Did this a while ago but with downloadable mixes. As this is becoming more and more of a problem, with copyright restrictions screwing up downloads, I'm hitting it up again but using YouTubes here instead.
Quick few rules: anyone can post about any artiste, but not one that has already been posted.
Please limit to max of ten videos per artiste and try to capture an overall sense of the artist; the whole idea of this is, rather obviously, to introduce people to an artiste they may not have heard before, want to get into or have wondered about. Or don't even know about.
Try to post all your videos at once, otherwise it'll get a bit confusing
That's it. Requests certainly accepted. Here's my first contribution.
TOM WAITS
I got into Waits (he always uses his surname) through my brother when he came back from the US of A, but prior to that I had only heard one song, which I completely hated. Shows how your opinion can change. My brother sent me a compilation tape of what he considered Waits' best stuff and nobody more surprised than myself to find I was hooked. I thereafter went out and bought all his albums, and with a very few exceptions can say I've enjoyed them all. Some are total classics.
Here's a link for anyone who wants to find out more about him:
Tom Waits - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Waits began his career singing basic bar-style piano ballads and songs, and his first album, while great, is nothing compared to the experimental, art-rock, lounge/jazz/blues/everything he would go on to record in later years. Here's one from his debut, this is called "I hope that I don't fall in love with you".
I love the bass in "Diamonds on my windshield", from the second album, but it's the imagery that really gets me: "A Wisconsin hiker with a cueball head/ Wishin' he was home in a Wisconsin bed"... class.
One thing Waits does better than almost anyone is tell a story, and the album "Nighthawks at the diner" was interspersed with his anectdotes before each song. Try this one, from "Eggs and sausage".
There's so much I could take off "Small change", but I love the sparseness of the title track and the atmosphere it evokes, just Waits and a horn.
One I've raved about in my journal, from teh album "Blue Valentine", this is "Kentucky Avenue".
"Mr Siegal" from "Heartattack and Vine"
"Gin soaked boy" from "Swordfishtrombones"
This is that first Waits song that I ever heard. Of course I can appreciate it now and love it. This is "Tango till they're sore". Just listen to that deliberately discordant piano!
This just shows why Waits in considered one of the most avant-garde and well, weird artistes out there!
Man I could play Waits all day! But I set the rules, so here's the last one in this "taster". It's from his current album, and it's called "Face to the highway".
If anyone's interested in getting more into Waits, let me know. Or Big3; he's a huge fan too.
Hope you enjoyed our first Beginner's Guide!