Swordfishtrombones – Tom Waits (Vinyl) (AE)

This is a vinyl LP pressing of Swordfishtrombones by Tom Waits.

Marking a major departure from his ’70s “bluesy, boozy” style, Waits transforms into a sonic sculptor and abstract orchestrator while retaining his signature lyricism and humanity. In a 1983 interview, he described the album as an attempt to channel the noise in my head into a junkyard orchestral deviationa mutant apparatus to turn chaos into music. The record is a rich pastiche of diverse atmospheres, from the warped, marching-army-ants rhythm of Underground, an impressionistic chant about people living beneath cities, to the poignant, spare piano ballad Soldiers Things. It also features the storytelling barroom yarn Franks Wild Years, the tender tribute to his wife Kathleen in Johnsburg, Illinois, and the ragged anthem to neighborhood life, In the Neighborhood.

Label: Island

Release Year: 2023

Track List:

1. Underground
2. Shore Leave
3. Dave the Butcher
4. Johnsburg Illinois
5. 16 Shells from a 30 6
6. Town with No Cheer
7. In the Neighbourhood
8. Just Another Sucker on the Vine
9. Frank’s Wild Years
10. Swordfishtrombone
11. Down Down Down
12. Soldier’s Things
13. Gin Soaked Boy
14. Trouble’s Braids
15. Rainbirds