Tom Waits Week: Things Get Weird (1983-1993)

With that out of the way, let’s look Phase Two of Tom’s career.

Swordfishtrombones (1983) – It’s hard to imagine how fans must have reacted to the sudden change in Waits’ sound between albums. Heck, just the title of this album must have thrown people off. And the changes came roaring out of the gate from the first track, the percussive “Underground”. While on his previous albums, Waits had used his raspy voice as a way to pursue beauty, here he uses it to convey doom and fear. This is where Tom really starts to utilize his voice to the fullest – his growl has a world of emotion behind and this is where he begins to channel it. It should be noted that in 1989, Spin Magazine named this as the second-best album of all time.