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In
the 1970s, Tom Waits combined a lyrical focus on desperate, lowlife
characters with a persona that seemed to embody the same lifestyle,
which he sang about in a raspy, gravelly voice. From the '80s on,
his work became increasingly theatrical as he moved into acting and
composing. Growing up in Southern California, Waits attracted the
attention of manager Herb Cohen, who also handled Frank Zappa, and
was signed by him at the beginning of the 1970s, resulting in the
material later released as The Early Years and The Early Years, Vol.
2. His formal recording debut came with Closing Time (1973) on
Asylum Records, an album that contained "Ol' 55," which was covered
by labelmates the Eagles on their On the Border album. Waits
attracted critical acclaim and a cult audience for his subsequent
albums, The Heart of Saturday Night (1974), the two-LP live set
Nighthawks at the Diner (1975), Small Change (1976), Foreign Affairs
(1977), Blue Valentine (1978), and Heart Attack and Vine (1980). His
music and persona proved highly cinematic, and starting in 1978 he
launched parallel careers as an actor and as a composer of movie
music. He wrote songs for and appeared in Paradise Alley (1978),
wrote the title song for On the Nickel (1980), and was hired by
director Francis Coppola to write the music for One from the Heart
(1982), which earned him an Academy Award nomination. While working
on that project, Waits met and married playwright Kathleen Brennan,
with whom he later collaborated. Moving to Island Records, Waits
made Swordfishtrombones (1983), which found him experimenting with
horns and percussion and using unusual recording techniques. The
same year, he appeared in in Coppola's Rumble Fish and The
Outsiders, and in 1984, he appeared in the director's The Cotton
Club. In 1985, he released Rain Dogs. In 1986, he appeared in Down
by Law and made his theatrical debut with Chicago's Steppenwolf
Theatre in Frank's Wild Years, a musical play he had written with
Brennan. An album based on the play was released in 1987, the same
year Waits appeared in the films Candy Mountain and Ironweed. In
1988, he released a film and soundtrack album depicting one of his
concerts, Big Time. In 1989, he appeared in the films Bearskin: An
Urban Fairytale, Cold Feet, and Wait Until Spring. In 1991, he
appeared in the films Queens' Logic, The Fisher King, and At Play in
the Fields of the Lord. In 1992, he scored the film Night on Earth,
released the album Bone Machine, which won a Grammy Award for Best
Alternative Music Album, and appeared in the films Deadfall and Bram
Stoker's Dracula. In 1993, he released The Black Rider, the
recording of a musical he had co-written with Beat novelist William
Burroughs for opera director Robert Wilson in 1990, and appeared in
the film Short Cuts. A long absence from recording resulted in the
1998 release of Beautiful Maladies, a retrospective of his work for
Island. In 1999, Waits finally returned with a new album, Mule
Variations. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
William
Ruhlmann |
|
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