30 September 2020

Artist: Tom Waits
Album: Raindogs – his 9th LP
A concept record about the urban dispossessed of New York City,
Artwork: The man on the cover looks definitely like Waits, but the photo is actually
one of a series taken by the Swedish photographer Anders Petersen at Café Lehmitz (near the Hamburg red-light street called Reeperbahn, where The Beatles used to play gigs in small clubs in the early days) in the late 1960s. The man and woman on the front sleeve are called Rose and Lilly.

Released: 30 September 1985 – 35 years ago today

AllMusic/William Ruhlmann : “With its jarring rhythms and unusual instrumentation – marimba, accordion, various percussion – as well as its frequently surreal lyrics, Rain Dogs is very much a follow-up to Swordfishtrombones, which is to say that it sounds for the most part like The Threepenny Opera being sung by Howlin’ Wolf… Waits occasionally borders on the chaotic, but much of the music matches the earlier album, and there is so much of it that,
that it’s enough to qualify ‘Rain Dogs’ as one of Waits’ better albums.” Score: 5/5.

Tom Waits: “I didn’t really want to be part of a clique or a niche. But I also was
looking for my own voice, as a writer, y’know? And a world I could call my own.”

Turn Up The Volume: “Waits is the best barfly singer-songwriter ever.”

Full album…

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