hear.. Crazy, Different, I think it's Ok. I like the brass sounds.. certainly something different. Not for every mood, not for everyone. 2.80.

An absolute killer album. Masterpiece. Everything works. By far the best album I've listened so far and probably one of the best albums of the eighties. And certainly Tom Waits' best.

Interesting, always wanted to try to get into Tom Waits, but I just don’t love his voice.

Abstract experimental rock. Growling storyteller. Standout is "30 Shells From A 30.6"

Fand ich größtenteils zu experimentell

Sometimes weird is good, but TW is out there!

Swordfishtrombones by Tom Waits is a big ol’ negative for me. I thought I might be able to get something out of a couple of songs. And I did almost come close a few times. Mainly, I’m just annoyed I wasted part of my night listening to this and I cannot get that time back. This is a 1 rating. 1/5

Within 15 seconds I knew this would be impossible. After a couple dings, I didn’t think it could worse until bagpipes were added. Holy mother of god I would rather eat liver than ever listen to this ever ever ever again. CLEARE YOUR THROAT TOM

Huh, that's weird. All I heard was: <3 PIERCING TONES> followed by an AI voice saying: ".....We are sorry - you have exceeded the maximum number of ... 'TOM...WAITS' .... albums allowed in such a list. The maximum is 2. You have reached .... 5. Please move on." ...also is that Rudy Guiliani in drag on the cover? Tom should have shivved him right then and there and saved the world the trouble. (TL; DR: to be fair even if it's not my usual cuppa I definitely see the appeal, even if it is more....selective... than most. Gotta digest it and buy in, because if/when you (I) try to listen passively it just annoys). 6/10 3 stars.

I can see how this was considered a ground breaking record since it was a departure from his previous style and had a lot of experimental arrangements. Not for me overall though - my favourite track was 16 Shells From A 30.6, that one got saved.

I would be surprised if Tom Waits was not cited by Modest Mouse as an influence, especially on a lot of MM’s early work. I love them both. I enjoyed the chaos of this album.

Album is a journey

Tom Waits stuff is weird, but I oddly enjoy it.

I can't get into Tom Waits, even if I generally like experimental rock. It's one of those generally loved 5-star albums that I am going to rate low. I think I appreciate his originality but I don't like his voice and the songs don't do much for me. The instrumental closing track is nice, at least.

This was so bad I had to stop halfway through. I don't even know where to begin with this. Its just the opposite of what I would want to listen to at any point.

I really didn’t enjoy the previous Tom waits album that was generated so I went into this with some trepidation but I mostly enjoyed this

I'm sorry, Tom Waits. I don't think you're for me. I've been told there are like 5 of these albums and that this may be his best work based on the reviews for Swordfishtrombones on this site. That being said, I hope they're better than this. I gave it a solid and fair 3 listens, and it just didn't really resonate with me. "Down, Down, Down" is quite good, an actual jammer. While I don't find Tom's voice as bad as some others do, it's just a lot. There were brief moments of good music here, but they were very few and far between. A 2/5 for me.

Escuché salteado y no voy a darle ni una chance. Sé que no me va agustar ni un poco

The WWE’s favourite singer songwriter of all time. Tommy Waits. Swordfishtrombones and the hot dog flavoured water. Keep on rollin’ baby. Besides the nu-metal coded album title and the deeply upsetting album cover, I have been waiting for some Tom Waits. Underground - Whoa. This isn’t just an intro. He’s going with this voice the whole time eh? This was pretty cool. Shore Leave - HE SHOT BILLIARDS WITH WHOM?? Man this song is funny. It’s also so incredibly cool. I can’t remember the last time I talked baseball over Singapore slings at a Filipino floor show. That’s the kind of nonsense that puts what appears in its surface to be a white guy blues track onto an elevated plane. This thing is completely insane. I was one cigarette short of the cover to a Thai military pub. We ate river water ice cubes and spoke of monarchs 35 miles outside of Bangkok. More of this. Dave the Butcher - Insane carnival music. Did the Insane Clown Posse rip off our Tommy boy. Until then, he had the market cornered on clown music. Johnsburg, Illinois - What is happening? Now we’re in poorly sung show tune ballad territory. It has a magnetism to it, but man this was an experience. 16 Shells From a 30.6 - This seems like fake, pandering country, but that might even be the point here. What is a satchel of pig corn, and what does it have to do with the shells from what I can only assume is a gun? I cannot overstate how insane this feels. Town With No Cheer - None?? We gotta be talkin’ Red Deer. No? We have some bagpipes. Aye Tommy fit ya sayin en pal? Apparently he is saying interesting words in what is indeed a terrible song. I say that, but I’m still really enjoying it. In the Neighbourhood - This sounds like a drunk former country star who forgot the national anthem. I’m talking real drunk. Just making up stuff about his street because that’s the only point of reference he has to what his anthem may be. Tennessee Walker Sims XIV mentions Filipino people once again. Becoming a theme. This is captivating, if nothing else. Just Another Sucker on the Vine - Mardi Gras interlude. Throw your beads. Wake up this scotch drunk crooner. Frank’s Wild Years - Poor Carlos. Get that dog some spectacles. I LOVE this. Bizarre, funny, beat poetry. This is the kind of thing I wish I could do. I will have this on repeat. Swordfishtrombone - The bass is so good here, and I am enjoying some white guy doing samba music? What is happening. Lyrics that continue to ratchet up the intrigue and a song that really came together here. Down, Down, Down - Oh god is this the inspiration for the Wire’s theme song that somehow stretches 6 seasons or whatever? Kind of a middling affair here. Simmering. Soldier’s Things - uhhh. I uhhh. This was kinda bad. Gin Soaked Boy - This album sounds like it’s soaked in more than just gin. A veritable potpourri of alcoholic beverages. A cool blues song and that has shocked me to my core. Trouble’s Braids - More beat poetry. Passing out wolf tickets, downwind from the bloodhounds. Incredible lyricism and a joy to listen to. Rainbirds - A exeunt worthy of a lamb. More jazz sensibilities with gentle piano closing out this chaotic expedition. Now this is an album that speaks to me. Sure, most of the speaking is drunken shouting through a speakerphone, but it kept me enthralled for its entire duration. Were there bad songs? Yup. Were there songs that were so bad they were good? Yes, indeed. Were there beautiful poetic songs that sounded like my ideal vision of what music could be? Kind of, yeah. Tom Waits shot the lights out here. Catch me listening to this through a Walkman outside a bazaar in the Carpathian Mountains. I traded my last furs for the extended cut of this album and two Portuguese Fantas. Imports. Real smooth. Ill nurse one of those whilst bathing in the guilty afterglow of a day’s rest. 3.5-4 HIGHLIGHTS: Shore Leave, Frank’s Wild Years, Swordfishtrombone, Trouble’s Braids

An eclectic mix of music with a variety of styles. Underground opened in a really bizarre fashion, but after that I found the next few songs quite enjoyable, if not quite my thing. There were however, a few weird ones in there.

