I would not go that far. I would say he is as talented as Nina Hagen. Maybe they could write music for each other in their elderly years about crutches and walk-a-bout devices with hand brakes. BTW, they are both reverend by me.
Was a new Tom Waits fan at 17 and loved his stuff. Watched this performance and was horrified. Didn’t know what to make of it. A few years later when I listened to swordfishtrombones it finally made sense. Was lucky enough to see him on the Franks Wild Years tour in Edinburgh and was blown away by that concert. Took me a bit of time to catch up but I got there in the end.
I don't know who else was going around with a marimba, a pump organ, a baritone sax, a violator like Mark Ribot on guitar and a coalmine in his throat mixing Blues and Brecht in the mid 80's....
Classic and Tom really is the best. I hope time will give him his due. I remember buying this bootleg VHS when I was managing Rasputin‘s in Berkeley California. Great to see it online.
Initially the audience seemed to have no comprehension of the unique moments they were being exposed to ... and then, kinda midway through Walking Spanish ... they seemed to get it.
My sweet Annet said: "What's this..??" 2 tracks later she was hooked for life. Even more so, tracks like Kommenicht zu spät became her favorites. Thanks Tom, you're a life saver.
I mean, no one's truly "like" Tom, but there's loads of fun stuff that's in the same ballpark or at least the same city. Captain Beefheart and Blind Willie Johnson definitely influenced Tom. I've never quite figured out where the drunk circus music influence specifically comes from - Kurt Weil, some cabaret music? Dresden Dolls did some goth cabaret. Modest Mouse strike me as an indie band that's heavily influenced by Tom. There's a strange Christian anarchist, um, folkcore (?) band named Psalters that definitely took some cues from him. Man Man made some similar music without the Christian anarchism and a little more indie rock. Neutral Milk Hotel have some simlarly-eclectic instrumentation and a rough aesthetic, more of a frantically depressed feel though. There's loads of folkpunk that runs in a similar vein. I enjoy Andrew Jackson Jihad's acoustic stuff a lot. Days 'N Daze have some Tom-like vocals. Marc Ribot and John Zorn have done some demented jazz that probably fed into some of the wilder stuff Tom does. (That's Marc on guitar in this video). Zorn kinda makes Tom sound like accessible pop normcore, though, be warned.
That’s two 8 round en bloc clips. Just pull your thumb up and outta the way, or you’ll get a case of the ol’ Garand Thumb😉 That’s a guy who has enough style for the rest of the people in the venue. 😎
