Alice - Album
Alice (Album) by Tom Waits
Tom Waits>
Artist Biography For Tom Waits
Tom Waits Born Thomas Alan Waits In Pomona California On December 7 1949 Is A Prolific American Singer Songwriter Composer And Actor. He Started His Career In The Early 1970s As A Singer In Spit 'n' Sawdust Bars. Initially He Was Deeply Influenced By The Beat Generation Novelists Like Jack Kerouac And William S. Burroughs And Poets Like Allen Ginsberg And Charles Bukowski. Waits Is Often Compared To Charles Bukowski Being Similar Both In Content And Lifestyle Waits Was Unable To Make A Living From His Music In The 70s Because His Classical Bar Music Based In Pre-Rock And Americana Blues And Vaudeville Styles Were Not Popular. Waits's Voice Back Then Was Soft Warm And Clear. Waits Subsequently Developed A Devoted Cult Following And Has Influenced Subsequent Songwriters Despite Having Little Radio Or Music Video Support. In Fact His Songs Are Perhaps Best Known To The General Public In The Form Of Cover Versions Of More Visible Artists Such As The Eagles Bruce Springsteen And Rod Stewart. Although Waits’s Albums Have Met With Mixed Commercial Success In His Native United States They Have Occasionally Achieved Gold Album Sales Status In Other Countries. Lyrically Waits's Songs Are Known For Atmospheric Portrayals Of Seedy Characters And Places He Sings About The Losers On The Streets Alcoholics Junkies Prostitutes And Social Outcasts Although He Also Includes More Conventional And Touching Ballads In His Repertoire. While Opening For Frank Zappa The Audience Catcalled And Refused To Listen To Him He Was An Unsuitable Match With Zappa's Avantgarde Style. Countless Cigarettes Gallons Of Alcohol And Many All Night Parties Eventually Left Their Trace In His Face And Voice. His More Recent Gravelly Voice Can Be First Heard On Small Change. This Distinctive Voice Turned Out To Be His Trademark. It Is Described By The Music Hound Rock Album Guide As Sounding "like It Was Soaked In A Vat Of Bourbon Left Hanging In The Smokehouse For A Few Months And Then Taken Outside And Run Over With A Car". Small Change With Its Sentimental Ballads Its Bar-Jazz Attitude And Film Noir-Oriented Stories Turned Out To Be His Biggest Commercial Success In The 1970s. Waits Subsequently Developed A More Unique Style. His Songs Have Grown More Abrasive Since Then And The Arrangements Have Turned More Surreal And Experimental With Every New Record. His Life Brings Him To New Visions As Indicated By The Direction Taken In His "Alice" Release. While Composing The Soundtrack For Francis Ford Coppola's One From The Heart Waits Met Kathleen Brennan His Bride-To-Be. They Married In 1980 And She Helped Him Quit Drinking And Smoking. Since Their Marriage They Have Been Working Together On His Albums As Co-Producers And Co-Writers. It Is Hard To Say Which Part Belongs To Her And Which To Him But It's Easy To See That They Make A Perfect Team. Additionally His Eldest Son Casey Can Be Heard On Turntables And Percussion On Waits's Album "Real Gone". One Of Waits's Greatest Successes Was The Album "Swordfishtrombones" Released In 1983. It Struck With His Critics And Fans Alike. He Achieved A New Level Of Song Writing And Left Former Conventions And His Earlier Career Behind. All Songs Whether Ballads Jive Or Jazz Are Played In A Completely Different Way. It Seems That Waits Had Taken The Musical Archetypes Of These Styles And Made Them His Own. All Tracks Are In The Quintessential Waits Style. They Have A Striking Rawness And Listenability And They Set The Stage For His Success And His Future Career. The Bad As Me Songfacts Reports That 36 Years After The Release Of Waits' First Album Closing Time In 1973 Bad As Me Became Waits's First Ever Top 10 Album In The US When It Debuted At #6 With 63 000 Sales. In The Late 1980s Waits Discovered An Outlet For His Creativity In Composing Musicals. His First Musical Was Named "The Black Rider" And Is Based On "Der Freischütz" By Carl Maria Von Weber. It Was Co-Produced By Robert Wilson And The Lyrics Come From William S. Burroughs. The Story Is Slightly Reminiscent Of Kurt Weil's And Berthold Brecht's "Three Penny Opera" And The 1930s. The Debut Performance Of The Play Was