Tom Waits is kind of exhausting to listen to. You really have to be in the right mood to listen to this.

Swordfishtrombones marks Tom Waits’ bold departure from his familiar jazz-blues-barroom roots, plunging headfirst into a clattering, surreal carnival of sound. With clanging marimbas, woozy horns, and absurdist spoken-word vignettes, Waits conjures a shadowy world of drifters, grifters, and sideshow misfits. Drawing inspiration from Captain Beefheart’s dissonant blues and the grotesque wonder of Todd Browning’s Freaks—where he met Kathleen Brennan, his future wife and creative catalyst—Waits embraces experimentation with fearless abandon. Tracks like the chaotic “16 Shells From a Thirty-Ought Six” and the darkly comic “Frank’s Wild Years” revel in their lunacy, while more restrained pieces like the tender “Johnsburg, Illinois” and the mournful “Soldier’s Things” remind us of Waits’ gift for emotional intimacy. This is an album built on contrasts: industrial clang meets drunken jazz, growls melt into murmurs, and chaos dances with vulnerability. For all its eccentricity, Swordfishtrombones remains deeply human—a dreamlike travelogue through the back alleys of Waits’ imagination. It’s the sound of an artist breaking free, and in doing so, creating one of the most daring and unforgettable records of his career. Essential listening for anyone drawn to music that’s bold, bizarre, and vividly alive.

There are enough people who like Tom Waits to make me feel okay with how much I don’t like Tom Waits. Please tell me this is 2/2 on the list. (It’s not, is it?)

I want to be hip and "cultured", I guess, but I have to say that I don't get it. I did like it more than 'Nighthawks at the Diner'. Have you seen Waits act? He was great in 'Buster Scruggs'.

I just don’t get this guy or what he’s doing.

Very odd but if you're willing to look outside conventional music you can pick a few diamonds. Love Underground

санудтрек к фильму "Уродцы"

I've always preferred Tom's 70s output to his later avant-garde, experimental stuff, but it's hard to deny that it is great if you're in the mood for it.

Tom Waits at is Tom Waits-iness

I can't describe this one, 5 stars

Not for me

Creepy little funhouse music

Very different. Takes some getting used to.

nice

Got off to a dodgy start, but improved massively. This is what I expected from Captain Beefheart, weird but with substance. First half is only worth a 1, but second half has upped it to a 3.

Firstly, this album is bonkers. But there’s a lot of interesting stuff here. Enjoyed ‘16 Shells’, ‘Soldiers Things’, ‘Gin Soaked Boy’ (a very Seasick Steve vibe) and ‘Rainbirds’. I admire the complete ‘fuck you’ freedom with which he must have had to record and release this. Having said that, probably won’t ever listen to it again!

Oh dear, I've heard of this and possibly have listened to it, as I had a mate who liked him a lot. He left such a lasting impression. It's not very good.

Not really interesting to me. Hell of a discography though.

2 5

I appreciate Tom Waits more than I like to listen to Tom Waits. I did enjoy this a bit more than the last album. 7/10

Interesting and polarizing album Some songs were incredible and others sounded like a wino ranting while playing a child’s xylophone Definitely deserves further exploration as an artist

Tom Waits is definitely in the category of an "acquired taste", a sometimes difficult listen, often after repeated listening it gets better once you get past his voice and general weirdness. There are several Wait's albums I liked instantly, so it's not all grit and gravel, but he's not for all tastes, which is understandable. With Swordfishtrombones, Tom has entered into his "cookie monster" phase and for proof listen to his first couple of records to hear the transformation (degradation?) of his voice style. This is an album, I didn't care for when I first listened, but the songwriting is strong and there's just something about this album that grows on you. Not my favourite Tom Waits album, but still a good representation of Wait's "listenable" music, if you can make it all the way through.

It’s really hard to listen to. I have found out that I enjoy his very early work much more. This strange voice that he has chosen is just too hard to listen to. Only a few songs are okay for me

Tom Waits, dieses mal aber weniger überzeugend als auf Heartattack And Vine. Sehr experimentell.

Ich weiss nicht was an dieser Platte gut sein soll.

I like Tom Waits even though I’m not familiar with his whole catalog, just a few songs here and there. However, I can tell that even for him, this album is a real hard left turn. It’s sonically super weird and different. I can’t pretend like it’s catchy or get stuck in your head, but it’s genuinely fascinating and intriguing. Because of the bold music choices, this album has a ton of great variety. Despite only saving a few songs from the album, I’d say the album as a whole was a great listening experience. I’d definitely recommend this album to people who want something super weird and different.

I'm not sure what kind of drugs you need to be on to find this music interesting, but I'm not on them. There's flashes of...something...here, but I'm not grasping it. It's almost like a dark Disney movie narrator or villain soliloquizing his reasoning for doing whatever nefarious thing he's doing. With complete mumbo-jumbo lyrics. Whatever it is I'm too sober to understand. Maybe I'll revisit next time I go on a bender, but I'll likely forget.

I thought I would like it but no. 1

It was good. Different but not unpleasant. I was entertained.

I'm more of a fan of early Tom Waits tbh.

My God did I hate this album. This might be the worst one yet. Awful, terrible,

Emperor of weird and he does it the best.

That's not my taste in music - But some pleasant songs

mostly disliked the gruff vocals and strange instrumentation, but a couple of times decent songs broke through

definitely unique sounding, not sure if i’m a fan tho

Glad I finally gave Tom Waites a listen. Good stuff.

Virtually unlistenable in my mind.

Not something I’m going to put on if I am wanting to listen to music. Interesting is the first word that comes to mind. Waits voice does have the punch to carry the spoken word. For most vocalist this would be a 1 or 2 if delivered this way. Waits takes it to a soft 3

Apparently with this album Tom Waits transformed from drunk poet on the piano to junkyard theatre. It *feels* like art. Not necessarily the kind of art that's exciting to me.

Freaky Waits.

Ever seen It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World? Remember that scene where Sylvester is at home and dancing in some sort of drug trance and doesn't hear the phone? That's what this sounds like. Weird, not good, 70s shit that is trying to be experimental, but just overly horny, over the top, and cringy.

