Collection: Tom Waits Vinyl Records – Rain Dogs, Swordfishtrombones & Essential Albums on Vinyl

Closing Time (1973)His debut, and a record of startling maturity for a 23-year-old. Piano-driven ballads and jazz-inflected character sketches paint a portrait of nocturnal Los Angeles — lonely diners, empty streets, last orders. Ol' 55 (later covered by the Eagles) and I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love with You are timeless. The album that introduced the world to that voice.

Swordfishtrombones (1983)The great reinvention. Waits threw out the piano-bar template and built something entirely new from marimbas, pump organs, banging metal, and found sounds. Influenced by Captain Beefheart and Harry Partch, it's his most radical departure — and the start of his greatest creative period. Underground, In the Neighbourhood, and the title track are extraordinary. Nothing in his catalogue before this sounds remotely like it.

Rain Dogs (1985)The masterpiece. A sprawling, kaleidoscopic portrait of New York's dispossessed, drawing from blues, cabaret, New Orleans brass, and punk energy. Keith Richards guests on guitar. Downtown Train, Time, and Jockey Full of Bourbon are among his finest songs. Endlessly inventive and deeply human — the album most fans point to as his best, and one that demands to be heard on vinyl from start to finish.

Mule Variations (1999)His triumphant return after a seven-year gap, and a Grammy winner. Mule Variations bridges the experimental and the accessible — songs like Hold On and House Where Nobody Lives sit alongside stomping, percussive workouts. The first release on Anti- Records, the label that became his home for the rest of his career.