Rain Dogs

Amazon.com essential recording
The middle album of the trilogy that includes Swordfishtrombones and Franks Wild Years, Rain Dogs is Waits's best overall effort. The songs are first-rate, and there are a lot of them--19 in all, ranging from grim nightlife memoirs ("9th and Hennepin," "Singapore") to portraits of small-time hustlers ("Gun Street Girl," "Union Square") to bursts of street-corner philosophy ("Blind Love," "Time"). The album also contains the original version of "Downtown Train," which Rod Stewart turned into a smash hit. The image of "rain dogs"--animals who've lost their way home because the rain has washed away their scent--is an appropriate symbol for the entire cast of characters Waits has brought to life over the years, and this album has thus far proved to be his most enduring effort. --Daniel Durchholz

Rain Dogs,Tom Waits,Island,Album Rock,College Rock,Experimental Rock,Pop,Rock,Rock/Pop,Singer/Songwriter,United States of America

Rain Dogs

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"They all start off with bad directions.."
Oddly addictive...
its like nothing else
A classic in every sense
another type of music

Rain Dogs
Tom Waits
Manufacturer: Island
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Swordfishtrombones
Franks Wild Years
Closing Time
Small Change
Bone Machine

ASIN: B000001FFJ
Release Date: 1990-06-15

Tracks:

Singapore
Clap Hands
Cemetery Polka
Jockey Full Of Bourbon
Tango Till They're Sore
Big Black Mariah
Diamonds And Gold
Hang Down Your Head
Time
Rain Dogs
Midtown
9th And Hennepin
Gun Street Girl
Union Square
Blind Love
Walking Spanish
Downtown Train
Bride Of Rain Dog
Anywhere I Lay My Head

Amazon.com essential recording

The middle album of the trilogy that includes Swordfishtrombones and Franks Wild Years, Rain Dogs is Waits's best overall effort. The songs are first-rate, and there are a lot of them--19 in all, ranging from grim nightlife memoirs ("9th and Hennepin," "Singapore") to portraits of small-time hustlers ("Gun Street Girl," "Union Square") to bursts of street-corner philosophy ("Blind Love," "Time"). The album also contains the original version of "Downtown Train," which Rod Stewart turned into a smash hit. The image of "rain dogs"--animals who've lost their way home because the rain has washed away their scent--is an appropriate symbol for the entire cast of characters Waits has brought to life over the years, and this album has thus far proved to be his most enduring effort. --Daniel Durchholz

Customer Reviews:

"They all start off with bad directions..".......2007-07-09

With a rough gravel voice that sounds like it was born from hard whiskey and harder living, a wise observant Waits sings empathetic tales of lost urban characters that are both funny, moving, and sometimes just plain odd. With his lyrics as his strongest strength, Waits is both a poetic and highly visual storyteller with rich lines like "...the bricks are all scared with jailhouse tattoos." The music is very unique, often sounding like a group of drunken street musicians clanking and stomping away on crude homemade instruments; spewing out primitive Rock N Roll, Blues, and a little Jazz. Bouncy waltzes like the title track and "Singapore" have a demented quality that brings to mind crazy homeless people dancing around a bonfire in a junkyard while one can easily visualize Waits sincerely crooning ballads like "Time" from a dirty curb as people pass by and ignore him. The exception is the anthemic power pop of "Downtown Train" made famous by a well done but rather plastic cover by Rod Stewart. Designed to stand out, the song has a bright soaring quality that climatically sweeps the listener out of the alleys and gutters of the tragic characters that populate the rest of the album. Very few albums have such effortless atmosphere, a true classic.

Oddly addictive..........2007-05-29

An album this far of left field can rarely be described as addictive, but I've played this one about a million times and I never get tired of it. I have to admit though, I have purchased "Rain Dogs" three times in my life and ended up selling it the first two times I owned it because I just didn't get it. I don't think I was open minded enough to listen to this one the whole way through in my teen years, but the third time was a charm and this disc got it's hooks into me completely. On "Rain Dogs" Waits continued to experiment with the unique instrumentation he used on his previous release "Swordfishtrombones" and really took it to the next level, the result being one of his best albums. Not to mention he employed the likes of Keith Richards, G.E. Smith, and Robert Quine (a Richard Hell and the Voidoids and Lou Reed alumnus), which didn't hurt. While some of the songs off this disc are bizarre and abrasive, there are others that are so accessible one wonders why they didn't take the world by storm; for every "Singapore" there is a "Time", for every "Clap Hands" there is a "Downtown Train". I can't think of any other album from the 1980's which has aged this well and is loaded with so many great songs and great moments: the classic Keith Richards riffs on "Union Square", the screeching "Midtown", (which would have been perfect for a car chase scene in the movies), the bluesy groove of "Gun Street Girl" (which is achieved through such minimal instrumentation that it's genius), the explosive vocal Waits delivers on "Anywhere I Lay My Head" which threatens to blow your stereo speakers out with it's intensity, the country feel to "Blind Love" which features Waits' gravelly voice backed by Keith Richards' harmonies, and the list could go on and on. Like most of Waits' releases "Rain Dogs" was critically acclaimed but didn't sell in big numbers and has gone on to achieve a large cult following. It stands as one of his best albums, and I would include it as one of my favorite albums of all time. Once it gets it's hooks into you nothing else will hit the spot the way "Rain Dogs" does. Also recommended if you like this one is the live album "Big Time", where Waits bends and twists the arrangements of some of the songs off this album with great results.

its like nothing else.......2007-03-15

my friend if your even looking at this i can tell you that you have already waited to long. this album is like nothing you have ever heard and is one of my personal favorites.if you only invest in one tom waits album this should be it.