For the longest time I only thought of Tom Waits as, like... Strange music. The kind you'd plug in alongside Primus, That Handsome Devil, and maybe The Residents on the extreme end of things. That was certainly always the impression I'd always gotten from the song of his included on the SHREK 2 soundtrack — and, yes, I'm bringing that up again in relevance to Tom Waits. Like, jeez, is that the only thing I think of when I hear his name? I promise I have a good reason, though. 'Coz the first three tracks sure fit into the preconception I had of him. Odd lyrics backed by odd instrumentation... Yeah, that's it. Honestly, it's what I expected Captain Beefheart to sound like — which is to say, its strangeness is outward and obvious, instead of having it mostly exist in,like, polyrhythms or whatever. I'm kinda dumb, y'see. I mean, goodness, "Dave The Butcher" straight-up sounds like it's coming direct from a dark, evil carnival. It did not surprise me too much to find out that this was the first album Waits produced himself, and if the whole thing sounded this way, I'd be perfectly happy. This stuff is wonderfully weird. But then we hit "Johnsburg, Illinois" — and it's here where the true album reveals itself. Y'see, looking back on those first three tracks with the whole album in context, they strike me as a "scaring the hoes" kind of deal. A way to weed out the people who, y'know, "if they can't handle me at my most extreme..." 'Coz while the rest of the album still keeps a lot of its oddball charms, it's for sure toned down from "Johnsburg, Illinois" on. I mean, heck, it's a stripped-down, straight-up piano song, where, like... Goodness, I am so surprised that someone who sings the way he does, like he's vomiting the words, can make his voice sound this beautifully emotional. Consider me mightily impressed by this. And after this is where I get my revelation. 'Cuz for the rest of the album, I could only imagine him as a singer in a dirty piano bar: sunglasses on indoors, slightly hung over, holding his 36th cigarette of the night between his fingers... There is such sincerity, earnestness and realness I get from his music. Despite all the strange turns this material takes (maybe because of it, honestly), it really sounds like it's "for the people," or at least some of the odder ones. That he's down there giving light and a voice to these people. Truly, a bizarro world Springsteen. So much of it is honestly so beautiful, too. I particularly wanna highlight "Town With No Cheer" with its soft accordion and plucked strings (as a matter of fact, it's where I had my revelation) and "In The Neighborhood". That song is a mournful march, and even not knowing what it was about, it felt like one I should cry to. If a song can make me feel like that based on nothing but how it sounds — I mean, jeez, it can't be doing too much wrong, can it? Plus, although it didn't get me personally, I can totally imagine "Soldier's Things" making someone just break down. Another big ol' highlight. (I'll also point out "16 Shells From A 30.6" and "Gin Soaked Boy" as groovier blues numbers so you don't think this whole album is just piano bar songs once it's done being all-out weird.) And it was after I was done listening to this album, thinking about the song he had in SHREK 2, that I had my second revelation. Frankly, I should have known that this is what Tom Waits was like all along, 'coz how what that song used? As the one being sung by a piano player in a dirty bar. It was staring me in the face the whole time, but I was too caught up in the weirdness to realize it. How about that, huh? It's like, I don't blame this album for having the average score it does (2.97). Without intending to sound judgemental, some people just don't have the ears for this kinda music. They're gonna hear how strange the first three songs are and refuse to think about it any deeper. "It's weird for weird's sake, and I don't like that." I'm not gonna fault them for not recognizing how much deeper and prettier this album gets as it goes on, although I really wish they could and would. They're really missing out. This album is a big 5 from me, no caveats. It's absolutely not for everyone, but for the people who get it — and I'm more than happy to count myself among them... Gosh, it's so wonderful.

I can appreciate Tom Waits, album or otherwise, but I'm not exactly the biggest fan either. 3.5 bumped down to 3.

You know what? I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump up to a 5. It took a little bit to get rolling, but after the sort of weird 3-track start (though Underground is fine), I think this album finally finds its voice by “Johnsburg, Illinois” and just kind of glides from there. This is not the same type of album as Rain Dogs, and I think it’s all the better for it – he’s not trying to mold his vocals to the heavier rock-influenced, vaguely Springsteen-ish instrumentals present on that album, but has instead made every track here work with his vocals to lean into his grittier strengths in a more cohesive way. Granted, my entire premise is a bit undermined by the fact that this album came BEFORE Rain Dogs, but I stand by it – this album feels more complete to me because it finds a better harmony between his vocals and the instrumentals, and that was my biggest thing holding me back before. It also helps that I think the lyricism is just better on these tracks – even when they make no goddamn sense at all (see: “16 Shells From a 30.6”), they’re still sort of captivating in their delivery & natural flow. However, when they do make sense (and they make sense plenty of times), I think some of the lyrics on these tracks feel like a sort of contemporary, mildly buzzed Bob Dylan for the 1980s – a little nonsensical at times, but when they need to lock in and truly tell a story, Tom Waits knocks it out of the park. Look no further than “Soldier’s Things”, which I think is a real highlight from any of the 438 albums we’ve gotten so far – that is a masterclass in lyricism, and it hit a little close to home for me. So, yeah, I’m at a 5 – once this thing gets rolling, it finds a sort of voice that speaks more for the “common” man, and going for a mostly local tone on a lot of these tracks lets their personality, humor, or sincerity shine through in a more authentic way than they did on Rain Dogs. That’s not to say Rain Dogs is a bad album, but this feels way more like the “real” Tom Waits to me. It’s a lovely album, and its abrasions work to Tom’s strengths to create a really cohesive 41 minutes (well, OK, 33 or so if you don’t count the first 3 tracks not clicking as well, but shh) that really worked for me. I can hear why this is at a 2.97 on the site, but I just don’t think they’re engaging with the album in the right way. I really, really enjoyed this, and I’m really glad this was on the list. Good job, Tom.

This is when Tom starts to get weirder. But he balances it with some classic crooning so it doesn't immediately weird out his fans. I dig.

Brilliant - I love this sort of thing. I've known Wait's music for a time, also a big Captain Beefheart fan, so Wait's particular brand of off-kilter music, singing and story telling is right for me.

Okay. I feel like Tom Waits has been coming up a lot lately. I just got Bone Machine a few days ago, and some of the other albums I've gotten in the past few weeks have had comparisons to him as well. This is starting to feel like the Bob Dylan thing again where I got three albums of his in the span of a month. Whatever. Fortunately, I'm at the point in my music journey where I actually like Tom Waits now, so I'm okay with listening to his music. Here we have his 1983 album Swordfishtrombones (great album name btw). It's good! I personally enjoyed Bone Machine more, but I can see why others would prefer this one. It really just boils down to personal taste. The things that I now like about Tom Waits are all still here. His songwriting is as great as ever. His voice is really starting to grow on me. The style here is a bit more mellow than an album like Rain Dogs or Bone Machine, which I think has contributed to some people preferring it over those albums. Not me though. I like the funny stuff. The songs are pretty good. I have one final thing to say before I end this review. See, even though this album listen marks my most recent encounter with the music of Tom Waits, it actually brings to mind what is likely the first time I ever listened to any of his music, even if I wasn't aware of it at the time. The first Tom Waits song I ever heard (as far as I'm aware) was this album's opener, "Underground." It's a pretty cool song. I like it. But you might be wondering something. Where and when did I first hear "Underground?" Well, you see, the song appeared in a scene from a movie that I watched all the time as kid. That movie, of course, is the 2005 Blue Sky Studios animated film Robots. If I don't get to acknowledge the existence of Robots (2005) in this review, I won't get to acknowledge it in any review, and I have to acknowledge Robots (2005). You don't know how much this means to me. I mean, that movie had an insane voice cast if you think about it. Ewan McGregor, Robin Williams, Halle Berry, Mel Brooks! Name any other animated movie with a voice cast as excellent as that. I dare you. The movie has its flaws, sure, but there's also so much to love about it. The aforementioned voice cast, the genuinely fantastic worldbuilding, the weirdly progressive theming about capitalism and corruption. It has Bigweld, okay? Robots (2005) is a great movie that more people need to talk about. Oh yeah, Swordfishtrombones is a good album too. Light 4/5.

