What do you think?
Rate this book
Lowside of the Road: A Life of Tom Waits
Paperback. 640 English Three Rivers Press Spanning Tom Waits extraordinary 40-year career. from Closing Time to Orphans. Lowside of the Road is Barney Hoskyns unique take on one of rocks great enigmas Like Bob Dylan and Neil Young. . Waits is a chameleonic survivor whos achieved long-term success while retaining cult credibility and outsider mystique From his perilous jazzbo years in 70s Los Angeles to the multiple-Grammy winner of recent years -. by way of such shape-shifting 80s albums as Swordfishtrombones - this exhaustive biography charts Waits life step-by-step and album-by-album.Affectionate and penetrating. and based on a combination of assiduous research and deep critical insight. this is a outstanding investigation of a notoriously private artist and performer - the definitive account to date of Tom Waits life and work.
609 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
132 people are currently reading
1051 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 120 reviews
January 30, 2010
If listening to Waits was as boring as reading this book, we’d have never heard of him.
This wasn’t authorised, and Hoskyns has major difficulty in ‘building a bridge’ regarding his lack of access to Waits and his coterie. He still tries to find out about the ‘real’ Waits, based on secondary materials, ex-muso friends since ditched from use, and the public record. This is just plodding.
The fabulist Waits could have a great shaggy tale spun about him, a visioning of him from the outside, populated with his own vivid characters. I’m thinking something like Greil Marcus and his Elvis incantations, but Hoskyns isn’t the man for this.
He is a music journalist. Ideal for this cardboard.
Track by track analysis (and I don’t have his sweet tooth for the sentimental bums of the early years). Cod psychology about the influence of his parents and alcoholism. Skirting around his obvious dislike of Waits’ ‘Yoko’ his wife Kathleen Brennan. According to Hoskyns, you like the Bukowski Waits, the crooner and faux-lowlife of the Asylum years, OR the screaming, metal-clanging carney-barker of recent times. Not both. Or neither, wholesale.
I used to have a partner who was a mild Dylan obsessive. I say ‘mild’ in comparison to the FREAKS I was introduced to at the one fan convention I have ever attended, where Adrian Rawlins stole my cigarettes and I was introduced an accountant from New Zealand with a ‘tache only slighty broader than Hitler’s, who owned thirty-thousand Dylan recordings. You’ve never met a duller man.
Waits attracts the slavish love of dullards, like poor Bob. He’s a slippery fellow. His experimental music can be as expected and comforting as a Beatles wig-out, but you feel like an acolyte. I mean, no one actually wants to listen to Beefheart, dude.
Hoskyns is so obsessed with persona, with the projected voices in Waits’ songs, that if you’d never heard him you’d think it was all fakery, arch and art-school. But his music is far from it – embodying the profound truths to be found in fiction.
I don’t love everything Waits does – the slushy balladeering, the bullhorn frightfests, the Tod Browning schtick. But the first album I bought, having heard Step Right Up jive out of my radio circa 1985, was Swordfishtrombones. Schwa? By the same guy? Talking drums, sweet melodies, attic-junk language. The hook went in pretty deep.
And whomever edited this book at Faber and Faber should be bitch-slapped. It’s at least a hundred pages too long. The footnotes are so self-congratulatory they read like the amateur memoir of a minor diplomat.
This wasn’t authorised, and Hoskyns has major difficulty in ‘building a bridge’ regarding his lack of access to Waits and his coterie. He still tries to find out about the ‘real’ Waits, based on secondary materials, ex-muso friends since ditched from use, and the public record. This is just plodding.
The fabulist Waits could have a great shaggy tale spun about him, a visioning of him from the outside, populated with his own vivid characters. I’m thinking something like Greil Marcus and his Elvis incantations, but Hoskyns isn’t the man for this.
He is a music journalist. Ideal for this cardboard.
Track by track analysis (and I don’t have his sweet tooth for the sentimental bums of the early years). Cod psychology about the influence of his parents and alcoholism. Skirting around his obvious dislike of Waits’ ‘Yoko’ his wife Kathleen Brennan. According to Hoskyns, you like the Bukowski Waits, the crooner and faux-lowlife of the Asylum years, OR the screaming, metal-clanging carney-barker of recent times. Not both. Or neither, wholesale.
