In my education blog I have been going on lately about a conference I attended (see Learning Without Frontiers). As well as enjoying the conference, I enjoyed the chance to meet people that I otherwise only know by their Twitter avatar.
There is one such meeting however that I feel a bit guilty about. Poor @OliverQuinlan got stuck between two slightly ranting Scots (@DerekRobertson and myself). I'm afraid we got a bit enthusiastic about music. Derek, of course, was waxing lyrical about John Shuttleworth and associated characters - even bursting into song on occasion by way of illustration. Somehow or other, we got onto Tom Waits. Derek is a fan but Oliver wasn't really aware of him, so I mentioned my Tom Waits download post on this blog (which included one of my favourite tracks - Bottom Of The World) as well as the Peter Gabriel cover (also on this site).
Unfortunately, when I went to look for Bottom Of The World, I was disappointed to see it was no longer available from the Epitaph Records site (although some of the other tracks are still there). I went looking for it to see if it was available somewhere else and in the process found two live tracks for download on the Spinner Music site instead.
The tracks can be found on a page titled Exclusive: Tom Waits MP3 Download, Part Deux but unfortunately, the free download (of Bottom Of The World) on Part One has expired. The tracks that are still available on the "Part Deux" page are excellent. The first is Falling Down (Live) and Mr Waits is positively bellowing the lyrics. it sounds fantastic and it must have been spine chilling to be in the audience. The second is Eye Ball Kid (Live) which is essentially just percussion and Tom barking out the words. Now I know that doesn't sound very appealing but trust me, it's Tom Waits and it's brilliant.
Has anyone reading this post seen Tom Waits in concert? Hearing tracks like these makes me think it would be an experience you'd never forget.
P.S. I think Oliver has forgiven us because he sent a message to say he'd enjoyed the evening but that having listened to some Tom Waits, he said it was, "...not massively my thing". Well, at least we tried!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad. (By way of experiment!)
Showing posts with label Tom Waits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tom Waits. Show all posts
Saturday, 22 January 2011
Friday, 5 June 2009
Free Download Friday #13: Tom Waits
Imagine you are a careers advisor and a teenage Tom Waits tells you he wants to be a singer. How do you advise him? Do you say, "That's interesting Tom. Have you considered a career in McDonalds?"
Singing for a living doesn't seem to be an obvious choice for someone who sounds like he gargles with a cocktail of gravel and whiskey between cigarettes and yet he is an incredibly evocative vocalist. He is an artist who can make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up with the raw beauty and emotional power of his voice. Today's Free Music Friday therefore features some free downloads from Mr Waits.
I came to these tracks by a slightly circuitous route that you may want to follow since there's good stuff that I passed on the way to Tom's downloads. It started when I was listening to a Talking Rock podcast (episode 4 to be precise). They were playing a bunch of tunes from the Podsafe Music Network and, on exploring that site, I found my way to the Epitaph Records.
Assuming you are still with me (and I suspect some at least will have been distracted by one of the sites mentioned so far) I hope you'll now spend some time on the Tom Wait's section of Epitaph's site because at the bottom of his page there are links to some of his albums and most of these albums have at least one mp3 track available for download. The one I'd like to feature here is Bottom Of The World from the Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards album. Have a listen to this track, download a few of the others too if you like, then re-think your careers advice to the young Tom Waits.
...And while you're at it, have a think about the number of great artists who wouldn't get past the audition stage of American Idol or Britain's Got Talent! Anyone want to start a list?
Singing for a living doesn't seem to be an obvious choice for someone who sounds like he gargles with a cocktail of gravel and whiskey between cigarettes and yet he is an incredibly evocative vocalist. He is an artist who can make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up with the raw beauty and emotional power of his voice. Today's Free Music Friday therefore features some free downloads from Mr Waits.
I came to these tracks by a slightly circuitous route that you may want to follow since there's good stuff that I passed on the way to Tom's downloads. It started when I was listening to a Talking Rock podcast (episode 4 to be precise). They were playing a bunch of tunes from the Podsafe Music Network and, on exploring that site, I found my way to the Epitaph Records.
Assuming you are still with me (and I suspect some at least will have been distracted by one of the sites mentioned so far) I hope you'll now spend some time on the Tom Wait's section of Epitaph's site because at the bottom of his page there are links to some of his albums and most of these albums have at least one mp3 track available for download. The one I'd like to feature here is Bottom Of The World from the Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards album. Have a listen to this track, download a few of the others too if you like, then re-think your careers advice to the young Tom Waits.
...And while you're at it, have a think about the number of great artists who wouldn't get past the audition stage of American Idol or Britain's Got Talent! Anyone want to start a list?
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