I won’t lie, I liked some of it. “Shore Leave” was interesting and “Johnsburg Illinois” wasn’t bad. I liked the melancholy feel of “In The Neighbourhood” and “Town With No Cheer”, but the vocals felt a bit forced somehow. Then “Down, Down, Down” and “Gin Soaked Boy” came along which are good blues tracks. Generally I don’t like abstract music, but I can’t write this one off. There is a lot of variety of styles and composition, which is rare these days. The blues tracks had me. I can’t believe I’m going to give it a 4, I’m quite shocked.

This one is good but not as memorable as some of his other records.

Empezó raro pero me gustó

No, just no. Rarisima la voz del amigo, las canciones que no son con esa voz se salvan supongo

I’ve been waiting for my gateway atom Waits and it feels good to finally have found it

This was … unique .

Schrecklich!

Tom is his own genre, felt like listening to the soundtrack of some movie, I really enjoyed it

Fantastic record, it's a great introduction to the weird ass Tom Waits era!

This sounds like what i think a safari soundtrack would be. Its rough, yet tender and soft, very entrancing. Incredible production and clarity of sound.

solid 4

It’s really similar to Rain Dogs, and that was a four (I think), so this also is.

I'm pretty for Tom Waits. Will I listen to again: 100%

Not my taste

A little better than some other Tom Waits albums, but his voice is still atrocious.

Always listen to Tom Waits on repeat. The more you listen to this cacophonous glory the more you fall under its spell. Then you hear Frank's Wild Years with the ultimate black humour sting at the end. That's when you realise you need to listen to every lyric for the surrealism and humour. I tend to open up a lyric sheet on my computer. Whatever you do, however you do it, just enjoy this bonkers man and his creations.

2 star, i like a few other waits albums far more than this one.

Such a silly dude. I love it.

Interesting

Bad

Tom Waits seems to straddle the line between cool experimental blues and utterly batshit crazy. I can’t quite work out if having the voice of a grizzled old cartoon toad adds to it or detracts from what would otherwise be a much more comfortable listen. I find myself not hating it. I also find myself needing it to stop after a while.

If memory serves correctly, I’ve really enjoyed all of the music of Tom Waits that I’ve heard so far. For whatever reason, this one just didn’t quite grip me as much as the others. I did still enjoy it, but whereas others really gripped me, this one became more like a fine music to have on in the background rather than the foreground. Perhaps it was just that I was too distracted, so it could well be on me rather than the music, but that’s the curl of the burl when reviewing an album after one listen every day.

Theres def some nice ideas throughout the album, a lot of nice tracks with a whoolllleee range of instruments so that’s nice. Trumpets!

A left-field album that tries to capture Waits experimental and creative direction. I appreciate all of the different instruments but it's not my taste of music. Tom Waits at his best.

This is pretty cool, its aged well

I actually hate Tom Waits LESS now

Although I’ve never explored Tom Waits before I’ve heard some of his songs and often enjoyed them, so I was anticipating liking this album. Unfortunately whilst there were moments I liked, and I thought the album started off well, it went so weirdly experimental that it was difficult to keep listening. There were good moments buried in amongst the dirt, showing a talented artist and lyricist is present, but one too interested in being odd for odd’s sake, rather than making an enjoyable track to listen to. Unfortunately this one is not for me.

Some interesting sounds, but his voice is just too much. A couple good songs, but also a couple songs that were needlessly repetitive.

I am intrigued. I dont fully unterstand ist by i Kind of Like it

To me, Tom Waits is somebody that a few folks embrance and then run around proclaming the high ground due to their advanced culture and taste. I've tried to like this guy in the past but he's not for me. Y'all can have mine.

I am a huge, unabashed fan of Tom Waits. There's at least 4-5 of his albums that I would think easily deserve a place on this list. That said, this isn't one that I hold in quite as high of regard.

I always wondered how many cigarettes he had to get that raspiness. Such a wildly chaotic album.

Great album.

Quite the interesting project.

Oh Tom Waits! This is one of those albums that I don't necessarily listen to a lot but it is a classic and I'm glad I did, Tom Waits has a crazy good voice but he's never been a favorite!

Sounds like a haunted drunk circus which is my favorite kind of circus.

Meh. Never like this album tbh.

I like the weird stuff.

This is where Tom Waits really started to experiment with unconventional instrumentation and raw, unpolished production. The album has that quirky and playful instrumentation that I always enjoy, giving it a unique and offbeat atmosphere. The DIY production approach gives it a rough, organic feel that makes the music really stand out.

its the guy from robots yippie

Kept thinking “like an unhinged Mardi Gras”

Perfect album!

I like weird experimental music, but some tracks here I did not like at all. This album is too inconsistent. Some songs are great, others are just boring. The second half, which is less experimental and has more conventional tracks, redeems it a bit, though.

Really interesting record. Love the instrumentation and his voice

Thought I would hate it but there were som ironic gems in this album. enjoyed Tom's jazzy tones. some songs worked better than others the middle part was definitely my favorite.

Underground 4 Shore Leave 4.2 Dave the Butcher (instrumental) 3.7 Johnsburg, Illinois 4 16 Shells From a Thirty-Ought-Six 4.4 Town with No Cheer 4 In the Neighborhood 4 Just Another Sucker on the Vine (instrumental) 3.2 Frank's Wild Years 4 Swordfishtrombone 4.6 Down, Down, Down 4.2 Soldier's Things 3.8 Gin Soaked Boy 3.8 Trouble's Braids 4.1 Rainbirds (instrumental) 4 Score: 4

Great album, reminds me of the deep southern states for some reason.

It was strange. I don't think I'm a big fan of that much variety. The lead singer sounds like he has been smoking cigarettes for 100 years.

Interesting and strange folk music. Kinda grunge and spoken word at times. Some cool jazz moments on this. Blues also? Damn this guy has a versatile band. I cant help but feel like Robbie Robertson stole Tom Waits style on Somewhere Down The Crazy River. Wow this was really good. Not something I would come back to for some time, but I really enjoyed this.

