Franks Wild Years

by Tom Waits

Overview

Tom Waits wrote a song called "Frank's Wild Years" for his 1983 Swordfishtrombones album, then used the title (minus its apostrophe) for a musical play he wrote with his wife, Kathleen Brennan, and toured with in 1986. The Franks Wild Years album, drawn from the show, is subtitled, "un operachi romantico in two acts," though the songs themselves do not carry the plot. Rather, this is just the third installment in Waits' eccentric series of Island Records albums in which he seems most inspired by German art song and carnival music, presenting songs in spare, stripped-down arrangements consisting of instruments like marimba, baritone horn, and pump organ and singing in a strained voice that has been artificially compressed and distorted. The songs themselves often are conventional romantic vignettes, or would be minus the oddities of instrumentation, arrangement, and performance. For example, "Innocent When You Dream," a song of disappointment in love and friendship, has a winning melody, but it is played in a seesaw arrangement of pump organ, bass, violin, and piano, and Waits sings it like an enraged drunk. (He points out the arbitrary nature of the arrangements by repeating "Straight to the Top," done as a demented rhumba in act one, as a Vegas-style Frank Sinatra swing tune in act two.) The result on record may not be theatrical, exactly, but it certainly is affected. It also has the quality of an inside joke that listeners are not being let in on. ~ William Ruhlmann

Product Details

Release Date:	09/22/2023
Label:	Island / Umr
UPC:	0602448898333
Rank:	14309

Tracks

1. Hang On St. Christopher
2. Straight To The Top (Rhumba)
3. Blow Wind Blow
4. Temptation
5. Innocent When You Dream (Barroom)
6. I'll Be Gone
7. Yesterday Is Here
8. Please Wake Me Up
9. Franks Theme
10. More Than Rain
11. Way Down In The Hole
12. Straight To The Top (Vegas)
13. I'll Take New York
14. Telephone Call From Istanbul
15. Cold Cold Ground
16. Train Song
17. Innocent When You Dream (78)

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Tom Waits   Primary Artist,Drums,Organ,Piano,Congas,Guitar,Vocals,Optigan,Mellotron,Pump Organ,Tambourine,Farfisa Organ
Ralph Carney   Guest Artist,Violin,Saxophone,Sax (Tenor),Horn (Baritone)
David Hidalgo   Guest Artist,Accordion
Marc Ribot   Guest Artist,Banjo,Guitar
Jay Anderson   Bass
Michael Blair   Bells,Drums,Congas,Maracas,Marimba,Percussion,Glockenspiel
William Schimmel   Organ,Piano,Accordion,Pump Organ,Bass Pedals
Lynne Jordan   Vocals (Background)
Larry Taylor   Bass,Double Bass,Bass (Upright)
Angela Brown   Vocals (Background),Vocals (Background)
Greg Cohen   Bass,Bass Pedals,Horn (Alto)
Moris Tepper   Guitar
Francis Thumm   Organ,Piano,Pump Organ
Leslie Holland   Vocals (Background)

Technical Credits

Tchad Blake   Engineer
Stephen Shelton   Engineer
Biff Dawes   Mixing,Engineer
David Knights   Engineer
Kathleen Brennan   Composer,Vocal Arrangement
Tom Waits   Composer,Producer
Danny Leake   Engineer
Greg Cohen   Arranger,Composer,Horn Arrangements
Dave Glover   Engineer
Howie Weinberg   Mastering
Mike Kloster   Engineer
Ellen Smith   Assistant Producer
Jeff Price   Art Direction
Mathilde Lemann   Make-Up
Lorita DeLaCerna   Engineer
Frankie Doctor   Project Coordinator
Bill Highley   Engineer