10 Extreme Rock Albums That Will Blow Your Mind
3. Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones
Nothing in Tom Waits' previous seven studio albums could have prepared his fans for the eccentric genius displayed on Swordfishtrombones (released in 1983 on Island Records).
With hindsight, the discerning listener can identify on previous releases certain musical clues as to Waits startling left-turn to come, but only with hindsight, and you'd have to listen closely. Up to this point, Waits hard largely stuck to grizzled, late-night, beatnik jazz vibes, albeit brimming with wonderful lyrical imagery.
On Swordfishtrombones, the singer re-invented himself, serving up fifteen highly adventurous tracks which pull in such disparate elements as music-hall, rock, circus-music, soft ballads and proto-industrial sounds.
After this album, Waits would rarely look back. He had freed himself from the ever-constricting straight-jacket of his earlier style and, once set loose, could never be boxed in again.
On Swordfishtrombones, although
Waits' well-worn character of the beat-wino is certainly present, so
too is a fantastical imagination and stylistic range he had never
before displayed so potently.