The only Tom Waits song I've heard before this listen is his version of Heigh Ho, which felt very industrial and his rough voice felt perfect. What surprised me in this album is how much the same his style is and how much variety there is from song to song. It is all powerfully rhythmic and wonderfully sung with reduced melodic impact, but each song is clearly reaching for a different genre, while all of it, in the end, is simply Tom Waits. Perfect. 4.5/5

Very similar to Rain Dogs, if not slightly better. Still didn’t enjoy it, too weird and just not fun.

277/1001 🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑

Hated the first song... after that it was pretty okay.

So delightfully bizzarre

Yeah it's odd. Yeah it sounds like self-parody at points. But he's a helluva storyteller and he constantly pushes his own abilities as a musician. Not my favorite, but pretty damn good.

Captivating

Tom is always great. Super diferent and original doing his best with not the best voice. He just does his own thing and its great. A felew instrumentals that didnt love but always a great hear

This is some really weird shit. Not quite the weirdest I've heard doing this, but it does sometimes sound like someone doing a mean parody of Tom Waits. A few tracks border on unlistenable, but at least it's interesting.

Always enjoy a Tom Waits album

Not quite my cup of tea but pretty decent.

it's different and weird but not in an insufferable way

My introduction to Tom Waits was in college in the late 80s. I was obsessed with the song 16 Shells From A 30.6 and Toms Wild years - so eclectic. Entertaining music that endures. Great lounge music.

I remember being disappointed the first time I heard this. I was a fan of his earlier work and this was not that. Fast forward 25 years and I am able to appreciate this a lot more. I enjoy just about everything he's done. Tom Waits is a national treasure in my book.

Arrancó y estaba seguro que iba a ser un álbum sumamente conceptual a lo "The Mollusk" de Ween, me abroché el cinturón imaginario esperando un súper viaje de canciones increíbles yyyy..... eso fue todo, una eterna espera de a ver cuando llegaba la canción que asentara el disco. Hay buenos temas, pero se toma DEMASIADO rato para construirlos, potencial increíble, resultado pretencioso.

Tom Waits is growing on me, but still not sure I'll ever fully get there.

This isn't an album I particularly enjoy from start to finish, but it certainly knows how to entertain, and there's several stand out parts to it. I think it comes in somewhere between a 3 and 4 star album for me, but I'll move it up a rung, partly because it's a breath of fresh air after a run of insipid albums for me on this journey.

This is weird as hell and I really liked it. There's two main vibes here, one is a carnival, which shows ip in these albums far more than I expected, and the other is this sort of noir feeling jazz or salsa or something. The title track, Swordfishtrombone is more of the latter and it is an excellent song. There was a lot else here I liked, like Down, Down, Down, and Underground. This was fun.

Interesting musically at times. The voice is jarring though. It was okay I’d say 5/10 or 2.5 stars.

Nit a fan.

Not for me

Tom can Waits for a good review from me after this one.

Nonsense music, but clearly done tongue in cheek. Some of it was fun and as the album progressed it got better. Will I listen again and does anyone really need to listen? Nope!

I don’t think I’ve ever listened to him before. This album had a nice consistent oddball vibe throughout, and a nice level of experimentation to keep you on your toes. Started strong and tailed off a bit. Defo open to hearing more of his stuff. I do question whether his missus would have been happy with the indiscriminate borrowing of kitchen based percussion items though.

So amazingly weird, and just what I needed tonight. Honestly I had not given Tom Waits a proper listen in the past, although he clearly deserved it.

3.5*

Has a lot of stuff I didn’t jive with, but has some great tracks (town with no cheers in particular).

Tom Waits is an American treasure. The throat clearing on Frank's Wild Years alone is enough for me to give this masterpiece of beautiful weirdness a five. LOVE!! 5

Wish I liked Tom Waits but I don't.. couldn't listen past the 3rd song

I recognized the first song off this album from somewhere and I didn't know where. Then it hit me, it was on the soundtrack for the cinematic classic Robots (2005). Man, what an awesome film that was. Weird choice to put a Tom Waits song on it. Was he involved? Didn't he voice someone? No? Wait a minute holy shit this voice cast is stacked! Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry, Amanda Bynes, Mel Brooks (!) Stanley Tucci, Paul Giamatti, Jennifer Coolidge, Natasha Lyonne, Jay Leno (!?) James Earl Jones (!?) Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson (!?) James Brown (!?) not to mention Robin Williams of course. I can't believe they had a character who's main characteristic was that her ass was fat. Also Can we talk about the communist messages that the film had? Holy based! Not to mention... Oh yeah the album? I was too busy thinking about how good Robots (2005) for the rest of it. Seemed weird and not my style. 3/10

Those drunken blues tracks are fun at least, still not the thing i would like to turn on by myself

1.5

Easy, I am a huge Tom Waits fan and this album, along with Rain Dogs, first attracted me to him. So, a definite 5 for me. It's the creativity, the use of unorthodox "instruments", the rawness (but with a soothing song just when you need it - Downtown Train etc.). Waits is an amazing storyteller, both with words and musically. I also love his jazzier early work and his more recent work, but I'll always come back this album and Rain Dogs.

Intriguing oddball music.

There just isn’t anyone like Tom Waits. He occupies a space in and out of time throughout all of America’s history. The songs on this album are both subversive nostalgic.

Solid album overall, nothing particularly standout but it was good.

lol I never know what to do with Tom Waits, always so weird but at times so interesting. 1/2 of me is into it 1/2 of me can’t do it.

I really want to like Tom Waits, I really do. I really appreciate that he exists, and I want to enjoy his music, but I don't. Maybe two songs on here were okay, but the rest was nothing I'll ever come back to.

First song has me wondering what the heck I'm in for on this one. It sounds like an old school Ween. Song 2 is the same but with some cool instrumentation. Dave The Butcher sounds like carnival Primus. Johnsburg, Illinois is normal and pleasant. 16 Shells From A 30.6 sounds like it would be in Peaky Blinders. Gin Soaked Boy has some bluesy twangy ZZ Top guitar and even has the same vocal melody as La Grange 34 seconds in, and 108. Not surprised if it was inspired/stolen. Pretty weird overall. Leaning on 2 but have to go with 3 for diversity and keeping it interesting.

I really like his “Closing Time” album, so it’s disappointing to me that so much of his other work sounds like a spectacularly drunken episode of the Muppet Show. I know there are artistic reasons for doing things the way he does. I just don’t always get it.

There were a couple of songs near the end that saved this from a 1 rating.

Kind of all over the place with some great tracks and some terrible ones, but interesting enough overall that I wanted to listen a second time.

I wonder what would happen if this guy tried to write music that's enjoyable to listen to? I bet he could do a decent job of it! Maybe get a singer who drinks water occasionally, too. It's a radical idea, I know. Still, maybe it's crazy enough that it just might work.

Ciekawe, kilka utworów zapisałem. Ale w tej mniej ciekawej części raczej poniżej przeciętnej. 3/5

Perhaps this is beautiful poetry but I don’t find it to be beautiful music. Maybe that says more about me than it does about Waits but I’m here for the music and if the poetry is there as well, all the better. Not so much the other way around.