In 1990 At The Thalia Theater Hamburg And Has Been Played By Various Theatre Groups Since Then. Waits Was Also Responsible For Two Other Musicals Which Later Became Albums Released Simultaneously In 2002. One Was The Musical "Blood Money " Which Covers The "Woyczek" Theme Of Georg Büchner. This One Is One Of The Darkest Works From Waits. The Other Musical Is Based On Lewis Carroll's Classic Children's Novel "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland". "Alice" Is Very Romantic Dreamy And Soft And Contains One Of Waits Most Romantic Songs. Even Though They Were Released At The Same Time The Bootlegs Of The "Alice" Musical Were Long Before Traded Between Fans And Were Just Rearranged And Re-Mastered For The Official Release. Besides Many Film Contributions As Composer – The Internet Movie Database Imdb.Com Lists 47 Appearances Of Waits As Composer And 38 Soundtracks Containing Songs By Waits - He Also Is An Actor With A Total Of 25 Appearances Ranging From Some Mini-Roles As A Trumpeter In "Heart Of Saturday Night" And The R. M. Renfield In "Bram Stoker's Dracula" To The Major Role Of Zack In Jim Jarmusch's "Down By Law". He Recently Appeared In Roberto Benigni's "The Tiger And The Snow" Playing You Can Never Hold Back Spring At Benigni's Wedding Dream. Even More Recently Waits Played Mr.Nick The Devil In Terry Gilliam's "The Imaginarium Of Dr. Parnassus". In Addition To A Number Of Concert Videos He Also Appeared In The Critically-Acclaimed Concert Feature Film "Big Time" 1990 . Waits Has Always Refused To Allow The Use Of His Songs In Commercials. He Has Filed Several Lawsuits Against Advertisers For Using His Material Without Permission. Waits Also Successfully Sued An Advertiser For Using A Work That Was Stylistically Similar To His Work After He Had Declined To Sell Them The Rights To His Song. He Has Been Quoted As Saying "Apparently The Highest Compliment Our Culture Grants Artists Nowadays Is To Be In An Ad — Ideally Naked And Purring On The Hood Of A New Car. I Have Adamantly And Repeatedly Refused This Dubious Honor."
POPULAR
TRACKS
MIXES
ALBUMS
Video 1 : 50
Music Tags for Tom Waits:
Biography - Tom Waits
Tom Waits Born Thomas Alan Waits In Pomona California On December 7 1949 Is A Prolific American Singer Songwriter Composer And Actor. He Started His Career In The Early 1970s As A Singer In Spit 'n' Sawdust Bars. Initially He Was Deeply Influenced By The Beat Generation Novelists Like Jack Kerouac And William S. Burroughs And Poets Like Allen Ginsberg And Charles Bukowski. Waits Is Often Compared To Charles Bukowski Being Similar Both In Content And Lifestyle Waits Was Unable To Make A Living From His Music In The 70s Because His Classical Bar Music Based In Pre-Rock And Americana Blues And Vaudeville Styles Were Not Popular. Waits's Voice Back Then Was Soft Warm And Clear. Waits Subsequently Developed A Devoted Cult Following And Has Influenced Subsequent Songwriters Despite Having Little Radio Or Music Video Support. In Fact His Songs Are Perhaps Best Known To The General Public In The Form Of Cover Versions Of More Visible Artists Such As The Eagles Bruce Springsteen And Rod Stewart. Although Waits’s Albums Have Met With Mixed Commercial Success In His Native United States They Have Occasionally Achieved Gold Album Sales Status In Other Countries. Lyrically Waits's Songs Are Known For Atmospheric Portrayals Of Seedy Characters And Places He Sings About The Losers On The Streets Alcoholics Junkies Prostitutes And Social Outcasts Although He Also Includes More Conventional And Touching Ballads In His Repertoire. While Opening For Frank Zappa The Audience Catcalled And Refused To Listen To Him He Was An Unsuitable Match With Zappa's Avantgarde Style. Countless Cigarettes Gallons Of Alcohol And Many All Night Parties Eventually Left Their Trace In His Face And Voice. His More Recent Gravelly Voice Can Be First Heard On Small Change. This Distinctive Voice Turned Out To Be His Trademark. It Is Described By The Music Hound Rock Album Guide As Sounding "like It Was Soaked In A Vat Of Bourbon Left Hanging In The Smokehouse For A Few Months And Then Taken Outside And Run Over With A Car". Small Change With Its Sentimental Ballads Its