I used to have a partner who was a mild Dylan obsessive. I say ‘mild’ in comparison to the FREAKS I was introduced to at the one fan convention I have ever attended, where Adrian Rawlins stole my cigarettes and I was introduced an accountant from New Zealand with a ‘tache only slighty broader than Hitler’s, who owned thirty-thousand Dylan recordings. You’ve never met a duller man.
Waits attracts the slavish love of dullards, like poor Bob. He’s a slippery fellow. His experimental music can be as expected and comforting as a Beatles wig-out, but you feel like an acolyte. I mean, no one actually wants to listen to Beefheart, dude.
Hoskyns is so obsessed with persona, with the projected voices in Waits’ songs, that if you’d never heard him you’d think it was all fakery, arch and art-school. But his music is far from it – embodying the profound truths to be found in fiction.
I don’t love everything Waits does – the slushy balladeering, the bullhorn frightfests, the Tod Browning schtick. But the first album I bought, having heard Step Right Up jive out of my radio circa 1985, was Swordfishtrombones. Schwa? By the same guy? Talking drums, sweet melodies, attic-junk language. The hook went in pretty deep.
And whomever edited this book at Faber and Faber should be bitch-slapped. It’s at least a hundred pages too long. The footnotes are so self-congratulatory they read like the amateur memoir of a minor diplomat.
September 27, 2009
An extremely unauthorized bio of Tom Waits, this book leads us from Waits' beginnings at the Troubador up until the Glitter and Doom tour this past year.
Honestly, I mostly never really want to know the person behind my favorite music and Waits has become one of my top favorites. I don't know, I guess I always figure that I'll be really disappointed if the person turns out to be a jackass and kicks puppies or something. I'm still a huge fan of Waits, probably even more so now.
This took forever to read because I didn't realize (or pay attention to the fact that) I missed almost everything in Waits' early career. I pretty much was introduced around Swordfishtrombone and went from there. The Waits I always liked was the gruff, hoarse, eccentric who pounded on chest of drawers to get percussion (Mule Variations being one of my absolute favorites). Who knew?
I ended up downloading virtually everything in the Waits discography and listening to it as I read the book, which accounts for why it took so damn long to finish. Closing Time is a Waits I never knew existed and one that I really like, although it doesn't eclipse the post-swordfish era.
Although I disagreed with the author....often...I still think this had a lot of great insight into the making of everything in the Waits vault and is fairly well rounded. Clearly there are issues with Brennan being a songwriting partner that I don't have, but to each their own
Honestly, I mostly never really want to know the person behind my favorite music and Waits has become one of my top favorites. I don't know, I guess I always figure that I'll be really disappointed if the person turns out to be a jackass and kicks puppies or something. I'm still a huge fan of Waits, probably even more so now.
This took forever to read because I didn't realize (or pay attention to the fact that) I missed almost everything in Waits' early career. I pretty much was introduced around Swordfishtrombone and went from there. The Waits I always liked was the gruff, hoarse, eccentric who pounded on chest of drawers to get percussion (Mule Variations being one of my absolute favorites). Who knew?
I ended up downloading virtually everything in the Waits discography and listening to it as I read the book, which accounts for why it took so damn long to finish. Closing Time is a Waits I never knew existed and one that I really like, although it doesn't eclipse the post-swordfish era.
Although I disagreed with the author....often...I still think this had a lot of great insight into the making of everything in the Waits vault and is fairly well rounded. Clearly there are issues with Brennan being a songwriting partner that I don't have, but to each their own
February 28, 2013
I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon and criticize this book because it's "unauthorized."
The great majority of biographies are unauthorized. I've read and enjoyed biographies of George Washington and Michel de Montaigne, I remember, and the authors labored without the benefits of cooperation from the dead subjects. The job of a biographer is to document and illuminate the subject's life, and this can be done -- is routinely done -- without the assistance of the subject.
