Red Mosquito

durdencommatyler wrote:

Kevin Davis wrote:

durdencommatyler wrote:

Kevin Davis wrote:Man, I love "Foreign Affairs." I wouldn't put that anywhere near the bottom, though the two long beat pieces make it a tough front-to-back listen. But "Muriel," "I Never Talk to Strangers," "Sight For Sore Eyes," "Burma Shave," and "Foreign Affair" are all essential early Waits tracks for me. Very little on the debut touches those for me.

I don't disagree with some of those being essential Waits. But it's easily his second "worst" album. But that speaks more to how fucking brilliant he is than it is any commentary on the quality of Foreign Affairs.

I dunno, those songs really get under my skin in a good way. Waits's isn't an easy catalog to rank but I like the good half of that album too much to place it that low -- at the very least I'd have it above "Closing Time," "Nighthawks," "Black Rider," and "Bad As Me," possibly some others that I'd have to research before saying for sure.

Nighthawks is easily his worst and his only album that I don't like. There are two songs on there that are fine but they aren't good enough to get me to listen to it. I pretty much pretend it doesn't exist.

Black Rider is a more challenging listen than Foreign Affairs. But it's also more rewarding, too. And 'Bullets' is better than any single song on FA.

I would absolutely rank Closing Time and Band As Me above Foreign Affairs. Though, I do concede that I'm one of the few people I communicate with that thinks Bad As me is a good record. So I'm fine letting that be a wash. You're the smartest person I know when it comes to music criticism. But I can't image there's an argument even you could make that would convince me FA is better than Closing Time.

Even if Closing Time is his third from the bottom. And I'm not saying it is. But IF it is. It's still better than FA.

Kevin Davis wrote:

durdencommatyler wrote:

Kevin Davis wrote:

durdencommatyler wrote:

Kevin Davis wrote:Man, I love "Foreign Affairs." I wouldn't put that anywhere near the bottom, though the two long beat pieces make it a tough front-to-back listen. But "Muriel," "I Never Talk to Strangers," "Sight For Sore Eyes," "Burma Shave," and "Foreign Affair" are all essential early Waits tracks for me. Very little on the debut touches those for me.

I don't disagree with some of those being essential Waits. But it's easily his second "worst" album. But that speaks more to how fucking brilliant he is than it is any commentary on the quality of Foreign Affairs.

I dunno, those songs really get under my skin in a good way. Waits's isn't an easy catalog to rank but I like the good half of that album too much to place it that low -- at the very least I'd have it above "Closing Time," "Nighthawks," "Black Rider," and "Bad As Me," possibly some others that I'd have to research before saying for sure.

Nighthawks is easily his worst and his only album that I don't like. There are two songs on there that are fine but they aren't good enough to get me to listen to it. I pretty much pretend it doesn't exist.

Black Rider is a more challenging listen than Foreign Affairs. But it's also more rewarding, too. And 'Bullets' is better than any single song on FA.

I would absolutely rank Closing Time and Band As Me above Foreign Affairs. Though, I do concede that I'm one of the few people I communicate with that thinks Bad As me is a good record. So I'm fine letting that be a wash. You're the smartest person I know when it comes to music criticism. But I can't image there's an argument even you could make that would convince me FA is better than Closing Time.

Even if Closing Time is his third from the bottom. And I'm not saying it is. But IF it is. It's still better than FA.

Aw, that's sweet of you to say. I like all of Waits's records, even "Nighthawks." I haven't listened to "Bad As Me" in a while, but I had very few complaints about it at the time. Perhaps another "LAL" is in order -- it's been five years
since the last one!

Kevin Davis wrote:My brother gave me the "Early Years" CD's for Christmas last year, which I'd never heard before -- some diamonds in the rough on there...

Kevin Davis wrote:Tom Waits might fit this bill, though "Nighthawks at the Diner" probably takes the mantle in the end.

Kevin Davis wrote:Yeah, and "Up Shit Creek Again" -- a few interesting glimpses down "roads not taken" on those discs.

I am going to make a "Foreign Affairs" playlist incorporating "Meet Me In Paradise Alley" and "Annie's Back In Town" -- that should make the shape of the tracklist a lot more "Small Change"-esque, probably for the better...

Kevin Davis wrote:They're from their own session, I think, in between "FA" and "Blue Valentine." There was another song from that session called "With a Suitcase" that I don't think has been released. But those two very much fit the vibe of "FA," in my opinion -- the last songs that really do, I think, before he starts shifting his focus from the bar to the alley...

durdencommatyler wrote:

Kevin Davis wrote:My brother gave me the "Early Years" CD's for Christmas last year, which I'd never heard before -- some diamonds in the rough on there...

Poncho's Lament.

theplatypus wrote:It looks photoshopped. I photoshopped it. For the joke.

Dev wrote:STP
Ween

Probably lot's of bands.