Not for me

Tom Waits is something else. I like Swordfishtrombones a lot. To love it, I think it probably requires a bottle of good (not great) whisky, consumed straight glass by glass while ripping Marlboros all the while. I don’t smoke and rarely drink whiskey so 4 stars it is.

Great artist but clearly not his best work. A relatively unremarkable disc, in my opinion.

Tom being Tom.

I don't get Tom Waits. Some of this is interesting but I don't need to hear it again.

Well he certainly had a strong vision here. I think there have been too many Tom Waits albums already on here so I’m biased against him but this was a lot to take in. He’s a creative guy with a creative mind but I did not like the sounds here.

Like smooth jazz, but better, with lyrics, in 1980's style.

Line drawn

just bad

instantly loved this one. pretty healthy amount of contrasts & a particular taste for textures & musical narratives. cool intro to this guy!

Somehow this guy seems to grab your attention and it could be possibly because the singing is just that bad. The melodies and the lyrics is the true gravitational force at work.

I enjoyed this album. I usually do not like experimental stuff, but this was good.

Good fun and not nearly as dark as I remembered. Odd for sure and a challenge to listen to in spots.

tom waits album

I'm huge Tim Wait's fan and like this album a lot. It's like someone unleashed a crazy person in a cabaret. There are other Waits albums I like more so it gets a 4

Among the worst albums so far

Not bad but a little too weird for my liking

This was largely unpleasant unfortunately. I’ve never listened to Tom Waits and had heard good things but I was underwhelmed

a collection sounds for contrarians.

Good story telling and funny. Enjoyed but wouldnt listen again

Out of the now classic trilogy of Tom Waits albums that completely renewed and reinvigorated his music during the eighties (*Swordfishtrombone*, *Rain Dogs* and *Frank's Wild Years*), you got to to at least include one. It's very rare that an artist so convincingly and so radically alters his craft ten or fifteen years into his career. Tom Waits did it effortlessly, or so it seems. The kitchen sink approach and the Brechtian overtones had always been there before, but in *Swordfishtrombone* and the two albums that followed, they're put in the foreground, thanks to all sorts of off-kilter instrumentations giving more distinctive Old Europe flavors to the Californian singer-songwriter's tunes. The percussions provided by Victor Feldman (who also played for Steely Dan!), including that wonderful marimba, are, simply put, moody as f*ck. But the most obvious element in the recipe is still Tom, who accentuates the growls and the theatrical shenanigans on his vocal performances in quite an incredible fashion. It can be a little off-putting on first listens, but once you get your footing in those new whereabouts, it quickly becomes a wonderful experience. "Underground" is a stellar opener -- granting "stellar" is a word that can be used for songs reeking with the stench of sewers! "16 Shells From A 30.6" is a fun deranged bluesy number, and "In The Neighborhood", where Waits paints the portrait of a working-class urban area, is a very touching impressionistic moment. The thing is, follow-up LP *Rain Dogs* is even better at this cinematic, evocative game, and it has the good taste to add lots of memorable ballads in the vein of "In The Neighborhood" in between the same sort of theatrics. Which nicely amplifies the dynamics of that other LP's (admittedly longer) tracklist. So for me, *Rain Dogs* is the *ideal* album to keep in a list such as this one if you want to represent that pivotal era of Tom Waits' career. *Swordfishtrombone* has better chances to be included in my own list compared to *Frank Wild's Years*, true... But 1001 is a finite number after all, so I can't guarantee it. Now come on, Tom, I can see you sulking from the other side of the bar's counter... Don't give me that, you know it's impossible to welcome the whole neighborhood into this seedy dive. Come on, chin up, let me buy you a drink... Bartender! The next round's on me, alright? 3.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 4 8.5/10 for more general purposes (5 + 4.5) Number of albums left to review: the 80-ish extra LPs listed on this app, included because different past editions of the book have mentioned albums that have since been dropped in subsequent editions. Number of albums I'll keep in my own list: half, approximately Number of albums I *might* keep: a small quarter, approximately (including this one) Number of albums I won't keep: a large quarter

thanks 1001 album generator for starting me off with the least accessible tom waits album

I’m sorry, Tom. I love “Come On Up to the House” but this album was not for me.

Have never liked this artist or understood the appeal. Horrible voice, lame songs. Hope to never hear him again, but unfortunately he has 4 more albums in the 1,001. No more from G. Love and Special Sauce, however…

A new one to me, but not my favorite. Waits can be hit or miss.

It’s just noise to me. Like circus music. And, as I’ve said before, I hate his voice. There might have been one decent song, but just one.

It's a work of mad genius and luckily I had time for a few listens (it is a Sunday) so got past my immediate reaction and settled into it.

Yet again I go ugh Tom Waits and then the album rules. Maybe I just really like Tom Waits

Somehow, I love Captain Beefheart, but I can't seem to wrap my head around Tom Waits. On "Underground" the drums go thwomp, the guitars are angular, and Waits' gravelly voice paves over the whole thing. This is what I have been taught to expect of Tom Waits beyond the 70's. "Shore Leave" was an easier proposition. The oddball instrumentation is subdued, but very slinky and present as Waits weaves words like he's narrating a noir film. It's to such great effect! This gave way to he spooky, yet jolly, organ of "Dave the Butcher" which helped carries the mood. "Johnsburg, Illinois" was caught me by surprise. I was not expecting a heart-felt ballad. On "16 Shells" the driving beat and jaunty guitars are almost psychedelic and Waits displays control over his voice. "Town with No Cheer" opens with bagpipes(?) which give way to another plaintive ballad. Waaaaaaay better than I was expecting. Tom Waits has great range. I don't know how often I'll return to this album, but it definitely requires another listen.

Clown music.

Small observation: I've known many more women who like Tom Waits than men. I don't know what to take from that, but it's an observation I've made. I like Tom Waits' old stuff (Heart Attack And Vine, Nighthawks At the Diner, etc.), but this Beefheart-esque stuff is hard to bear. Not my cup of tea, but I think I get it anyway.

didnt not like this

After a shaky start, Tom Waits has become one of my favourite discoveries from the generator project, so of course I’m happy to hear more of his back catalogue. It does feel like something I should maybe be doing on my own time, though, rather than taking up a 5th spot on the 1001 albums list… Then again, fuck it, it’s good stuff. Not quite as good as Rain Dogs, perhaps, but an eloquent quote on wikipedia informs me that it was his first record to incorporate that same ‘neon-lit junkyard sonic grotesquery’ style that I like, so let’s say it’s worth its place for that.

I so much did not like this

A sonic terrorist attack, makes me feel bad for ranking some of the other albums so low. Singer sounded like he had borrowed Sean Dyche’s vocal cords and then smoked 1000 cigarettes with 15 pints of gravel for good measure. Listened on the way to work, think I’d have enjoyed lighting a box of fireworks on the passenger seat more, although it would have been tough to hear the difference. I just don’t know what it was or what it was meant to be.