Hoskyns says -- and demonstrates, through copies of email messages -- that some members of Waits's inner circle declined to provide interviews or other information that would have made writing the book easier. The book might have contained more anecdotes if they had aided Hoskyns, and might even have been more insightful, but their refusal to help is not a serious obstacle to a professional biographer, which Hoskyns is.
Suppose Waits and his closest cronies decided to cooperate fully. That might have transformed Hoskyns's book from a critical, objective view of a complex artist into an "authorized biography." Have you read such books, the ones that result when the subject of the book has an opportunity to control the narrative, influence the spin? I've read a few authorized biographies and as a whole, they suck.
So...if an uncooperative subject is neither unusual nor a crippling handicap for a biographer, why does Hoskyns keep mentioning Waits's reluctance to reveal himself? Precisely because this reticence, in the biographer's view, is a key element of Waits's character. Hoskyns does a fine job of documenting the way Waits has hidden from the press and his own audience over the years, in addition to biographers. A biography that failed to note Waits's feints and masks would be incomplete and incorrect.
This biography is extensively documented, which I found refreshing and impressive. The thorough analyses of individual songs surprised me, but I found they added to my understanding of Waits and they helped me get more out of the songs the next time I heard them.
I didn't give Hoskyns five stars because ultimately I would have liked to read a page that characterized Waits's art as a consistent search or effort or arc. Yes, his songs can famously be divided into periods. But they are all unified, too, by a vision. Emotional truth and immediacy, fascination with marginal characters...Hoskyns mentioned all of this, but a grand summation would not have been unwelcome.
For those who would have preferred an authorized biography -- well, I think you're missing the mark.
The great majority of biographies are unauthorized. I've read and enjoyed biographies of George Washington and Michel de Montaigne, I remember, and the authors labored without the benefits of cooperation from the dead subjects. The job of a biographer is to document and illuminate the subject's life, and this can be done -- is routinely done -- without the assistance of the subject.
Hoskyns says -- and demonstrates, through copies of email messages -- that some members of Waits's inner circle declined to provide interviews or other information that would have made writing the book easier. The book might have contained more anecdotes if they had aided Hoskyns, and might even have been more insightful, but their refusal to help is not a serious obstacle to a professional biographer, which Hoskyns is.
Suppose Waits and his closest cronies decided to cooperate fully. That might have transformed Hoskyns's book from a critical, objective view of a complex artist into an "authorized biography." Have you read such books, the ones that result when the subject of the book has an opportunity to control the narrative, influence the spin? I've read a few authorized biographies and as a whole, they suck.
So...if an uncooperative subject is neither unusual nor a crippling handicap for a biographer, why does Hoskyns keep mentioning Waits's reluctance to reveal himself? Precisely because this reticence, in the biographer's view, is a key element of Waits's character. Hoskyns does a fine job of documenting the way Waits has hidden from the press and his own audience over the years, in addition to biographers. A biography that failed to note Waits's feints and masks would be incomplete and incorrect.
This biography is extensively documented, which I found refreshing and impressive. The thorough analyses of individual songs surprised me, but I found they added to my understanding of Waits and they helped me get more out of the songs the next time I heard them.
I didn't give Hoskyns five stars because ultimately I would have liked to read a page that characterized Waits's art as a consistent search or effort or arc. Yes, his songs can famously be divided into periods. But they are all unified, too, by a vision. Emotional truth and immediacy, fascination with marginal characters...Hoskyns mentioned all of this, but a grand summation would not have been unwelcome.
For those who would have preferred an authorized biography -- well, I think you're missing the mark.
