How'd you think my review went?

If you like Blood Money, try Real Gone.

Fannnnnnnnntastic! And I surely will :D

Blood Money and Alice were the first two Tom Waits albums I ever got. Probably not the best place I could've started with him, but all I knew about Waits at the time was that Nick Cave liked him, so not very much in other words :p: It must be at least three or four years since I last tried listening to either albums, so I guess it's about time I gave them another run through. Top review by the way.

Same with the Heartattack and Vine - sounds like a really interesting album.

Looking forward to whichever one/s you've got lined up next.

Heh. Yeah, Alice is probably his worst album IMO. Blood Money is a pretty good album, but like you said, probably not the best place to start with him. I'd recommend Bone Machine or Small Change as good places to start with Mr. Waits. Both great albums, plus they will give you a sense of the two distinct phases of his career.

Discussions always help my chart a course, and one of the things I've never understood about the Wait's universe is how people think Bone Machine is a good place to start.

Its an amazing album, but few albums result in a bigger "what the **** is this ****" moment and are still good albums. I think Bone Machine also tends to stay in the same geographical location.

I actually can't wait to review this now.

I disagree. Bone Machine was the first Tom Waits album I ever bought (though I had listened to a "best of" of his early stuff quite a bit prior) and it immediately blew me away. There was no "what the **** is this ****" moment, just a "wow, this is amazing" moment. I think it's a good starting point because it has a little bit of everything style-wise. I'd imagine that's why other people think it's a good place to start as well.

how so?

Because, like I said, it has a little bit of everything: quiet songs, loud songs, guitar songs, piano songs, percussive songs, experimental songs, "normal" songs, the whole Tom Waits nine yards.

Oh see, I was thinking more like Rain Dogs where you get every genre known and unknown to man.

I would say the two albums are really pretty similar in that regard, but I think Bone Machine is more accessible to someone new to Tom Waits. Rain Dogs is probably my favorite album by him though.