A delectable hodge podge of absolute bollocks and nonsense. I can only assume this album wasn't recorded in a studio, but in the bowels of some bizarre Saw/Dr Seuss hybrid hellhole. Knocked a star off because I don't like bagpipes. I cant blame Tom Waits for this, seeing as he's obviously used not only every instrument on earth to make this album, but every object he can get his hands on and violently bang together.. bagpipes were bound to make an appearance. It's no wonder the Scottish hate everybody, including themselves - if I had to stand in a wintry field, wearing a woolly skirt, whilst the cold air clawed at my bollocks, and the only relief I had whilst waiting for the English to march over the hill, was listening to Mel Gibson blow air into a dead, inside out animal, I'd be pretty fed up too. I'd much rather be in a field listening to Swordfishtrombones, music that would truly strike fear into the enemy. 4/5

mental. Surprised I even slightly enjoyed bits of it. Tom Waits makes me believe I can be a musician. Becuase with 0 talent, a horrible singing voice and inability to even say words properly, he was able to convey emotion really well. So I actually got on board with it about 2/3 of the way through. Will listen again

Murky, vaudevillian, bat shit crazy. Loved it from start to finish. Underground sounds like it was produced by filthy trolls in the depths of a smelting plant. Booming drums, metal clangs, set to the marching trombone. A vocal performance that sounds like he's just gargled hot tarmac. Lyrically it paints a vivid picture of a dank underworld. Whispered stories weaved between, traditional blues, experimental noise, lacerated vocal chords, and a tatty chest of instruments, make this an eccentric masterpiece. Used jet trash! Halloween orange and chimney red! What a way to turn a phrase.

Tom gets out his pots and pans and barks at the moon. (I know it gets worse) Its quaint at times ('Neighbourhood") but on the whole it's not a great listen (for me)

Ok I'm sorry. I'm sorry to every halfway decent musician I called bad. I'm sorry for saying the Beatles should have been chased out of England. I'm sorry for saying Suzanne Vega made me want to throw up. I'm sorry for saying Kendrick Lamar sounded like disorganized trash. To everyone else I'm not including, I am so sorry I didn't recognize the small bit of talent you have. Tom Waits has made me realize that there are some musicians without talent, and you're not one of them. My apologies once again.

A great voice, and a few brilliant songs, but does he really need 5(!!) albums on the list? Maybe, but I'm not sure.

Vibeyy but not my stylee

There were a few good moments (16 Shells From A 30.6, Gin Soaked Boy, Down Down Down) but there were some pretty strange stuff also (Trouble's Braids, Frank's Wild Years, Just Another Sucker) Not completely off-putting but not something I'm likely to return to.

Nope. 1

Glorious vocals, intense lyrics and beautiful tones grace this immortal album

Weird af, but never boring

I would be okay if there weren't anymore Tom Waits albums on this list

If albums were food, this would be a cookbook printed in latin with every recipe torn out, that still manages to cook The deep lyrics of Underground rock, song goes galactic Tom waits voice is so marvellous that he makes yapping songs sound good Out of the "albums that sound goofy but probably have some artistry going on" this is the most interesting to listen to I'd give it a 3 on the basis that he's cooking (silently) ehat jake said

'Underground' went ballistic but it did go significantly downhill (or underground, one might say) from there. There's elements that I like on the entire album. The minimalistic and experimental sound is good, and Waits' voice is amazing. From a very brief search this is his most "different" album and there is a lot more of him on the tracker so I'm interested to see if I will like him. Overall, this was alright but doesn't amount to much for me. Probably a 2.5.

That's the song from robots (2005)

NON CRISSE PAS ENCORE L’IVROGNE! Deux jours d’affilées, le générateur veut vraiment me tuer! J’aurais dût donner deux étoiles à son album d’hier, je vais donc me rattraper aujourd’hui.

Yeah… Well, there’s 41 minutes of my life I will never get back. Not sure who the audience for this guy would be. I’ve certainly heard of Tom Waits, but never actually heard him before. Not sure I need to hear him again.

If you can get past his voice it’s a great album.

Wouldn’t know what the second half of that album sounds like, didn’t get that far.

Not the worst weird album I've heard

I'm sick of these shit "Artistic" albums, mate stop whingeing and play some normal music not this circus jingle dogshit played in-between this bloke banging on.

If booze and cigarettes made music. The one song from robots was funny to hear but I wouldnt go out of my way for it

I feel like given enough time this might be a 5 from me, having this on vinyl would be good. Feel like listening to this in a certain atmosphere off a record would be really cool, the range of this album would a rollercoaster if you smoked a doobie before listening

The Robots feature!! More of what I loved from the first Tom Waits album, though I didn't feel the sparser ones so much. Probably just take longer to digest. I think I'm just incapable of not being drawn into his music, and my favourite might actually be the last track. Unexpectedly beautiful after everything that came before

I love Tom Waits and Swordfishtrombones is the album that broke the jazz lounge-y sound he had before and turned it on its head. As always his lyrics are great and the sounds he begins to create on this album are unique. I think I might like Rain Dogs a little bit more - but really this album can do no wrong. . . . never could stand that dog

One I don’t play very often…

Different but interesting! Loved a few of the songs especially Shore Leave! Had to listen to it several times.

I don’t trust Tom Waits fans.

Well, Tom Waits will always be Tom Waits. Some tracks (eg. Dave the Butcher) are just unlistenably bad, and others (eg. In The Neighborhood) are somehow so bad that they're great, and yet others (eg. Frank's Wild Years, Rainbirds) are just genuinely great works of audio. Then you have the masterpiece's of atmosphere (eg. Swordfishtrombone). It was hit or miss, but mostly hit. Four stars.

Not at all what I expected, but after the initial shock, I liked pieces of it and feel like a second listen is warranted. If I want to listen to it a second time, I usually give it at least 3 stars…but I don’t really love it. So 3 stars it is.

Back to back Tom Waits. Yesterday was Rain Dogs, today it's SwordfishTrombones. Luckily I like Tom, although this isn't my favourite album of his.

Not really my thing. Couple tracks i liked.

The lyrics and instrumentation pair well to evoke images of the characters and stories all over the album, often seedy and sombre. I just tend to feel that there's a ton of nothing tracks that do none of that evoking all over the album as well.

my spotify algorithm turned into shit after this

What a joke of an album

When it comes down to it, you have to admire Waits for his sheer bravado, even if you don't like his gravelly voice. He's willing to take bold risks. Too many artists on this list play it safe and end up peddling the same old bubblegum schlock. I wish they were more like him.

2.5 Slower the song the better. The less a song sounds like a carnival falling down a mountainside the better.

A very strange album, filled with folksy musings on the narrator's observations of the world around him. The lyrics offer dated descriptions of ethnic groups, delivered in Waits's signature voice that sounds like Bruce Springsteen raked over a cheese grater. Sometimes you can't even tell what note he's singing as he sounds more and more like Cookie Monster. Waits's music is truly eccentric, and I'm glad I listened to this album, though I may never listen again, save for the opener.

