Tom Waits is quite a difficult artist. In retrospect my tastes may have changed as I didn't enjoy this album as much as I remembered (house members overhearing the record likened Waits' strangled vocals to the sound of someone dying!).
Franks Wild Years (officially no apostrophe although it only makes grammatical sense to have one) followed Swordfishtrombones and Rain Dogs in what seemed a trilogy (indeed some characters reappear through the run although I'm not certain a theme or concept was intentional). Certainly in my mind the 3 albums each developed Wait's new "clanky industrial" style, each containing multiple short 2 minute sketches.
Contained within this album, the 3rd, are certainly some classics like Hang On St. Christopher, Cold Cold Ground and Telephone Call From Istanbul, although the latter in particular is much more exciting on the live follow up album Big Time which drew heavily on Franks Wild Years.
The music is typical alt-country fayre; many tracks using the formulaic 3 or 4 chord slow acoustic guitar strum opening joined by portentous drums on the 9th bar. Fisher adds further gravitas with his hefty baritone.
I'd probably be happy to leave it there, Mojave (1999) being my only WGC excursion, but I understand their best album is Regard The End (2003) and I've stumbled upon parts of Let It Roll (2006) which sound excellent. So, more to investigate.
I like what I've heard of Paolo Nutini. I'd written the name off prematurely as some teeny bopper but I then caught him on Jools Holland. He has a soulful voice (like James Morrison and Scott Matthews) with just that hint of gravel that makes it interesting.
That's all for this week folks. Full listing below:
Laura Marling Alas I Cannot Swim
Curtis Mayfield Love's Sweet Sensation
Paolo Nutini These Streets
Tom Waits Franks Wild Years
Willard Grant Conspiracy Mojave
Willard Grant Conspiracy Mojave
Terry Riley Shri Camel
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