A creative left turn for Waits – written for an ambitious theatrical project, which to a certain degree takes him into surprising new territory and is all the more exciting for it – but still comes through as great late Island-era Tom Waits album in its own light! The Black Rider stage work was written in collaboration with Waits, director Robert Wilson and William Burroughs, and while the songs have the overtures and shaggy orchestral flourishes inherent to and geared to theater, the songs are still so distinctively Waits-ian in all its woozy glory. Includes "November", "Just The Right Bullets", "Black Box Theme", "Russian Dance", "I'll Shoot The Moon", "Crossroads", "Ain't No Sin", "Lucky Day", " The Briar And The Rose" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

One of the last couple of great records Waits made for Island, and a defining moment in his career! Leave it to Waits to cut a bunch of songs that wrestle with mortality and the fleeting nature of life head on, but have as much fun with it as he does worry or mourn. It's got some rumbling raw material as gritty as anything he'd recorded before or since, beautifully sung ballads and cool, creaky speak-singing tunes. Truly a signature effort and one for both the casual fans and Waits diehards. Includes the classic "I Don't Wanna Grow Up", "Earth Died Screaming" "Dirt In The Ground", "Such A Scream", "All Stripped Down", "Let Me Get Up On It", "Whistle Down The The Wind", "That Feel" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

Tom Waits's follow-up to Rain Dogs – and a batch of songs that do double duty as a straight-up, stand alone record from his wild years at Island Records – and also as the musical accompaniment to a play he co-wrote with wife Kathleen Brennan! (As Chicagoans, we have a special fondness for that side of the project, since the play premiered here with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company.) It's a prime batch of Waits songcraft from this most amazing creative peak period – with the trademark gritty, howled vocals, primal drums, pre-rock horns. Titles include "More Than Rain", "Way Down In The Hole", "Straight To The Top", "Telephone Call From Istanbul", "Train Song", "Cold Cold Ground", "I'll Be Gone", "Yesterday Is Here", "Blow Wind Blow", and "Hang On St Christopher". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the greatest albums from Tom Waits's peak years at Island – carrying on with the clattering, defiantly vintage-sounding instrumentation – especially given the obsessively modern production aesthetic on most major label albums in the mid 80s. This album also just so happens to feature at least a few of the best songs Waits ever wrote! Rain Dogs follows Swordfishtrombones, his first really drastic step into eccentrically gritty songs – and this one carries on that vibe, while also delivering some gritty ballads and a less out-there songs, too. Includes the much-loved (and deservedly so) "Downtown Train", "Singapore", "Clap Hands", "Tango Till They're Sore", "Hang Down Your Head", "Time", "Rain Dogs", "Gun Street Girl", "Walking Spanish" LP, Vinyl record album

One of best ever albums by Tom Waits – the beginning of his gutbuckety, Americana Carnivalesque era of dreamlike sinister romance and lovelorn surrealism! The tin pan piano ballads and get pushed a bit to the wayside for Tom's more mysterious and poetic side, and this begins one of the great second acts in pop/rock history. Includes the tracks "Underground", Shore Leave", "Dave The Butcher", "16 Shells From A Thirty-Ought-Six", "Franks Wild Years", "Down, Down, Down", "Rainbirds", "Just Another Sucker On The Vine", "Town With No Cheer, and others. LP, Vinyl record album