My brother and I have always had something of a strained relationship. He is four years older than me which means he was always way ahead of me in everything – when I entered high school he graduated, when I went to college he had finished his term in the Navy and was well into the work force. Beyond the age difference we've never had much in common. We're just two different people him and me. Sometimes I am amazed that two such amazingly different personalities came out of the same gene pool, yet here we are.
One thing we do share is a love of movies. Whenever we get together (which is an all too rare thing) we always find common ground in the movies that we've seen. Music is something we also share but for whatever reasons our conversations rarely turn in that direction. Sure, once in awhile we'll talk about concerts that are coming to town and we often banter about whatever happens to come on the radio. I remember one memorable moment when we both gave high praise to Queensryche after hearing “Jet City Woman.”
The last few times I have been in town my brother has brought up Tom Waits, and the conversation has always gone something like this:
My brother: “You ever heard of Tom Waits?”
Me: “Yeah, he’s a good song writer, but I just can’t get past that voice.”
Brother: “I know, it is like a sad clown gurgling rocks underwater. A friend of mine swears by him, but I just can’t take it. I’d rather listen to my ex-wife give me a detailed account of what's wrong with me.”
That's not verbatim mind you, but it is somewhere in the ball park. The conversation is weird not only because we're talking about music, and we usually don't, but that we're talking about a not that popular artist without provocation. It isn’t like Mr. Waits comes on the radio much in Oklahoma, or is played heavily on MTV to prompt our conversation. But there it is, us talking about him.
Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
fantastics stuff matt. i think you've gotta see Waits live to get it. at least, that's what happened to me.
2 - Mat Brewster
Thanks Mark. I'll definitely make a trip to see him live if he ever comes anywhere close to me.
3 - jeff
great post on waits. when will the mp3s be back on line for download?
4 - Mat Brewster
Thanks Jeff. Dang, it appears that I have already used up my bandwidth with those mp3s. Anybody know of a good free hosting site where I could re-upload the tunes and not run out of bandwidth?
5 - Mark Saleski
megaupload.com?
6 - Mat Brewster
Alright. I used Mark's suggestion (thanks Mark) so we'll see how it works. I tried it here but apparently they don't allow downloads from China, or not that many anyways. Let me know if it doesn't work.
Download here.
7 - paul
i'm getting a download exceeded message. any other ideas?? i got to get this show
8 - Mat Brewster
Did you try my link in the comments? If that doesn't work I can actually e-mail you the files. Understand they are mp3s and therefore lossy. Sorry, but I don't have the original disks with me and it will be until the summer that I can get them.
If you want them send me an e-mail at brew DOT critic AT gmail DOT com.
I'm actually about to be on vacation for a couple of weeks so it will be mid February before I'd be able to send.
9 - Benjamin Cossel
Nice article Mat! I'll admit that I'm of those Tom Waits geeks who thinks pretty much everything he does is gold. You're on the mark with the voice being the point, it's why it fluctuates so much 'tween each song - each song has a story and needs that just right narrator. As a recommendation, take a listion to some of his early stuff, Heart of Saturday Night and Diamonds on MY Windshield and you'll hear it wasn't always the stark carnie barker! AS to seeing him live, absolutely go if you can. The man doesn't tour nearly enough and it's a treat to see him when he does.
10 - Mat Brewster
Thanks. I have a couple of waits albums that I need to go back to and really give a listen, but I'll try to check out those recommendations too. And yeah, if I can, I'll be seeing him live.
11 - finnigan
To ease you into Mr Waits, try "Closing Time". That was his first released album, and he was (I think) 21 or 22 years old. His voice is a LOT younger than it became a couple of years later.