Thomas Alan Waits is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He began in the folk scene during the 1970s, but his music since the 1980s has reflected the influence of such diverse genres as rock, country, Delta blues, opera, vaudeville, cabaret, funk, hip hop and experimental techniques verging on industrial music. Per The Wall Street Journal, Waits “has composed a body of work that’s at least comparable to any songwriter’s in pop today. A keen, sensitive and sympathetic chronicler of the adrift and downtrodden, Mr. Waits creates three-dimensional characters who, even in their confusion and despair, are capable of insight and startling points of view. Their stories are accompanied by music that’s unlike any other in pop history.”
Rain Dogs is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Tom Waits, released in September 1985 on Island Records. A loose concept album about "the urban dispossessed" of New York City, Rain Dogs is generally considered the middle album of a trilogy that includes Swordfishtrombones and Franks Wild Years.
Mule Variations is the thirteenth studio album by American musician Tom Waits, released on April 16, 1999, on the ANTI- label. It was Waits' first studio album in six years, following The Black Rider (1993). The album was backed by an extensive tour in Europe and North America during the summer and autumn of 1999, which was Waits' first proper tour since 1987. Other promotional stops included a solo performance on VH1 Storytellers.
Blue Valentine is the sixth studio album by singer and songwriter Tom Waits, released on September 5, 1978, on Asylum Records. It was recorded over the course of six sessions from July to August 1978 with producer Bones Howe. Rickie Lee Jones is pictured with Waits on the back cover.
Small Change is the fourth studio album by singer and songwriter Tom Waits, released on September 21, 1976 on Asylum Records. It was recorded in July at Wally Heider's Studio 3 in Hollywood. It was successful commercially and outsold his previous albums. This resulted in Waits putting together a touring band - The Nocturnal Emissions, which consisted of Frank Vicari on tenor saxophone, FitzGerald Jenkins on bass guitar and Chip White on drums and vibraphone. The Nocturnal Emissions toured Europe and the United States extensively from October 1976 till May 1977.
Heartattack and Vine is the seventh studio album by Tom Waits, released on September 9, 1980, and his final album to be released on the Asylum label.
The Heart of Saturday Night is the second studio album by singer and songwriter Tom Waits, released on October 15, 1974, on Asylum Records. The title song was written as a tribute to Jack Kerouac. The album marks the start of a decade-long collaboration between Waits and Bones Howe, who produced and engineered all Waits' recordings until the artist left Asylum.
The Black Rider is the twelfth studio album by Tom Waits, released in 1993 on Island Records, featuring studio versions of songs Waits wrote for the play The Black Rider, directed by Robert Wilson and co-written by William S. Burroughs. The play is based on the German folktale Der Freischütz by Johann August Apel, which had previously been made into an opera by Carl Maria von Weber. It is about a clerk who makes a Faustian bargain for magic bullets, with tragic results. The play premiered on March 31, 1990, at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, Germany. Its world English-language premiere occurred in 1998 at the Edmonton International Fringe Festival. Per the Los Angeles Times, "It’s most easily described as a Faustian musical-tragicomedy."
Bone Machine is the eleventh studio album by American singer and musician Tom Waits, released by Island Records on September 8, 1992. It won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album and features guest appearances by David Hidalgo, Les Claypool, Brain, and Keith Richards. The album marked Waits' return to studio albums, coming five years after Franks Wild Years (1987).
Crystal Gayle is an American country music singer widely known for her 1977 hit "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue". Initially, Gayle's management and record label were the same as that of her oldest sister, Loretta Lynn. Not finding success with the arrangement after several years, and with Lynn's encouragement, Gayle decided to try a different approach. She signed a new record contract and began recording with Nashville producer Allen Reynolds. Gayle's new sound was sometimes referred to as middle-of-the-road (MOR) or country pop, and was part of a bigger musical trend by many country artists of the 1970s to appeal to a wider audience. Subsequently, Gayle became one of the most successful crossover artists of the 1970s and 80s. She is known for her floor-length hair.
Foreign Affairs is the fifth studio album by singer and songwriter Tom Waits, released on September 13, 1977 on Asylum Records. It was produced by Bones Howe, and featured Bette Midler singing a duet with Waits on "I Never Talk to Strangers".
Kathleen Patricia Brennan is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and artist. She is known for her work as a co-writer, producer, and influence on the work of her husband Tom Waits.