September 10, 2012
Well, this is going to be an odd review--by virtue of it's subject, I suppose that makes sense. The first thing I must do is put it out there that I am a huge fan of Tom Waits. I was not always. My partner for 9 years was a devoted fan (as many professional musicians are) and his preferred Waits was generally the later, "scarier" Waits. When we lived together I remember going in and asking him to turn the volume down on some Waits he was listening to as it was literally making it impossible for me to sleep as it was so creepy coming through the doors of the small house we lived in. That was my intro to Waits. Somehow, I came around from that and ended up starting at the start with Mr. Waits--his first album. I fell madly in love--with the music and the man. Everything about his early work speaks to me--it's Beat and jazz sensibility, the hobo poetry of it, the rusty beauty, the sentimentality. However, I did not stop with his first album--I continued--and it seemed to me that the more off the beaten track Tom's music went, the more off the beaten track I went. It's made his music a part of my soul (and I don't f*ckin' care if that's corny)---as if we grew up together. He got weirder and I got weirder (or more like his expression of his weirdness became more obvious as did mine). So I consider all his music to be brilliant and worthy because I believe he's a genuine person-particularly musically-so himself he could never be anything else. I can sit and listen to "Closing Time" and feel sappy and enthralled--or I can listen to "Mule Variations" or "Bone Machine" and feel inspired, stimulated and filled with goose bumps. I wait with bated breath for every new thing he does.
Like any fan, I am interested in my hero's life. Like any human being, Tom Waits does not want to share his personal life with everyone on the block. This can put a person at odds with their fans. But if you love an artist, you can understand how they would not want to be a butterfly on a pin in someone's exam room. That is their right and an increasingly hard won right, sadly.
Now, onto the book--first I have to say that it was probably unwise for the author to mention immediately that he had a problem with Waits and his wife's need for privacy. He may have danced around saying he was pissed off, but that's exactly what it was. And, in the tradition of so many music fans and writers before him, he chose to take the easy and sexist way out and blame Tom's wife, collaborator,muse and soul mate. He admits himself throughout the book that Waits has always been private--even before his marriage to Kathleen. But he returns to bashing her (even if it is with a velvet mallet) again and again--intimating that she is a female Svengali, even hinting that she might not contribute as much as Waits says she does (so ridiculous) and that she controls Waits (as if THAT were possible) and even that her presence and contribution to his work has lessened it. He literally ends the book with an appendix of emails he was sent by various people who knew Waits, turning him down for interviews because the book was unauthorized and they wanted to respect Tom and Kathleen's wishes that their privacy be respected. This is a man with a vendetta--he wants to be sure everyone knows how he was godfathered out of some damn good info by the evil empire known as Mr. and Mrs. Waits. His anger at this is so constant that it is incredibly distracting. Much of the book is made up of interviews taken from magazines and background information that any dedicated writer would have access to. This is totally fine--I learned a lot about Tom Waits through his own words in the book and through the words of people who have known him. I could have done without the sneaky bashing that literally fills the book. This guy has a chip on his shoulder--he interviewed Waits before and he thinks that means he should have full access in all areas--when treated like any other journalist--he gets mad. It has a creepy stalker tone to it at times--he even mentions near the end of the book that he considered approaching Tom's kids on their tour with him in the U.K. and how that would not go over well with Tom==I found that disturbing--one of the kids was only 15 at the time. On top of that, he is so obviously biased about enjoying Tom's early work and disliking so much of his later work (he is inconsistent here--sometimes praising a song and then two pages later making snarky remarks about the same song). There is no law that says one must love all of Tom Waits music--there are fans who only like one or the other and there are fans that like it all (as I do--you don't speak for us all Mr. Hoskyns, whether you would like everyone to believe you do or not) but not all fans fit into one mold as he intimates at the end of the book. Because he can't enjoy a concert fully because it's not a greatest hits collection from the seventies really only reflects on him as a music writer--he should be much more open minded than he is if he is going to attempt to write a book.
There are also some complaints in the nature of the writing that bother me--you could literally make a drinking game out of his constant comparisons to Nick Cave and his constant references to Cave's book And the Ass Saw the Angel-everybody chug! It's minor but it bothers me that he refers to Branson in a smart ass way and yet he calls it "Branford"---attempting to use the irony of something is pretty ineffectual when you don't even know the correct name. There is also a very comical tone of snotty "Britishness" about his writing (and I say this being an Anglophile and also someone who has for my best girlfriend in the world a very proud Liverpudlian)and an overuse of the term "cod" (meaning faux in the way he uses it here) that drove me up a wall.
