release date: Aug. 17, 1987
format: cd (1989 reissue)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,08]
producer: Tom Waits
label: Island Records - nationality: USA
Track highlights: 1. "Hang on St. Christopher" - 2. "Straight to the Top (Rhumba)" - 4. "Temptation" (4 / 5) - 5. "Innocent When You Dream (Barroom)" (5 / 5) - 6. "I'll Be Gone" (4 / 5) - 7. "Yesterday Is Here" - 9. "Frank's Theme" - 11. "Way Down in the Whole" (4 / 5) - 14. "Telephone Call from Istanbul" - 15. "Cold Call Ground" (4,5 / 5) - 16. "Train Song" (4 / 5)
10th studio album by Tom Waits following two years after Rain Dogs carry the subtitle "Un Operachi Romantico in Two Acts" and it's Waits' music for his & wife Kathleen Brennan's stage show performed by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company and directed by Gary Sinise in Chicago, where the show was staged over a two-month period with Waits in the role of Frank during the Summer of 1986.
This was actually the first Tom Waits album I acquired sometime in '89. I purchased the album upon hearing the song "Innocent When You Dream", which I first thought was a remake of an old classic but later found out was Tom's own composition. I had been thinking for some time about getting hold of some Waits' albums but I simply had no idea where to start.
This was actually the first Tom Waits album I acquired sometime in '89. I purchased the album upon hearing the song "Innocent When You Dream", which I first thought was a remake of an old classic but later found out was Tom's own composition. I had been thinking for some time about getting hold of some Waits' albums but I simply had no idea where to start.
For a start, I didn't fully appreciate the album the way I later came to. I thought it was fine, but also a little... too strange, since I only knew bits of his albums from the 70s but at the same time, the album also made me curious about the man and his music. Soon after, I came across Swordfishtrombones (1983) at my local music dealer. I noticed that it contained several songs that I knew, so I purchased it on the spot and was completely overwhelmed and intrigued and I just knew I had to dive into his back catalog from start to finish. The title Frank's Wild Years is a track from Swordfishtrombones and is in reference to his father, Frank, who, in addition to teaching Spanish, was widely known as a drunkard who abandoned his family during Tom's childhood.
Highly recommended.
[ allmusic.com, Q Magazine, Uncut 4 / 5 stars ]