Christopher Kenneth Kimsey is an English record producer, mixer and musician most famous for having co-produced The Rolling Stones' Undercover and Steel Wheels albums. He was also an engineer on their 1971 album Sticky Fingers as well as 1978's Some Girls and 1980's Emotional Rescue and assisted Mick Jagger and Keith Richards closely in preparing 1981's Tattoo You. He was the engineer and associate producer for both Emotional Rescue and Tattoo You.
Broken Blossom is the fourth studio album by American singer Bette Midler, her second album release in 1977 and her fifth on the Atlantic Records label. Just as Midler's three previous studio albums Broken Blossom includes songs from a wide variety of genres, ranging from Edith Piaf's signature tune "La vie en rose", Phil Spector-esque covers of Billy Joel's "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" and Harry Nilsson's "Paradise" and hard rock like Sammy Hagar's "Red", to a jazzy duet with Tom Waits, "I Never Talk to Strangers", and a rendition of "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes", originally from Walt Disney's 1950 film version of Cinderella. The album reached #51 on Billboard's album chart.
Cage the Songbird is the eleventh studio album by American country music singer Crystal Gayle. Released on October 17, 1983, it peaked at #5 on the Billboard Country Album chart. Four of the album's tracks became Top 5 hits on the Country Singles chart, with two of them reaching #1. Chronologically they were "The Sound of Goodbye" (#1), "I Don't Wanna Lose Your Love" (#2), "Turning Away" (#1), and "Me Against the Night" (#4).
Fragile is the fourth studio album by the English progressive rock band Yes, released on 12 November 1971 by Atlantic Records. It was the band's first album to feature keyboardist Rick Wakeman, who replaced Tony Kaye after the group had finished touring their breakthrough record, The Yes Album (1971).
Dayton Burr "Bones" Howe is an American record producer and recording engineer who scored a string of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, often of the sunshine pop genre, starting in 1965 with The Turtles cover of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe," and continuing with most of the hits of the 5th Dimension and the Association. With the exception of Closing Time, he produced and engineered all of Tom Waits' releases with Asylum Records, some of which are considered among the artist's best recordings. Their almost decade-long collaboration has been described as "one of the great artist-producer partnerships". Howe performed music supervision on several feature films, and was one of the first industry members to serve as both producer and engineer of the hit records on which he worked. In addition, he was occasionally credited as a musician on recordings as "Dayton Howe".
"Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets to the Wind in Copenhagen)" (commonly known as "Tom Traubert's Blues" or "Waltzing Matilda") is a song by American musician Tom Waits.
American country artist Crystal Gayle has released 25 studio albums, 17 compilation albums, two video albums, one live album, one soundtrack album, and has appeared on 16 additional albums. Gayle signed with United Artists Records in 1974 and began recording albums. Her self-titled debut album was issued in 1975, peaking at number 25 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. After releasing two similar studio albums, Gayle issued We Must Believe in Magic in 1977. Reaching number two on the country albums chart and number 12 on the Billboard 200, it became the first album by a female country artist to be certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. When I Dream (1978) also peaked in the second position of the Top Country Albums survey and was certified platinum in the US. Her seventh studio album, Miss the Mississippi (1979), was issued on Columbia Records and certified gold in the United States. These Days achieved similar status in 1980. Her ninth studio album entitled Hollywood, Tennessee (1981) contained several cover versions of pop music songs. In 1983, Gayle issued her first greatest hits compilation, Crystal Gayle's Greatest Hits before leaving Columbia. The album was certified gold from the RIAA a decade later.
Nick Brophy is an American mixer, sound engineer, record producer and songwriter. The artists he has collaborated with and written for include Jason Aldean, the Rolling Stones, Avril Lavigne, Hootie & the Blowfish, Kenny Chesney, Carly Simon, Taylor Swift, Garbage and Everclear. His engineering credits include Everclear's platinum Sparkle and Fade, Avril Lavigne's 6× platinum Let Go and the Rolling Stones 4× platinum 40 Licks. His mixing credits include three consecutive #1 singles by Kip Moore; 2× platinum Somethin' 'Bout a Truck, certified gold Beer Money and platinum Hey Pretty Girl, as well as Jimmy Fallon's Blow Your Pants Off, for which he won a Grammy. His songwriting credits include recordings by Hootie & the Blowfish, Jason Aldean, Kenny Chesney and Rascal Flatts.
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