I will admit that the one thing I agree with him about (and many folks feel this way--I would rather not agree with this guy at all if possible) is that Waits treated Bones Howe pretty badly. The rest of the people who literally whine in the book about not being in Wait's close circle just come off as bitter and pissed that this cool dude and his awesome wife don't want to hang with them anymore---the musicians Waits has worked with get a lot of sympathy from me--it would be hard to work with such an amazing person and then see them work with others--musicians are a jealous lot (especially backing musicians) so I understand their feelings but as I myself and my partner have experienced lately, sometimes you just lose people a long the way--your life changes, their lives change, geography, philosophy etc--these all cause rifts or just driftings among people. It's not always a deliberate vendetta. But I do believe it would be kind to include Howe in his life as his contribution to Tom's evolution is very large. Otherwise, while it would be sad for them, it's not hard to understand that a musician would need to change up his backing group as he changes his style and evolves. But that's my personal feeling--and Waits does not have to live by my feeling or the feelings of anyone else. Bottom line, I walked away loving Waits as much as ever, feeling a bit more comfortable about his need of privacy (if this type of journalist is lying in wait for you, you'd be private too) and knowing more about his musical evolution, which I really wanted to know. I also walked away thinking he may well be the best musical husband to ever walk--devoted to and equal partners with the love of his life. So the author for me is a dick, but he managed to gather together a lot of information and that and my love for Waits is where the 3 stars come from. I would not give you a plug nickel from "Branford" for the author himself.
Like any fan, I am interested in my hero's life. Like any human being, Tom Waits does not want to share his personal life with everyone on the block. This can put a person at odds with their fans. But if you love an artist, you can understand how they would not want to be a butterfly on a pin in someone's exam room. That is their right and an increasingly hard won right, sadly.
Now, onto the book--first I have to say that it was probably unwise for the author to mention immediately that he had a problem with Waits and his wife's need for privacy. He may have danced around saying he was pissed off, but that's exactly what it was. And, in the tradition of so many music fans and writers before him, he chose to take the easy and sexist way out and blame Tom's wife, collaborator,muse and soul mate. He admits himself throughout the book that Waits has always been private--even before his marriage to Kathleen. But he returns to bashing her (even if it is with a velvet mallet) again and again--intimating that she is a female Svengali, even hinting that she might not contribute as much as Waits says she does (so ridiculous) and that she controls Waits (as if THAT were possible) and even that her presence and contribution to his work has lessened it. He literally ends the book with an appendix of emails he was sent by various people who knew Waits, turning him down for interviews because the book was unauthorized and they wanted to respect Tom and Kathleen's wishes that their privacy be respected. This is a man with a vendetta--he wants to be sure everyone knows how he was godfathered out of some damn good info by the evil empire known as Mr. and Mrs. Waits. His anger at this is so constant that it is incredibly distracting. Much of the book is made up of interviews taken from magazines and background information that any dedicated writer would have access to. This is totally fine--I learned a lot about Tom Waits through his own words in the book and through the words of people who have known him. I could have done without the sneaky bashing that literally fills the book. This guy has a chip on his shoulder--he interviewed Waits before and he thinks that means he should have full access in all areas--when treated like any other journalist--he gets mad. It has a creepy stalker tone to it at times--he even mentions near the end of the book that he considered approaching Tom's kids on their tour with him in the U.K. and how that would not go over well with Tom==I found that disturbing--one of the kids was only 15 at the time. On top of that, he is so obviously biased about enjoying Tom's early work and disliking so much of his later work (he is inconsistent here--sometimes praising a song and then two pages later making snarky remarks about the same song). There is no law that says one must love all of Tom Waits music--there are fans who only like one or the other and there are fans that like it all (as I do--you don't speak for us all Mr. Hoskyns, whether you would like everyone to believe you do or not) but not all fans fit into one mold as he intimates at the end of the book. Because he can't enjoy a concert fully because it's not a greatest hits collection from the seventies really only reflects on him as a music writer--he should be much more open minded than he is if he is going to attempt to write a book.
