{"title":"Tom Waits Vinyl Records – Rain Dogs, Swordfishtrombones \u0026 Essential Albums on Vinyl","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"tom-waits-rain-dogs-180g-vinyl-lp","title":"Tom Waits – Rain Dogs [180g Vinyl LP]","description":"\u003ch3\u003eTom Waits – Rain Dogs [180g Vinyl LP]\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eDetails\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e Vinyl LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Stereo\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCatalogue Number:\u003c\/strong\u003e 488985 3\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBarcode:\u003c\/strong\u003e 602448898531\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eGenre:\u003c\/strong\u003e Experimental Rock \/ Avant-Garde \/ Blues \/ Americana\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eLabel:\u003c\/strong\u003e UMR \/ Island Records\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eOriginally Released:\u003c\/strong\u003e 30 September 1985\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReissue Released:\u003c\/strong\u003e 22 September 2023\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePressing:\u003c\/strong\u003e 180 Gram Vinyl\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCondition:\u003c\/strong\u003e New \u0026amp; Sealed\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eDescription\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eRain Dogs\u003c\/em\u003e is the twelfth studio album by \u003cstrong\u003eTom Waits\u003c\/strong\u003e — released on 30 September 1985 on Island Records, produced by \u003cstrong\u003eTom Waits and Kathleen Brennan\u003c\/strong\u003e and recorded at \u003cstrong\u003eSunset Sound in Hollywood, California\u003c\/strong\u003e — and the most celebrated and widely cited album of his career. The second in a loose de facto trilogy with \u003cem\u003eSwordfishtrombones\u003c\/em\u003e (1983) and \u003cem\u003eFranks Wild Years\u003c\/em\u003e (1987), it deepened and expanded the radical sonic reinvention Waits had begun on \u003cem\u003eSwordfishtrombones\u003c\/em\u003e: abandoning the piano-bar balladry and orchestrated jazz of his 1970s Asylum Records work entirely in favour of a music assembled from junkyard percussion, Eastern European accordion, marimbas, bowed saw, parade drums, howling horns and fractured blues — a sound with no obvious precedent in commercial American music and a profound influence on the experimental rock, indie and alternative scenes that followed. It appears on \u003cstrong\u003eRolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time\u003c\/strong\u003e and is consistently ranked among the greatest albums ever made in any genre. The title derives from Waits' own coinage: the term \"rain dog\" refers to a dog who has lost its way home after rain has washed away all the familiar scent trails — a metaphor for the human figures that populate the album's nineteen songs, each one a displaced, marginalised or wandering character rendered with the specificity and compassion of a short story writer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe album was written in \u003cstrong\u003ea basement apartment in Lower Manhattan\u003c\/strong\u003e — the first Waits album written in New York — and its imagery is saturated with the particular texture of that city: Union Square, 9th \u0026amp; Hennepin, the waterfront, the merchant marine bars, the slaughterhouses. The band assembled for the recording is exceptional in its range and quality: \u003cstrong\u003eMarc Ribot\u003c\/strong\u003e (guitar) — making his first appearance on a Waits record — contributes playing of extraordinary inventiveness throughout, his tone veering between Django Reinhardt, free jazz and pure noise depending on the song's demands. \u003cstrong\u003eKeith Richards\u003c\/strong\u003e plays guitar on three tracks — \"Big Black Mariah\", \"Blind Love\" and \"Union Square\" — drawn to the sessions by a mutual admiration that had developed over years of parallel outsider status. The rhythm section moves between drummer \u003cstrong\u003eMichael Blair\u003c\/strong\u003e, percussionist \u003cstrong\u003eLarry Taylor\u003c\/strong\u003e and a variety of unconventional sound sources. Arrangements were contributed by \u003cstrong\u003eKathleen Brennan\u003c\/strong\u003e, whose creative partnership with Waits — formalised on \u003cem\u003eSwordfishtrombones\u003c\/em\u003e — is at the centre of the album's identity. The album opens with \u003cstrong\u003e\"Singapore\"\u003c\/strong\u003e — merchant marines, distant ports, Waits as shanty singer — and proceeds through nineteen distinct character studies: the accordion player in a slaughterhouse (\u003cstrong\u003e\"Cemetery Polka\"\u003c\/strong\u003e), the \"jockey full of bourbon\" (\u003cstrong\u003e\"Jockey Full of Bourbon\"\u003c\/strong\u003e), the withdrawn woman in an empty room (\u003cstrong\u003e\"Time\"\u003c\/strong\u003e), the wandering narrator of the title track, and the urban derelicts of \u003cstrong\u003e\"Union Square\"\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003e\"9th \u0026amp; Hennepin\"\u003c\/strong\u003e. \u003cstrong\u003e\"Downtown Train\"\u003c\/strong\u003e — a love song of considerable melodic directness, subsequently covered by Patti Smith and reaching the US top five in Rod Stewart's version — is the album's most immediately accessible track and one of its greatest. The closing \u003cstrong\u003e\"Anywhere I Lay My Head\"\u003c\/strong\u003e distils the album's thematic core — displacement, belonging, the search for rest — into five minutes of stately, organ-led blues.