Bar-Jazz Attitude And Film Noir-Oriented Stories Turned Out To Be His Biggest Commercial Success In The 1970s. Waits Subsequently Developed A More Unique Style. His Songs Have Grown More Abrasive Since Then And The Arrangements Have Turned More Surreal And Experimental With Every New Record. His Life Brings Him To New Visions As Indicated By The Direction Taken In His "Alice" Release. While Composing The Soundtrack For Francis Ford Coppola's One From The Heart Waits Met Kathleen Brennan His Bride-To-Be. They Married In 1980 And She Helped Him Quit Drinking And Smoking. Since Their Marriage They Have Been Working Together On His Albums As Co-Producers And Co-Writers. It Is Hard To Say Which Part Belongs To Her And Which To Him But It's Easy To See That They Make A Perfect Team. Additionally His Eldest Son Casey Can Be Heard On Turntables And Percussion On Waits's Album "Real Gone". One Of Waits's Greatest Successes Was The Album "Swordfishtrombones" Released In 1983. It Struck With His Critics And Fans Alike. He Achieved A New Level Of Song Writing And Left Former Conventions And His Earlier Career Behind. All Songs Whether Ballads Jive Or Jazz Are Played In A Completely Different Way. It Seems That Waits Had Taken The Musical Archetypes Of These Styles And Made Them His Own. All Tracks Are In The Quintessential Waits Style. They Have A Striking Rawness And Listenability And They Set The Stage For His Success And His Future Career. The Bad As Me Songfacts Reports That 36 Years After The Release Of Waits' First Album Closing Time In 1973 Bad As Me Became Waits's First Ever Top 10 Album In The US When It Debuted At #6 With 63 000 Sales. In The Late 1980s Waits Discovered An Outlet For His Creativity In Composing Musicals. His First Musical Was Named "The Black Rider" And Is Based On "Der Freischütz" By Carl Maria Von Weber. It Was Co-Produced By Robert Wilson And The Lyrics Come From William S. Burroughs. The Story Is Slightly Reminiscent Of Kurt Weil's And Berthold Brecht's "Three Penny Opera" And The 1930s. The Debut Performance Of The Play Was In 1990 At The Thalia Theater Hamburg And Has Been Played By Various Theatre Groups Since Then. Waits Was Also Responsible For Two Other Musicals Which Later Became Albums Released Simultaneously In 2002. One Was The Musical "Blood Money " Which Covers The "Woyczek" Theme Of Georg Büchner. This One Is One Of The Darkest Works From Waits. The Other Musical Is Based On Lewis Carroll's Classic Children's Novel "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland". "Alice" Is Very Romantic Dreamy And Soft And Contains One Of Waits Most Romantic Songs. Even Though They Were Released At The Same Time The Bootlegs Of The "Alice" Musical Were Long Before Traded Between Fans And Were Just Rearranged And Re-Mastered For The Official Release. Besides Many Film Contributions As Composer – The Internet Movie Database Imdb.Com Lists 47 Appearances Of Waits As Composer And 38 Soundtracks Containing Songs By Waits - He Also Is An Actor With A Total Of 25 Appearances Ranging From Some Mini-Roles As A Trumpeter In "Heart Of Saturday Night" And The R. M. Renfield In "Bram Stoker's Dracula" To The Major Role Of Zack In Jim Jarmusch's "Down By Law". He Recently Appeared In Roberto Benigni's "The Tiger And The Snow" Playing You Can Never Hold Back Spring At Benigni's Wedding Dream. Even More Recently Waits Played Mr.Nick The Devil In Terry Gilliam's "The Imaginarium Of Dr. Parnassus". In Addition To A Number Of Concert Videos He Also Appeared In The Critically-Acclaimed Concert Feature Film "Big Time" 1990 . Waits Has Always Refused To Allow The Use Of His Songs In Commercials. He Has Filed Several Lawsuits Against Advertisers For Using His Material Without Permission. Waits Also Successfully Sued An Advertiser For Using A Work That Was Stylistically Similar To His Work After He Had Declined To Sell Them The Rights To His Song. He Has Been Quoted As Saying "Apparently The Highest Compliment Our Culture Grants Artists Nowadays Is To Be In An Ad — Ideally Naked And Purring On The Hood Of A New Car. I Have Adamantly And Repeatedly Refused This Dubious Honor."
read less
read more
16 Similar Artists To Tom Waits - Frogtoon Music
.
