Tom Waits best albums

Tom Waits is a tough artist to get into, but once you do, he has a better, more consistant catalog that any musician who isn't Bob Dylan. If you want to join the Tom cult, here's where to start:

1.) Rain Dogs: This album is a summary of everything great about his career, and it's also his best record. It has the closest he ever came to a pop song ("Downtown Train") and some of his best artpiece character sketches ("Clap Hands", "Singapore"). This is where to start.

2.) Swordfishtrombones: The album where Tom lost his mind is also his first masterpiece. While it doesn't have as great of individual songs as Rain Dogs, it flows better as an album that you have to listen to in its entirety. "In The Neighboorhood" is Broadway-mocking genius.

3.) Alice: This is a difficult one and a bad one to start with. I didn't really "get" this album until about 6 months after I heard it. Don't listen to it if you are already sad (or any of his albums, for that matter).

4.) Closing Time: The best of his earlier, more conventional barroom jazz.

5.) Real Gone: The beatboxing is a little distracting at first, but this has his loudest rock songs and best GW Bush-bashing lyrics. Also, "Trampled Rose" is one of his most terrifying ballads.

6.) Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers, and Bastards: Once you get into him, you'll spend the 30 dollars, and it will be worth it.

There are many more great albums by him, but these are the ones to start with. If you ask another Tom Waits enthusiest, they might tell you something completely different. That's why Tom is one of the greatest American songwriters ever to live.