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Tom Waits

Franks Wild Years: An Operachi Romantico in Two Acts

£39.99

Released: 22nd September 2023. Originally released in 1987 on Island Records, 'Franks Wild Years' is Tom Waits' 10th studio album. Titled for a play of the same name and authored by Waits and his wife, Kathleen Brennan, 'Franks Wild Years' was performed by Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1986. The album divides the story neatly into two acts and although titled 'un operachi romantic', there is no opera in Franks. There is a hilarious touch of operatic styling by Waits himself in the song 'Temptation.' His vocal character varies wildly throughout the work's 17 songs, and is no more impressive than when the gruff, growly singer turns to impeccable Sinatra-esque phrasing on the Vegas number, 'Straight To The Top.' The album is a startling group of lost dreams, bad dreams, dreams that might not even be dreams. The music is nightmarish, ethereal, beautiful. Think broken calliopes played by genius children, horns played at dawn in a graveyard, banjos leaking through practice room walls.

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  • Details

    Released:
    22nd September 2023
    Category:
    Rock & Pop
    Format:
    Vinyl 12" Album
    Barcode:
    602448898333
  • Description

    Originally released in 1987 on Island Records, 'Franks Wild Years' is Tom Waits' 10th studio album. Titled for a play of the same name and authored by Waits and his wife, Kathleen Brennan, 'Franks Wild Years' was performed by Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1986. The album divides the story neatly into two acts and although titled 'un operachi romantic', there is no opera in Franks. There is a hilarious touch of operatic styling by Waits himself in the song 'Temptation.' His vocal character varies wildly throughout the work's 17 songs, and is no more impressive than when the gruff, growly singer turns to impeccable Sinatra-esque phrasing on the Vegas number, 'Straight To The Top.' The album is a startling group of lost dreams, bad dreams, dreams that might not even be dreams. The music is nightmarish, ethereal, beautiful. Think broken calliopes played by genius children, horns played at dawn in a graveyard, banjos leaking through practice room walls.
  • Track listing

    Disc 1

    Track name
    Artist
    Length
    1.Hang On St Christopher
    Tom Waits
    2.46
    2.Straight to the Top (Rhumba)
    Tom Waits
    2.3
    3.Blow Wind Blow
    Tom Waits
    3.36
    4.Temptation
    Tom Waits
    3.53
    5.Innocent When You Dream (Barroom)
    Tom Waits
    4.16
    6.I'll Be Gone
    Tom Waits
    3.13
    7.Yesterday Is Here
    Tom Waits
    2.31
    8.Please Wake Me Up
    Tom Waits
    3.35
    9.Frank's Theme
    Tom Waits
    1.49
    10.More Than Rain
    Tom Waits
    3.52
    11.Way Down in the Hole
    Tom Waits
    3.3
    12.Straight to the Top (Vegas)
    Tom Waits
    3.27
    13.I'll Take New York
    Tom Waits
    3.58
    14.Telephone Call from Istanbul
    Tom Waits
    3.12
    15.Cold Call Ground
    Tom Waits
    4.08
    16.Train Song
    Tom Waits
    3.2
    17.Inocent When You Dream (78)
    Tom Waits
    3.1
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