Search - Tom Waits :: Beautiful Maladies: The Island Years

Review for you: Whether you are obsessed with, or just curio

Joseph King #9995 | Seattle, WA USA | 09/24/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."

"

Addicting

Joseph King #9995 | 02/24/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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?"

An... Interesting album... but hey! Thats what you wanted!

Joseph King #9995 | 06/06/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."