Customer Reviews

Beautiful Maladies: The Island Years

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you're already a Tom Waits fan, a true believer (like I am), then you know all of the albums anthologized on this disc, and own half or more of them. The question is: Is it worth buying a CD that duplicates songs you have, for the ones you don't have? As other reviewers confirm, this is a fine collection of the '83-'93 arc of music anchored by his popular 1985 Rain Dogs album (the music on the Down by Law soundtrack). To add to the Amazon listing, here are the songs on this CD broken down by the albums that this collection is drawn from -- to help you make the purchase tradeoff decision:

* Swordfishtrombones (1983)
Underground
Shore Leave
Johnsburg, Illinois
16 Shells From A Thirty-Ought Six
Frank's Wild Years

* Rain Dogs (1985)
Singapore
Clap Hands
Jockey Full Of Bourbon
Time
Downtown Train

* Frank's Wild Years (1987)
Hang On St. Christopher
Straight To The Top
Temptation
Way Down In The Hole
Innocent When You Dream

* Big Time (1988)
Cold, Cold Ground (Live)
Strange Weather (Live)

* Bone Machine (1992)
Earth Died Screaming
Jesus Gonna Be Here
I Don't Wanna Grow Up

* Night On Earth (1992)
Good Old World (Waltz)

* The Black Rider (1993)
The Black Rider
November

If you're not already a Tom Waits believer, but rather are shopping for a taste, this is the perfect mid-career starter set for an artist with a huge, long, and still-ongoing musical dance. It has a mix of approachable and challenging tracks, and captures the essence of Tom Waits at his best, summed up in the editorial review: "you know, the usual: love, death, failure, abject despair, existentialism--with a display of filthy irreverence and furious intellect."

Having listened to Tom Waits work over the years from the beginning up and having some favorites not found here, I nevertheless found this CD addicting... a wonderful, mesmerizing mix of astounding music that is just enough for times when for one reason or another, I can't handle some of my other favorite CDs by him. If you can't buy them all, or if you can and have many, this is still an excellent pick. It's Waits. How could it not be?

If you are a long time Waits fan, then you should have heard all of these songs, but it is nice to have them all in one neat little package. They are just as wierd, disturbing, and... wierd. Waits is uniqe with his talent and style of expressing himself. If you have not heard him, then you should, and if you do not like his "music", you have not given it half a chance.

Despite a voice that sounds like a chainsaw through concrete, Tom Waits (like Dylan before him) is the best interpreter of Tom Waits. This collection comprises his Island years, the most fertile and iconoclastic of his career so far. Some might argue to just use Swordfishtrombones or Mule Variations as a starter, but this compilation gives a wider view of an already versatile artist. Whether bopping along to "Hang On St. Christopher" or tuning in to the chilling wastescapes of "November," this CD is a manic-depressive's joyride through the mind of a twisted genius. And then, when you get to a song like "Downtown Train" which is perfectly suited to the pop market, your mind really blows open.

A dark dirty hungry decadent and ultimately beautiful look at the hard side of life. Whether you have nothing of his or all his CDs, you need to get this one too. He's a madman and as such can see through to the other side. Exquisite music.

Tom Waits is one odd and strange fellow. This compilation takes tracks from the time that he recorded for island records. Waits has created some really strange and avantgarde music. It is not really blues, or rock and I to be honest I can not put my finger on it. Yet, it works and he is a quite accomplished lyricist and writes very escoteric yet functional lyrics. The cover for this compilation is very well done and the photo is very nice and the book-let is well done with easy to read font. His vocals are very unusual but for this kind of music (call it what you want), it works and Tom Waits is truly an eccentric genius that creates great music and writes some odd but effective lyrics.

I'm more of a music guy than a lyrics guy, but this album delivers both masterfully. The music is strange and intriguing, and the lyrics.. well, the only other person on Earth who could write better lyrics is the Master himself, Bob Dylan. Buy this CD and treasure it and then buy more Tom Waits - I suggest 'Mule Variations'.

With songs like down town train, I don't want to grow up, underground and clap hands ya can't go wrong. If you have all the other Wait's stuff get this too it'll make for a good mixed tape.

...so it might as well be "Beautiful Maladies."

Tom Waits is, quite simply, and without any doubt in my mind, the greatest musical genius since John Lennon. That is saying quite a lot, and I also haven't heard every musician the world has to produce, so maybe I'm being presumptuous. BUT, if you've heard bits of his music and you like it, and you need somewhere to start, this collection is perfect. Eventually you'll need to move on to SwordfishTrombones, and then I'd recomend Rain Dogs, which is "uneven", but a great collection of songs. From there, go back to his pre-Island, pre-Kathleen Brennan (his wife and contributer) days, which I never thought were as good, but still...and get Small Change.

Now, about the songs. Certain songs are a necessity, and on here for obvious reasons. Hang On St. Christopher, Jockey Full of Bourbon, Johnsburg ILL, 16 Shells From a Thirty Ought Six, and Downtown Train are the closest to being his "greatest hits" (if he were to ever chart his music based on whats a "hit"), or at least fan favorites. The REAL classics are: Underground, Cold Cold Ground (my favorite Tom song, beautifully done LIVE), I Don't Wanna Grow Up, Time, and Singapore. What's left off the list? Necessary classics including, but not limited to: Cemetary Polka, Telephone Call From Istanbul, Rain Dogs, Tango Till They're Sore, and SwordfishTrombone, just to name a few.

Oh well, nothing in life is perfect. I'm sure Tom and the producers themselves had plenty they wish could have been added on here. The truth is, the only real way to get a "Best Of..." for Tom is for there to be a Box Set, which would be the only way to fit all his classics into one collection. But, for starters, this is good.

The 23-tracks spanning Waits' 1983-1993 recordings are excellent and obviously chosen with care. Beautiful Maladies is a wonderful primer for his work. However, long time fans will probably be disappointed. With 5 years since the last release and Tom Waits leaving Island, I was expecting this collection to be a bit more special. The included CD booklet only contains lyrics; no pictures, biography or other interesting notes that you might expect. There are also no special tracks. This is a flat-out compilation of existing in-print material, without even a hint of sonic improvement.