Any Tom Waits Fans?

uh, yup.

best i've heard are Mule, Swordfishtrombones, Blood Money, with a nod to Foreign Affairs.

but my word, what a collection of songs. i'd stack his songwriting up against anyone since Cole Porter.

Waits is fantastic. Check out Blue Valentine.

If you like Mule Variations then Blood Money and Real Gone are probably up your ally as well.

Yep, big Waits fan here too, since way back. I think my introduction to him was Blue Valentine and I've been hooked ever since. He's never disappointed me, but certainly some recent work is more 'challenging' than previous work. Still, love all his work. His mastery of language is genius, and entirely unique. I'm particularly fond of the collaborations with his wife, Kathleen Brennan, especially, "SwordfishTrombone". For some reason I'm particulary drawn to his spoken works too. A recent favorite is "Circus" from RealGone (a great live version of which is on "Glitter and Doom" makes that album worth the investment - otherwise that album is very poor acoustically, but has some good live performances).

If I had to list three favorites they'd be, SwordfishTrombone, Small Change, and Rain Dogs.

There's some very good compilation collections: Used Songs, Beautiful Maladies, The Early Years, Orphans..., and The Asylum Years. For anyone unfamiliar with Waits one of these might be a good place to start...I'd go with Beautiful Maladies as that's pretty approachable and midway through his career (also some of my favorite stuff of what he's done).

I am a big fan. Amazing, unique voice. A great gift for metaphor. So many of his songs create both aural and visual images that listening to him is like experiencing synesthesia. Here is my current Tom Waits playlist:

Black Wings
Dead & Lovely
Green Grass
Swordfishtrombone
Sins of My Father
Way Down in the Hole
Jesus Gonna Be Here
How's It Gonna End

I seriously need to get Swordfishtrombones. That's one I don't have. I'm always looking for a clean copy when I go to record shows. And I agree, Jax2, Small Change, and Rain Dogs are absolute classics. I too have Orphans on CD. Bend Down The Branches is worth the price of the CD alone.