Review: Swordfishtrombones - Tom Waits

1983. Second to only Rain Dogs in Tom Waits legend, Swordfishtrombones is usually considered the first in Waits’ departure from the more typical, classical piano-ballads of his earlier works (though this change had been implied on 1980′s Heartattack and Vine.) Swordfishtrombones is effectively a masterpiece – Waits curates a range of styles; jazz, blues, hard rock – lots of horns and cymbals – and harnesses these styles to create an album of 15 songs that is as much an ‘experience’ as many other experimental classics.

Waits is never flailing or soft, meaning even the shorter cuts cannot be ignored, and even the more experimental touches to the record receive full faith because of the austere attitude Waits permeates as early as the cranky “Shore Leave”. The album is said to have been heavily influenced by Tom Waits’ wife, Kathleen Brennan, and it is true that her hometown of Johnsburg, Illinois is both title to one of the songs and a lyric in “Shore Leave”. Waits definitely seems to be producing this material from the kind of oddball, off-the-wall habitats of avant-garde performers yet the songs’ qualities are never surrendered to the superfluous or excessive. The witty, storytelling nature of “Frank’s Wild Years” is in pre-requisite to “9th and Hennepin” and is just as good, Waits just as croaky and confident, sounding almost Joker-esque in his delivery. The album is perhaps fairly overshadowed by the giant beast of Rain Dogs but almost certainly ascertains its own plaudits (Pitchfork listed Swordfishtrombones as 11th best album of the 1980s. Slant Magazine listed the album at #26 on its list of “Best Albums of the 1980′s”.) OK, the album isn’t perfect but it is damned near, and though Rain Dogs is probably better, the fact that this album is 40 minutes on runtime means I oft choose it ahead of Rain Dogs when it comes to enjoying my Tom. Think of it maybe as The Bends to OK Computer, or Rubber Soul to Revolver.

9.3/10

Tracklist (Picks in bold, duds in italic)

Underground

Shore Leave

Dave the Butcher [Instrumental]

Johnsburg, Illinois

16 Shells From a Thirty-Ought Six

Town With No Cheer

In the Neighbourhood

Just Another Sucker on the Vine [Instrumental]

Frank’s Wild Years

Swordfishtrombone

Down, Down, Down

Soldier’s Things

Gin Soaked Boy

Trouble’s Braids

Rainbirds [Instrumental]