Franks Wild Years

by Tom Waits

Franks Wild Years cover art
  • Type: Album
  • Released: 17 August 1987
  • Label: Island
  • Country: United States
  • Length: 56:39
  • Community rating: 4.11/5 from 9 ratings

Album Notes & Community Reviews

Conceived as a loose musical accompaniment to an unproduced theatrical play, this album delves deeply into the aesthetics of dark cabaret and avant-garde blues. Tom Waits utilizes an incredibly eclectic range of instrumentation, including pump organs, accordions, and Mellotrons, to score surreal, alcohol-soaked vignettes of urban decay and broken dreams. 'Franks Wild Years' concludes his highly acclaimed mid-80s musical trilogy with theatrical, gravel-voiced flair.

Genres

Descriptors: avant-garde, lounge, alcohol, conceptual, theatrical, male-vocals, experimental, percussive, crooning, narrative, dark-humor

Tracklist

  1. Hang On St. Christopher (2:44)
  2. Straight To The Top (Rhumba) (2:30)
  3. Blow Wind Blow (3:34)
  4. Temptation (3:53)
  5. Innocent When You Dream (Barroom) (4:15)
  6. I'll Be Gone (3:13)
  7. Yesterday Is Here (2:32)
  8. Please Wake Me Up (3:34)
  9. Franks Theme (1:46)
  10. More Than Rain (3:51)
  11. Way Down In The Hole (3:30)
  12. Straight To The Top (Vegas) (3:21)
  13. I'll Take New York (4:03)
  14. Telephone Call From Istanbul (3:11)
  15. Cold Cold Ground (4:07)
  16. Train Song (3:20)
  17. Innocent When You Dream (78) (3:08)

Credits

  • Tom Waits - primary artist, producer [produced by], vocals, written-by, vocals, electric organ [optigon], congas, vocals, pump organ, electric organ [optigon], vocals, guitar, pump organ, vocals, vocals, voice [rooster], vocals, guitar, tambourine, vocals, mellotron [melotron], electric organ [optigon], vocals [vocal stylings], vocals, electric organ [farfisa], drums, guitar, vocals, piano, vocals, pump organ
  • Jeff Price - art direction
  • Catharina Masters - coordinator [project coordinators]
  • Frankie Doctor - coordinator [project coordinators]
  • Jean-Baptiste Mondino - design concept [conception], photography by
  • Bill Higley - engineer [additional engineers]
  • David Glover - engineer [additional engineers]
  • David Knight - engineer [additional engineers]
  • Lorita De La Cerna - engineer [additional engineers]
  • Mike Kloster - engineer [additional engineers]
  • Stephen Shelton - engineer [additional engineers]
  • Tchad Blake - engineer [additional engineers]
  • Mathilde Lemann - make-up
  • Howie Weinberg - mastered by
  • Biff Dawes - mixed by, recorded by
  • Ellen Smith - producer [producer's assistant]
  • Danny Leake - recorded by
  • Greg Cohen - alto horn, arranged by [horn arrangements], pedalboard [leslie bass pedals], written-by
  • Michael Blair - drums, congas, glockenspiel, percussion, congas, maracas [marachas], marimba, bells [orquestra bells]
  • Marc Ribot - guitar, banjo
  • William Schimmel - pedalboard [leslie bass pedals], pump organ, piano, accordion, piano [cocktail piano]
  • Ralph Carney - tenor saxophone [tenor sax], saxophone [saxes], violin, baritone horn, saxophone [sax]
  • Larry Taylor - double bass [upright bass]
  • Francis Thumm - pump organ, piano [prepared piano]
  • Kathleen Brennan - arranged by [vocal arrangements], written-by
  • Jeff Moris Tepper - guitar
  • Jay Anderson - bass
  • Angela Brown - backing vocals [background vocals]
  • Leslie Holland - backing vocals [background vocals]
  • Lynne Jordan - backing vocals [background vocals]
  • David Hidalgo - accordion

More from Tom Waits: full discography