There are also some complaints in the nature of the writing that bother me--you could literally make a drinking game out of his constant comparisons to Nick Cave and his constant references to Cave's book And the Ass Saw the Angel-everybody chug! It's minor but it bothers me that he refers to Branson in a smart ass way and yet he calls it "Branford"---attempting to use the irony of something is pretty ineffectual when you don't even know the correct name. There is also a very comical tone of snotty "Britishness" about his writing (and I say this being an Anglophile and also someone who has for my best girlfriend in the world a very proud Liverpudlian)and an overuse of the term "cod" (meaning faux in the way he uses it here) that drove me up a wall.
I will admit that the one thing I agree with him about (and many folks feel this way--I would rather not agree with this guy at all if possible) is that Waits treated Bones Howe pretty badly. The rest of the people who literally whine in the book about not being in Wait's close circle just come off as bitter and pissed that this cool dude and his awesome wife don't want to hang with them anymore---the musicians Waits has worked with get a lot of sympathy from me--it would be hard to work with such an amazing person and then see them work with others--musicians are a jealous lot (especially backing musicians) so I understand their feelings but as I myself and my partner have experienced lately, sometimes you just lose people a long the way--your life changes, their lives change, geography, philosophy etc--these all cause rifts or just driftings among people. It's not always a deliberate vendetta. But I do believe it would be kind to include Howe in his life as his contribution to Tom's evolution is very large. Otherwise, while it would be sad for them, it's not hard to understand that a musician would need to change up his backing group as he changes his style and evolves. But that's my personal feeling--and Waits does not have to live by my feeling or the feelings of anyone else. Bottom line, I walked away loving Waits as much as ever, feeling a bit more comfortable about his need of privacy (if this type of journalist is lying in wait for you, you'd be private too) and knowing more about his musical evolution, which I really wanted to know. I also walked away thinking he may well be the best musical husband to ever walk--devoted to and equal partners with the love of his life. So the author for me is a dick, but he managed to gather together a lot of information and that and my love for Waits is where the 3 stars come from. I would not give you a plug nickel from "Branford" for the author himself.
October 28, 2012
Lowside of the Road is an unauthorized biography of Tom Waits by Barney Hoskyns, published in 2009. I'm going to come clean and say upfront that I haven't read many biographies I really loved and I don't read that many biographies period. I really liked the Patty Smith book, Just Kids, and although I'm no Rolling Stones fan, I thought Keith Richards' book Life was excellent. Tuffy P read this one and while she didn't recommend it without reservation, she said it was well worth reading. We both have been listening to Tom Waits' music for many years and the draw here for us was to simply learn a little about the man behind the music.
Part of the problem Hoskyns had in attempting an unauthorized biography of Waits is simply that Waits has made an effort to lead a private live, in particular over the past three decades. Work life and family life are separate, although Waits' wife Kathleen Brennon is certainly a partner in their music-making and their son Casey is also a musician. At the end of the book, Hoskyns published a series of emails from people who chose to respect the Waits' family privacy rather than talk to the biographer.
The first half of the book was far and away more interesting than the second half. I'll admit I was curious about how Waits got started about how he developed the early beat-hobo-drunk routine. I was curious about Chuck E Weiss and about Ricky Lee Jones, and I was curious about what the heck Waits was doing opening for Zappa and company to audiences that had no interest in his music. And so now I know, and it's all interesting enough. More interesting than all that is Waits' music, music which stands on its own feet very well. As a music fan, I'm interested in who played on the albums and all that business but the book didn't tell me anything about the music that the music didn't tell me better.
I'd say if you dig the music and you just need to know, the book is pretty good, particularly the first half. That's curious, since I think Waits' music has grown increasingly interesting over the years. While I liked Ol' 55 and many of the other early songs, Waits' musical growth has been spectacular.
Part of the problem Hoskyns had in attempting an unauthorized biography of Waits is simply that Waits has made an effort to lead a private live, in particular over the past three decades. Work life and family life are separate, although Waits' wife Kathleen Brennon is certainly a partner in their music-making and their son Casey is also a musician. At the end of the book, Hoskyns published a series of emails from people who chose to respect the Waits' family privacy rather than talk to the biographer.
