[GT Audio Works]

Listening to Tom Waits "Mule Variations' last night...not too loud.
The usual shout from upstairs comes as expected..."What the hell are you listening to ?!"
I know as far as Tom's music is concerned you either love 'em or hate 'em... I am with the former.
Any other folks like music that elicits a strong reaction from others..positive or negative ?   
                                                                                                                                         Greg

[Diamond Dog]

Listening to Tom Waits "Mule Variations' last night...not too loud.
The usual shout from upstairs comes as expected..."What the hell are you listening to ?!"

The more important question is : "What's he building in there ? What the Hell's he building in there....?"

D.D.

[SteveFord]

It's certainly not a playhouse for the children...

[Letitroll98]

I love some of Tom Waits stuff.  When he has the mix of gruff and heart that you see on 'Mule' I love him.  When it degrades into gravelly mush where there's no soul I lose interest.  Closing Time, The Early Years Vol I & II, The Heart of Saturday Night, Small Change, Mule Variations, One From the Heart, all brilliant.  However the whole Swordfishtrombones thru Bone Machine leaves me cold, even though this is supposedly his greatest period, I still don't like much of it.  A cut or two pops out the old brilliance, but most of it is mush.  Overall one of the most brilliant singer songwriters we have today.

I see this pattern in pop music a lot from Pink Floyd to Bruce Springsteen.  They come out with a few albums of brilliance, then either lose their way, or maybe try to create a new sound, but they abandon what made them great.  Then if they hang around long enough, in their autumn years they recover something of that original magic if only for an album or a song. 

For haters, my GF cannot stand to listen to his voice.  She like many of his more ballad format songs when sung by someone else.  She'll never appreciate Pasties and a G-String no matter who sings it. 

[lonewolfny42]

....music that elicits a strong reaction from others..positive or negative ?

Greg....I give you....Yoko Ono...

(Listen to the closing comments...."wonderful"... "great"...  )

[Bob in St. Louis]

The more important question is : "What's he building in there ? What the Hell's he building in there....?"

Ditto that. I'm in my workshop making sawdust with my nine year old daughter.
We've got a Pandora station tuned to a Parov Stelar type music....and it's CRANKED.

Her older Brother and Mom just shake their heads and go back upstairs.

As it turns out, nine year old girls are pretty good at block sanding the fuzzies off the edges of plywood. 

[lonewolfny42]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4hmAvNQN6o

[Rclark]

Truman Capote said it best, that when you are telling a story, it's best to tell the unvarnished truth. That said, we now live in an age where a major shaving corporation has "I'd f••• me" as their tagline, and Kmart's slogan for their new online service is "I shipped my pants", get it.

So Elvis is no longer offensive, that bar has been raised.

[Diamond Dog]

Any other folks like music that elicits a strong reaction from others..positive or negative ? 

Hip Hop. Rap. Opera. Metal. Country. Jazz. Prog rock. I could go on. 
 Really, you can find someone to lose their scheiss over any music they don't care for themselves but that you enjoy. It's a personal thing, one's taste in music...

D.D.

[Diamond Dog]

So Elvis is no longer offensive, that bar has been raised.

Vegas Elvis will always be offensive. To right-thinking people. Everywhere. 

D.D.

[GT Audio Works]

I love some of Tom Waits stuff.  When he has the mix of gruff and heart that you see on 'Mule' I love him.  When it degrades into gravelly mush where there's no soul I lose interest.  Closing Time, The Early Years Vol I & II, The Heart of Saturday Night, Small Change, Mule Variations, One From the Heart, all brilliant.  However the whole Swordfishtrombones thru Bone Machine leaves me cold, even though this is supposedly his greatest period, I still don't like much of it.  A cut or two pops out the old brilliance, but most of it is mush.  Overall one of the most brilliant singer songwriters we have today.

I see this pattern in pop music a lot from Pink Floyd to Bruce Springsteen.  They come out with a few albums of brilliance, then either lose their way, or maybe try to create a new sound, but they abandon what made them great.  Then if they hang around long enough, in their autumn years they recover something of that original magic if only for an album or a song. 

For haters, my GF cannot stand to listen to his voice.  She like many of his more ballad format songs when sung by someone else.  She'll never appreciate Pasties and a G-String no matter who sings it.

I agree..some of his stuff leaves me cold too..but I can say that about almost anyone I listen to.  Liked the 2 cuts he did on the Dead man walking soundtrack. I guess to the casual listener he sounds awful..but I felt that way about my first sip of scotch !

[GT Audio Works]

Greg....I give you....Yoko Ono...

(Listen to the closing comments...."wonderful"... "great"...  )

I am speechless....

[GT Audio Works]

Hip Hop. Rap. Opera. Metal. Country. Jazz. Prog rock. I could go on. 
 Really, you can find someone to lose their scheiss over any music they don't care for themselves but that you enjoy. It's a personal thing, one's taste in music...

D.D.

Yeah...Ani Defranco drives my wife nuts too...

[Don_S]

People used to say the same thing about Bob Dylan. 

[GT Audio Works]

People used to say the same thing about Bob Dylan. 

have you heard Dylan's voice lately ?  Sorry Bob Z fans

[Emsquare]

Mule Variations and Bone Machine were my introductions to Tom Waits.
Or at least the discs that I grew fond of first.
I admit that I didn't care for him that much at first.
Then lightning struck one evening and I decided that Tom was a good thing.
As far as artists that provoke a strong reaction goes I can't top Yoko Ono.
What can you do?
Everyone is entitled to their own tastes in music.
There's unremarkable music that I really like.
There's fantastic music I care nothing for.
It's like the girl you are attracted to or the friends you like spending time with.
No sense in wasting time in critiquing an others musical leanings.

[Devil Doc]

It was never about Dylan's voice.

Doc

[GT Audio Works]

No sense in wasting time in critiquing an others musical leanings.

I just find it amusing the reaction music lovers of all genres get from casual listeners, especially when those artists are considered outside of "normal" music.

[GT Audio Works]

It was never about Dylan's voice.

Doc

I know....but I could have done without that xmas album.
I knew I would hit a nerve with Dylan fans..that's why I apologized in advance.

[Devil Doc]

If you're interested in hearing Dylan's tunes sung well I suggest this:



Doc