Tom Waits
Vinyl Frontier: Retro Reviews Bob Frank & John Murray - World Without End
World Without End - Bob Frank And John Murry
Review by Elliott Childs
Tom Waits - Bad As Me
Tom Waits - Bad As Me
Waits is roaming his property, repainting the fence instead of jumping over it.
TOM WAITS
In the 1970s, Tom Waits combined a lyrical focus on desperate, lowlife characters with a persona that seemed to embody the same lifestyle, which he sang about in a raspy, gravelly voice. From the '80s on, his work became increasingly theatrical as he moved into acting and composing.
Growing up in southern California, Waits attracted the attention of manager Herb Cohen, who also handled Frank Zappa, and was signed by him at the beginning of the 1970s, resulting in the material later released as The Early Years and The Early Years Vol. 2. His formal recording debut came with Closing Time (1973) on Asylum Records, an album that contained "Ol' 55," which was covered by label mates the Eagles for their On the Border album.
Waits attracted critical acclaim and a cult audience for his subsequent albums, The Heart of Saturday Night (1974), the two-LP live set Nighthawks at the Diner (1975), Small Change (1976), Foreign Affairs (1977), Blue Valentine (1978), and Heart Attack and Vine (1980).
His music and persona proved highly cinematic, and, starting in 1978, he launched parallel careers as an actor and as a composer of movie music. He wrote songs for and appeared in Paradise Alley (1978), wrote the title song for On the Nickel (1980), and was hired by director Francis Coppola to write the music for One from the Heart (1982), which earned him an Academy Award nomination. While working on that project, Waits met and married playwright Kathleen Brennan, with whom he later collaborated.
Moving to Island Records, Waits made Swordfishtrombones (1983), which found him experimenting with horns and percussion and using unusual recording techniques. The same year, he appeared in Coppola's Rumble Fish and The Outsiders, and, in 1984, he appeared in the director's The Cotton Club.
In 1985, he released Rain Dogs. In 1986, he appeared in Down By Law and made his theatrical debut with Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre in Frank's Wild Years, a musical play he had written with Brennan. An album based on the play was released in 1987, the same year Waits appeared in the films Candy Mountain and Ironweed.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE AMAZING TOM WAITS VIDEOS
In 1988, he released a film and soundtrack album depicting one of his concerts, Big Time. In 1989, he appeared in the films Bearskin: An Urban Fairytale, Cold Feet, and Wait Until Spring. His work for the theater continued in 1990 when Waits partnered with opera director Robert Wilson and beat novelist William Burroughs and staged The Black Rider in Hamburg, Germany.
In 1991, he appeared in the films Queens' Logic, The Fisher King, and At Play in the Fields of the Lord. In 1992, he scored the film Night on Earth; released the album Bone Machine, which won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album; appeared in the film Bram Stoker's Dracula; and returned to Hamburg for the staging of his second collaboration with Robert Wilson, Alice.
The The Black Rider was documented on CD in 1993, the same year Waits appeared in the film Short Cuts. A long absence from recording resulted in the 1998 release of Beautiful Maladies, a retrospective of his work for Island. In 1999, Waits finally returned with a new album, Mule Variations. The record was a critical success, winning a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk album, and was also his first for the independent Epitaph Records' Anti subsidiary.
A small tour followed, but Waits jumped right back into the studio and began working on not one but two new albums. By the time he emerged in the spring of 2002, both Alice and Blood Money were released on Anti Records. Blood Money consisted of the songs from the third Wilson/Waits collaboration that was staged in Denmark in 2000 and won Best Drama of the year.
After limited touring in support of these two endeavours, Waits returned to the recording studio and issued Real Gone in 2004. The album marked a large departure for him, in that it contained no keyboards at all, focusing only on rhythm-stringed instruments. ~ All Music Guide
Albums:
Source: www.artistdirect.com; William Ruhlmann
This information is provided as a brief overview and not as a definitive guide, there are other sources on the net for that. If however you have a story or information that is not generally known we would love to hear from you. Content@rokpool.com
Why Not Check Out:
Bob Dylan
Cat Stevens
Elvis Costello
Frank Zappa
Lou Reed
Nick Cave
J Harvey
Tom Petty
Rokpool's Official Merchandise Store
IAN DURY
Discography:
Click an Image to Buy Album
Ian Robins Dury was somewhat of a pioneer of punk and new wave music from the 1970's onwards. His most famous bout to date is fronting the band Ian Dury & The Blockheads. Ian was born in north-west London in 1942. His early life included battling with polio, as well as teaching art in various schools across south England.
Prior to his fame with The Blockheads, Dury formed a band in 1970 under the name Kilburn & The High Roads. Despite signing to Dawn Records and opening for The Who on tour, the band eventually split in 1975 due to lack of success.
Ian Dury & The Blockheads were managed by original members of Pink Floyd, and rocketed to success with many chart topping singles including 'Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick', 'What A Waste' & 'Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll'. Dury was particularly acclaimed for his ability with play on words and witty lyricism, lead singer of Madness 'Suggs' went on to describe him as "possibly the finest lyricist we've seen" when speaking at Dury's funeral, in 2000. The band sporadically gigged and changed line up right up until just six weeks before Dury's death, where performed with Dury for the last time at the London Palladium in March 2000.
Dury also dabbled in acting, as his confidence and quirk gave him the ability to wow directors and producers alike. He appeared in BBC drama series', as well as making cameo appearances in films alongside stars like Sylvester Stallone as well as fellow lyricists Tom Waits and Bob Dylan. He also did his part with charities, becoming an ambassador for UNICEF, visiting Sri Lanka to promote polio vaccination after his childhood battle with the disease.
The memory of Ian Dury is still strong, a musical on his life having been shown, a biopic of his life in production, as well as The Blockheads still making music in his honour.
Source: Matt Fearon
This information is provided as a brief overview and not as a definitive guide, there are other sources on the net for that. If however you have a story or information that is not generally known we would love to hear from you. Content@rokpool.com
Why Not Check Out:
A True Cockney Legend Ian Dury
Rokpool's Official Merchandise Store
