Tom Waits - Frank's Wild Years
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Free Music Notes for Frank's Wild Years
Free Music Review: Whatever gets you through the night
Hit: 5 Stars
This album is moving on so many different levels; it's impossible to overstate the impact it had on me when hangovers didn't really hurt, but were a continuation of the party. The party is over now, but this album always puts me back on that plane, though now it is usually over a pot of coffee. Try going for a late night drive after the bars close, and you've had a good breakfast, with this tape playing in the darkest hours of the morning. It is genuinely creepy. Hang on St. Christopher is the perfect start for your drive, and it gets progressively more scary. Lyrically, this album is as brilliant as anything released since Blonde on Blonde. Few artists have ever created music which enhanced the lyrics as well as this. The music is rich in texture and often disturbing. It has been fascinating tracing Tom Waits' evolution has an artist, and I believe this was the pinnacle of his career. That is, until I play something from one of the other stages of his career (i.e. Nighthawks at the Diner) and find myself saying, this is the greatest thing he's ever done. I would recommend this record to anybody in need of a soul stirring.Free Music Review: One of my favorite albums ever
Hit: 5 Stars
I love this album. Tom Waits is a genius in my book. And this is one of my favorites of his. Every song shines with beauty, sadness, and the very essence of life. Each song is different yet they flow together and form a story for all time.
The story is about a man named Frank, and it's a rags to riches kind of story. It starts out this kid named Frank wants to go "Straight up to the Top" and he is very earnest and innocent, because you are "innocent when you dream," and he goes on to face some of life's sadness in songs like "cold cold ground." That is what I love about Tom Waits; that he can paint a story like this through music.
And what music it is! Each song has its own distinct personalty. From a calypso vibe in "Temptation" to a rooster crowing in " I'll be Gone," to even more experimental tracks. Other highlights include "Yesterday is Here," "Train Song," and gosh darnit, every song! So, really, if you are looking for quality music that makes you think and feel, this is it. And if you like this album, Tom Waits has many more that are just as good, and original. A fascinating musical voyage.
Free Music Review: One of Tom Waits' Best
Hit: 5 Stars
Out of all Tom Waits' albums, Franks Wild Years is one of the most original and ingenious. Every song stands on its own as a great work and together they show the terrible and hilarious downfall of a man named Frank. You get this feeling when playing "Frank's" that you are listening to a musical collaberation between Tom Waits, Hunter S. Thompson, and a random, saxophone-playing hobo that Tom pulled off the Las Vegas Strip in a drumken stooper. Inspired by a play by the same title (in which no one I have spoken to has seen or heard of), this album shows Tom's full musical and lyrical talents thrown into hi-gear. (NOTE: Buyers beware, when listening to some of the sounds on this album, please refrain from driving an automobile or operating heavy machinery. Exessive use of this album may result in drinking problems) A true gem for any family of Tom Waits Fans.Set it on a player so that it can be wheeled right up to the dinner table. Suzie and Jonnie with love it every evening with the meal! Just don't forget to invite FRANK! He does love those cocktail wiennies!
Free Music Review: Ecclectic doesn't even begin to describe it
Hit: 5 Stars
FRANK'S WILD YEARS (title taken from a SWORDFISHTROMBONES tune) is a record of sound. No kiddin' Sherlock, you say; it's a music record. Please note, I didn't say it was a record of "music." I mean, yes, this is a musical record--but the emphasis, as with it's two predecessors SWORDFISHTROMBONES and RAIN DOGS, it upon sonic diversity.
I guess WILD YEARS is a polka record. It does tell the story of a young accordian player from the butt-end of nowhere ("Rainville. Hardly ever did, though. Rain, that is. It was nowhere.") bent on making the big time ("I'm goin' straight up to the top, oh yeah, up where the air is fresh and clean"). He hits a lot of potholes along the way ("It's more than rain that falls on our parade tonight"), eventually crashing and burning ("It was a train that took me away from here/But a train can't bring me home"). And we are just listeners along for the ride, reveling in Waits's ever-expanding experimentation with what all he can do with a few instruments, some lyrics, and his haunting, gravelly voice.
Free Music Review: This album is insane
Hit: 5 Stars
Possibly Waits' most unusual work. It is a very strange mix of polka, rhumba, jazz, folk, blues, rockabilly, lounge, etc. It's pretty much impossible to describe this album in words, it needs to be listened to to be understood (if understood at all). It is highly experimental. His orchestration is fiercely imagined and masterfully presented. It is one of those albums so rich, vivid, bizarre, and beautiful that you realize you were just in the hands of a genius when it finishes playing. In my opinion it is probably the quintessential Waits album, because it shows so much of his range, perfectly capturing the humor, tragedy, poetry, and charm of his music.
Temptation is one of his all-time greats in my book.
It should also be noted that I believe this to be, next to Alice, his darkest album. There's a very creepy and brooding tone throughout. I think anyone interested in waits' catalogue ought to make this one of their first purchases.