A classic in every sense.......2007-03-02

One of the greatest albums of all time.. no more, no less. Its hard for me to understand why I like Rain Dogs.. but then again its hard for me to understand why I like Tom Waits so much in the first place.. I guess he is more of an aquired taste to most people, reguardless, this album is an artistic masterpeice. Waits' lyrics are very poetic and abstract as usual.. and musically there is a balance here that most albums of any genre can't accomplish. There is a perfect mix of serious ballads and quirky, fun, polkas (or whatever you call them).

I cant really reccomend this album to anyone who has not heard of or heard Tom Waits.. because this band is rather like Primus in the sense that you either hate it, or love it.. and if you love Tom Waits, then you already have this album.

another type of music.......2007-02-12

of course you've heard of elevator music. this isn't that. this is parking lot music. music you can hide in like thick dust clouds blown off the side of the highway by bad passersby, whom, after they've burnt rubber and sped on gone laughing and waving goodbye so-long, you can hate as people, but must respect for the cover they've provided you in your illicit doings. these dust clouds. these lovely songs.

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Rain Dogs

ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Swordfishtrombones

ASIN: B000H5TY78
Release Date: 2006-10-03

Average customer rating:

Rain Dogs
Tom Waits
Manufacturer: Island
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Album-Oriented Rock (AOR) | Classic Rock | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00006HBCC
Release Date: 2002-10-07

Tracks:

Singapore
Clap Hands
Cemetery Polka
Jockey Full of Bourbon
Tango Till They're Sore
Big Black Mariah
Diamonds & Gold
Hang Down Your Head
Time
Rain Dogs
Midtown [Instrumental]
9th & Hennepin
Gun Street Girl
Union Square
Blind Love
Walking Spanish
Downtown Train
Bride of Rain Dog [Instrumental]
Anywhere I Lay My Head

Average customer rating:

Self Titled Rain Dogs
Rain Dogs
Manufacturer: Rain Dogs
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Blues | Styles | Music

Acoustic Blues | Blues | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000CA32Q2
Release Date: 2004-09-21

Tracks:

Hate That Train
Kansas City Blues
Robert's Dream
St. Louis Blues
Viola Lee
Girlish Days
Ramblin Man
France Blues
Trouble in Mind
Jug Band Music
Who's Been Here?
Ain't Nobody's Business
Pack My Jack
Stop & Listen

Average customer rating:

One of the few "happy" Choir albums?

Diamonds and Rain

Manufacturer: Myrrh LA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Christian & Gospel | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0009WE1KE

Product Description

Songs are: 1) Fear Only You 2) Render Love 3) All that Is You 4) Black Cloud 5) I Painted Mercy 6) Kingston Road 7) Listen To Her Eyes 8) (You Do That) Triangle 9) Love Falls Down 10) When The Morning Comes

Customer Reviews:

One of the few "happy" Choir albums?.......2005-07-01

The Choir (drummer/lyricist Steve Hindalong, singer/guitarist Derald Daugherty, and bassist Tim Chandler, plus saxman "Buckeye" Dan Michaels) have been making great Christian music with an alternative slant since 1984.

This one has a sound probably closer to pop (I first thought "All That is You" might be Michael W. Smith upon hearing it on a Sunday morning CCM radio show) than their usual, perhaps due to the influence of producer Charlie Peacock, but they still throw in curveballs like the wailing cavernous sax from Dan Michaels at the coda of "Black Cloud". The tone of the album is more celebratory than their usual melancholy take on faith as well. This album managed to place 2 songs on the CCM charts, "When the Morning Comes" (#7) and "Fear Only You" (#17).

HIGHLIGHTS:
"Render Love" is a more believable peace anthem than "Give Peace a Chance" (though later effort "Rifleman" was more effective.) "Black Cloud" hews closer to the somber Choir worldview of a God that's merciful but not to be trifled with. Hindalong "trembles" for unbelievers with "houses in the sand" with "fatal inclinations to savor mortal breath". "Listen to Her Eyes" is advice to the lovelorn ("If your love is more than words/listen to her eyes../Read her tears like pages/hold her when she cries..") set to a peppy backbeat. The kitschy child's vocal count-in to "Triangle" belies the serious subject matter as an outsider offers comfort for a girl whose father molests her when he's drunk. (The triangle is the path of dad's booze..'from the cooler to the chair to the garbage can' as the lyric goes) I've never found out if the "Bethia" it was inspired by is someone the band knew personally...or merely "knew of". "When the Morning Comes" may be one of the most gorgeous "can't wait to meet God" songs ever put to paper. Hindalong sees it as not only a time to rest, but to end his searching ("I'll understand/When the morning comes")

LOWS:
I can't honestly say there are any songs here I don't like. If PRESSED, I might name "Kingston Road" (a Charlie Peacock-penned tune) as being less worthy than the others here, but I couldn't call it "bad".

BOTTOM LINE:
Hindalong would go on to couch his sentiments in more veiled terms in the future. Much of this is nakedly emotional in a way he seldom allows himself to be. Some will judge that to be less "artistic", however this is much more than callous craft. These songs will dig themselves into your psyche. It's not my favourite Choir disk, but it IS indispensable. Recommended.

Average customer rating:

Healing Beauty Volume One

Manufacturer: Healing Beauty
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000EHUQBC

Product Description

A few weeks ago a good friend of ours, John Castleberry, called me and told me he wanted to help heal Debbie. Being a musician, he chose music as his medicine. So he began compiling a CD of music by musicians Debbie knows and loves. John, Debbie and I know many musicians but I really thought that contracts and other legal strings might prohibit artists from donating songs to a project such as this. But when we began asking, everyone of them said, ''Of course we'll give Debbie a song!"