The first half of the book was far and away more interesting than the second half. I'll admit I was curious about how Waits got started about how he developed the early beat-hobo-drunk routine. I was curious about Chuck E Weiss and about Ricky Lee Jones, and I was curious about what the heck Waits was doing opening for Zappa and company to audiences that had no interest in his music. And so now I know, and it's all interesting enough. More interesting than all that is Waits' music, music which stands on its own feet very well. As a music fan, I'm interested in who played on the albums and all that business but the book didn't tell me anything about the music that the music didn't tell me better.
I'd say if you dig the music and you just need to know, the book is pretty good, particularly the first half. That's curious, since I think Waits' music has grown increasingly interesting over the years. While I liked Ol' 55 and many of the other early songs, Waits' musical growth has been spectacular.
August 1, 2012
I haven't spent much time with biographies, so I wanted to pick an interesting one. And I did. Lowside of the Road: A Life of Tom Waits. If you're not familiar with the artist and actor, he's had an interesting life, and even though this wasn't an "authorized" biography, Barney Hoskyns does a decent job in outlining Waits's life.
While I love Waits's music, I probably would have gotten a lot more out of the book if I had been much more familiar with it. I know several songs, but I'm not enough of a fan to be familiar with all his albums - so the background on each one would have been that much more interesting, I'm sure.
I enjoyed reading about his early life and the authors that had an impact on him. Based on that, I added several authors to my Goodreads lists - Kerouac, Bukowski, and some of their contemporaries who told the stories of those whose stories otherwise wouldn't be heard.
It was interesting to hear about different parts of his life, working at the same label as the Eagles (and considering them too "pop"), a fling with Bette Midler, and some of the films I wasn't even familiar with. I'll have to check those out. One bit of inaccuracy I have to take the Hoskyns to task for: the character Waits played in the superhero film Mystery Men did not invent the "Psycho-fraculator" (the machine that Casanova Frankenstein was going to use to enter the city). The devil's in the details...
And one of the issues of this book is the details. It seems like the author collected every detail he could find - and then crammed then in the book. I'm sure many things were left on the cutting room floor, but 500 pages of text (and over 100 more of prologue, cast, appendices, and index) is a lot to cram into a book.
That being said, I enjoyed the read. If you're a Waits fan, check it out. If not, there's probably not much here for you.
I'm going to go listen to Jockey Full of Bourbon again.
While I love Waits's music, I probably would have gotten a lot more out of the book if I had been much more familiar with it. I know several songs, but I'm not enough of a fan to be familiar with all his albums - so the background on each one would have been that much more interesting, I'm sure.
I enjoyed reading about his early life and the authors that had an impact on him. Based on that, I added several authors to my Goodreads lists - Kerouac, Bukowski, and some of their contemporaries who told the stories of those whose stories otherwise wouldn't be heard.
It was interesting to hear about different parts of his life, working at the same label as the Eagles (and considering them too "pop"), a fling with Bette Midler, and some of the films I wasn't even familiar with. I'll have to check those out. One bit of inaccuracy I have to take the Hoskyns to task for: the character Waits played in the superhero film Mystery Men did not invent the "Psycho-fraculator" (the machine that Casanova Frankenstein was going to use to enter the city). The devil's in the details...
And one of the issues of this book is the details. It seems like the author collected every detail he could find - and then crammed then in the book. I'm sure many things were left on the cutting room floor, but 500 pages of text (and over 100 more of prologue, cast, appendices, and index) is a lot to cram into a book.
That being said, I enjoyed the read. If you're a Waits fan, check it out. If not, there's probably not much here for you.
I'm going to go listen to Jockey Full of Bourbon again.
June 21, 2009
Barney Hoskyns does an excellent job, both in his documentation of Waits' artistic and personal evolution, and in his ability to simply write about music that brings to life the sights, sounds, and sensations of the music scene. He shows us a talented, thoughtful, troubled, and often humorous Tom who should probably have his own book of aphorisms. Hoskyns does all this despite some unfortunate obstacles that Tom himself seems to put in place, including preventing Barney from interviewing the people who knew Tom best. In fact, there's a rather poignant addendum to this book where letters from these people, at first enthusiastic and then, politely retreating due to their profound loyalty to Tom, are presented. This is eloquently handled and in fact, I love the line in the beginning where Barney writes:
“All of which puts a biographer in the invidious position of feeling like a parasite feeding on a resentful host.”