Textures and stories. Evocative. Solid.

Deranged carnival barker offering visions of sideshows I could have read about in a Ray Bradbury anthology. A vision of a reality a little too real and off-kilter to exist in this world.

Beck looks in the mirror and sees Tom Waits, but Tom Waits looks at Beck and sees a Michael Cera character.

I actually like Tom Waits quite a bit, but this is not my favorite. It’s all over the place, but has a few winners like Johnsburg, Illinois

Belter album. Can't wait to listen to it with the kids..... Best song for me is Frank's wild years. Blazing imagery.

Good music & lyrics but that voice? When it was mellowed it was great, rest of the time like running your ears down a cheese grater.

I already had one of the tracks (In the Neighbourhood) and the other tracks sort of slid down pleasantly. I like this sort of plinky-plonk swampy

I love weird, drunk sounding Tom Waits. I had to pause for something after the first song, and without listening closely, I wondered if I'd just listened to a drunk Tigger from Winnie-the-Pooh. I decided to listen to every song as if it was an alternate version of Winnie-the-Pooh characters, and it was a good listen.

Overall decent album, good instruments but don't like the songs that are mostly spoken. Added 10/15 songs. 3.5 stars

Highlights: 16 Shells From a 30.6 Frank's Wild Years Swordfishtrombone There is a lot to say about Tom Waits, he is one of the most unique voices in the popular music consciousness. This album has a lot of the DNA that makes up on of my favorite albums of all time, Real Gone. However Swordfishtrombones is lacking some of the energy that really makes that album so fantastic. I do enjoy the atmosphere of this album and the story telling and lyricism of Tom Waits in general. Definitely worth a listen, this album may not be fore everyone but those who can appreciate will not want to miss out

I'm a fan of music that's "weird" or "different" so long as it can still be seen as music and doesn't lean TOO far into weird and different. As soon as I heard the vocals I knew people would either love them or hate them. They are very strange. But I really enjoyed them a lot! It definitely fits with the music. 'Underground' is a thudding plodding opener. Really sets the tone for the rest of the album. The next track 'Shore Leave' he is whispering menacingly. '16 Shells From a 30.6' had me tapping my foot, really grooves along nicely. 'In The Neighborhood' is, dare I say it, quite a lovely song. 'Down, Down, Down' is very rock 'n' roll. The music evokes images of a video game about cavemen but they're travelling aimlessly around an abandoned fairground. That is the only way I can describe it. It's bizarre and slightly over the top at times, but never takes itself too seriously. If it was described to me, it's not something I would have thought I'd have liked, but I'm glad it came up on this list! I wouldn't go as far to say that it's genius (or maybe I just don't get it) but I do know I really enjoyed listening to this a lot!

Was this meant to be the soundtrack of a musical? I didn't quite understand it. It was all around pretty goofy, but not in the best way.

1. underground - 0 2. zhore - 1 3. ilinoiz - 0 4. zhellz - 1 5. touun - 1 6. neighborhood - 1 7. zucker - 1.5 8. uuild - 1 9. zuuord - 1 10. douun - 1 11. zoldierz - 1 12. gin - 1.5 13. rain birdz - 1.5

I know my music but I also know there are some absolute legends I'm not half as familiar with as I should be. Tom Waits is pretty near the top of that list. Why should he be only known thanks to a Rod Stewart cover? My point exactly. So I'm aware of this album but not overly familiar with it. More shanty than blues but rhythmic to the core. Fabulous percussion and more blues than the ramshackle jazz he is known for. But the range of instruments used is impressive. Not only the percussion but it sounds like he a colliery brass band in there too. Very good.

Hated this. His voice, the music, the lyrics, the whole enchilada

Low key slaps

Wild. Over the top, occasionally brilliant, sometimes dated, but very fun.

To me this album sounded so bad. How can you put this out saying oh yeah this will be decent.

Not for me

Tom Waits but it doesn't sound like he waits for anything - he just very aggressively started the album with a bunch of stomping and shouting. Overall, I guess the album wasn't terrible, although there were songs that definitely were. I was very confused as to what kind of an album this is and on top of everything, two songs were unavailable on Spotify so I had to go and listen to them on Youtube - I would not recommend bothering. This could have definitely been a 1-star album but there were a couple of songs that could be deemed decent, I guess.

I like this but didn't Dr John did this way before him?

This is a Waits record I like which is to say I really enjoy a good half of it. It’s all pretty genius but much of it not necessarily something one listens to more than once. The guy is a brilliant song writer.

There's so much Tom Waits on this list. about the same as all the others.

Like all Waits, it's not something I'll usually choose to listen to, but usally am glad I did. It's not all good, and can get annoying, but I still like it some.

1.75

Ridiculous Halloween circus music

For the love of everything in this world, please stop trying to make me listen to Tom Waits This sounds like the soundtrack to a really boring musical

Tom Waits carrying on about something or other

Surprisingly listenable from the old groaner - and the third album of his on here which feels at least two too many. But I'm never going to go back to it, perhaps only the beautiful last trick on which Tom does not appear. Also he does a kind of Tom Waits version of rap skits here.

Ennél szerintem pont jobb albumai vannak. :D

ha nem lenne ennél sokkalsokkal csodálatosabb Tom Waits, akkor sztem tetszett volna nagyon, de mivel az, nyeh. (az In The Neighborhood azért adja, na)

I had a feeling me and Tom wouldn't get on.

I just don't get Tom Waits. Who is his music for? Why does he have multiple albums on this list? Does anyone actually think this is good? Rainbirds is the only reason this doesn't get a 1.

Listening to Tom Waits is tedious. Musically I actually like a lot of it, but I can’t take his voice.

Very very cool album. I love the variety in style throughout, using the same Instruments (including voice) in a ton of different ways to create limitless Instruments. The spoken word style stuff never misses on this for me, even though it’s not usually my style of music, I’d say generally that my favorite parts of the album are the spoken word portions. Also extra points for heavy marimba usage and industrial percussion, honestly 5/5.

I feel a love/hate relationship with Tom Waits. The instrumentals really draw me in and the entire album feels like it should be set to a movie. I just also feel like I can’t listen to his particular vocal styling unless I’m in the right mood.

This is sad mime music

I liked the music here quite a bit. However, Tom Waits’ voice is just so grating that I ended up not really caring for this. 16 shells is a pretty good song however

As most albums by Tom Waits this is simply great! It's not my favourite one but still wonderful.

As if Tom Waits isn't odd enough, this album takes a turn away from his beat poet best and delves into an eerie instrumental laced vortex that made me think of an excursion to a New Orleans voodoo shop. You know, not a bad trip, but definitely an odd one.

4.5