Published: 05 May 2010, 03:23
It's Been Long Time Since Tom Waits Recorded An Album As Saturated With Tenderness As This One. The Carny-Barker Noise Merchant Who Has Immersed Himself In Brokenness And Reportage From Life's Seamy Even Hideous Underbelly For Decades Has Created Along With Songwriting And Life Partner Kathleen Brennan A Love Song Cycle So Moving And Poetic That It's Almost Unbearable To Take In One Sitting. Alice Is Alleged To Be The "great Lost Waits Masterpiece." Waits And Brennan Collaborated With Robert Wilson On A Stage Production Loosely Based On Alice Liddell The Young Girl Who Was The Obsession And Muse Of Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland Books. The Show Ran In Europe For A Time And The Production's 15 Songs Were Left Unrecorded Until Now. Alice Forgoes The Usual Nightmare Lyric Sequences Warped Circus-Like Melodies And Sonic Darknesses That Have Been Part And Parcel Of Waits' Work Since Swordfishtrombones. Instead This Song Cycle Is For The Most Part Steeped In Jazz Ballads Old Waltzes European Folk Songs Theatrical Love Paeans And Music Not So Easily Identified. The Instrumentation Is Different With The Utilization Of A Small Chamber Orchestra The Violins Are Stroh Violins Instruments Outfitted With A Metal Horn On The End For Amplification Purposes Marimbas Piano Organ Woodwinds And Reeds And The Complete Absence Of Guitars. The Set Opens With The Title Track A Smoky Jazz Ballad That May Echo Waits' Work From The 1970s But Is Actually Miles Beyond It In Scope. Here There Is No Purposely Postured Nuance Or Affectation Of Persona. The Lyric Is Plaintive And Full Of Pathos It's Almost A Suicide Note Set To The Most Romantic Melodic Invention Lounge Jazz Is Capable Of. As Waits Sings "The Only Strings That Hold Me Here/Are Tangled Up Around The Pier/And So A Secret Kiss/Brings Madness With The Bliss/And I Will Think Of This/When I'm Dead And In My Grave/Set Me Adrift/I'm Lost Over There/But I Must Be Insane/To Go On Skating On Your Name/And By Tracing It Twice I Fell Through The Ice/Of Alice/There's Only Alice " The World Turns Inside Out And The Listener Can No Longer Decide If This Is A Man Or A Ghost Reporting From Beneath The Pond's Surface. If Love Brings This If Obsession Has Such A Cost How Can They Be Steeped In Tenderness This Transparent And Plain? Elsewhere Waits Manages To Delve Into The Voice Of The Turned-Out Lover The Rejected Stone The Lost Madman As He Does On "We're All Mad Here" And "Everything You Can Think." But Even Here There Is A Reflective Dimension Nearly Childlike In Their Simple Embrace Of Loss Dispossession And Descent Into The Maelstrom Of The Human Soul. Ghosts Whisper In The Mix Spirits Float Through The Air And Demons Passionately Possess The Protagonists. In The Simpler Melting Melodies Of "Lost In The Harbour " "No One Knows I'm Gone " And The Haunting Tango At The Heart Of "Watch Her Disappear " Obsession With The Unmentionable Let Alone The Unattainable Is Offered As An Empathy For Powerlessness Buoyed Up By An Instrumental Crutch Arranged To Give A Voice To Those Who Dare Not Speak Publicly. The Melodies On Alice Are Easily The Most Direct Waits Has Written Since Blue Valentine But Are More Elegant Than Even Those Found On Foreign Affairs Or Black Rider. Alice Is No Step Back But A Further Step Toward Oblivion — The Place Where The Sound Of Desolation The Melody Of Loneliness And The Confused Darkness At The Root Of The Human Heart Come Together And Speak As One In A Nursery Rhyme For Adults.