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis \u003cstrong\u003e2023 reissue\u003c\/strong\u003e on \u003cstrong\u003eUMR \/ Island Records\u003c\/strong\u003e is the \u003cstrong\u003efirst ever remaster of the album\u003c\/strong\u003e, sourced from the \u003cstrong\u003eoriginal ½\" flat master tape\u003c\/strong\u003e — remastered in \u003cstrong\u003e192kHz\/24-bit\u003c\/strong\u003e high-resolution audio by \u003cstrong\u003eChris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering\u003c\/strong\u003e under the guidance of Waits' longtime audio engineer \u003cstrong\u003eKarl Derfler\u003c\/strong\u003e, with vinyl lacquers cut by \u003cstrong\u003eAlex Abrash at AA Mastering\u003c\/strong\u003e. The reissue was personally overseen by \u003cstrong\u003eTom Waits and Kathleen Brennan\u003c\/strong\u003e. The original album packaging has been fully restored. Pressed on \u003cstrong\u003e180 gram black vinyl\u003c\/strong\u003e, Made in the EU. Five Island Records albums by Waits — \u003cem\u003eSwordfishtrombones\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eRain Dogs\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eFranks Wild Years\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eBone Machine\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Black Rider\u003c\/em\u003e — were reissued simultaneously across autumn 2023, each remastered from original sources.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eTracklist\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSide A\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSingapore\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eClap Hands\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCemetery Polka\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJockey Full of Bourbon\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTango Till They're Sore\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBig Black Mariah\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDiamonds and Gold\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHang Down Your Head\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTime\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRain Dogs\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSide B\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMidtown\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e9th \u0026amp; Hennepin\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGun Street Girl\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eUnion Square\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBlind Love\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWalking Spanish\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDowntown Train\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBride of Rain Dog\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAnywhere I Lay My Head\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eCredits\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTom Waits – Vocals, Instruments, Producer\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eKathleen Brennan – Producer, Arrangements\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMarc Ribot – Guitar\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eKeith Richards – Guitar (Big Black Mariah, Blind Love, Union Square)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMichael Blair – Drums, Percussion\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLarry Taylor – Bass, Guitar\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eChris Bellman – Mastering (Bernie Grundman Mastering)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAlex Abrash – Lacquer Cut (AA Mastering)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eKarl Derfler – Audio Engineering Supervision\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLabel – UMR \/ Island Records\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Tom Waits","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56368968401283,"sku":"488985 3","price":25.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0932\/9757\/4275\/files\/CS959028-01A-BIG.jpg?v=1756916591"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0932\/9757\/4275\/collections\/CS959028-01A-BIG_6cbf3111-36de-4d12-87c3-3c6c45e8d94f.jpg?v=1775927114","url":"https:\/\/vikingrecords.co.uk\/collections\/tom-waits-vinyl-records.oembed","provider":"Viking Records Ltd","version":"1.0","type":"link"}