Even if you know nothing about Tom Waits, this book is a fascinating biography of an artist, as much as an era, filled with details and people you will recognize, both in music and film. There are quite a few interesting photos included, plus you also get surprising nuggets such as Tom's thing for Elaine Boosler...who knew? And since I am a big Rickie Lee Jones fan, (although she's not featured much in this book) I was heartened to see that Barney handled their relationship with tact. In fact, I think he should write a biography of her. Apparently she's a willing subject, and just think what he could do with that!
“All of which puts a biographer in the invidious position of feeling like a parasite feeding on a resentful host.”
Even if you know nothing about Tom Waits, this book is a fascinating biography of an artist, as much as an era, filled with details and people you will recognize, both in music and film. There are quite a few interesting photos included, plus you also get surprising nuggets such as Tom's thing for Elaine Boosler...who knew? And since I am a big Rickie Lee Jones fan, (although she's not featured much in this book) I was heartened to see that Barney handled their relationship with tact. In fact, I think he should write a biography of her. Apparently she's a willing subject, and just think what he could do with that!
May 19, 2017
For music to mean anything to me it has to reach me on an emotional level and few singer-songwriters have managed to do that. I rarely use the word genius to describe a musician and my list is a short one; Lennon/McCartney, Dylan, Roger Waters, Johnny Cash, and the least recognized and subject of this book, Tom Waits. “Jersey Girl” is usually associated with Bruce Springsteen, but he did not write it, Waits did. Same thing with “Ol “55,” a major hit for the Eagles amd written by Waits at twenty years old and included on his first album “Closing Time.” Before reading the book, listen to Tom’s versions of those songs and “Time” and my personal favorite, “On A Nickel.” No words can describe the gravelly voiced troubadour. He reaches the depths of the conquered, the dispossessed and the desperate better than any singer, past or present, and the author agrees, “He is as an important American artist as anyone the 20th century has produced.” The narrative is a helpful backdrop to the soundtrack of Wait’s life. An alcoholic father and pious Quaker mother created an extremely complex human being and empathic artist, “I have always felt that there is always something Christ like about beggars.” Ultimately, Waits repeats the sins of his father, becoming an alcoholic, but he is saved by his “Jersey Girl,” an Irish Catholic lass from the Garden state who he claims was a love at first sight occurrence. Strangely enough, the Hollywood ending actually began on the set of Francis Ford Coppola’s “One from the Heart” which earned Waits an Oscar nomination for the soundtrack. In the final chapter, Waits has morphed into a family man with his sons on tour with him and on stage. My favorite quote of Wait’s,” On mortality; how do you avoid it? We’re decomposing as we go. We’re the dead on vacation. It’s not a theme I need to pursue, it pursues me.” Another gem; “Leona Helmsley’s dog made 12 million dollars last year, Dean Mclaine, a farmer in Ohio made $30,000. It’s a gigantic version of the madness that grows in every one of our brains. We are monkeys with money and guns.”
Historian Simon Schama wrote in the Guardian in 2006, “There is something almost Shakespearean about the breadth of Tom Waits take on American life.” I agree, as does the author, “He is still taking more risks than all the other singer-songwriters of his generation put together.” I cannot put it any better. Before reading the book, listen to as much of Wait’s music as possible in order to appreciate his great talent.
Historian Simon Schama wrote in the Guardian in 2006, “There is something almost Shakespearean about the breadth of Tom Waits take on American life.” I agree, as does the author, “He is still taking more risks than all the other singer-songwriters of his generation put together.” I cannot put it any better. Before reading the book, listen to as much of Wait’s music as possible in order to appreciate his great talent.
May 8, 2012
When I was a student in apartheid era South Africa, in the 1980s, it was hard to come by information about what was happening just over the hill. To find out personal details of completely obscure (to South Africans) musicians like Waits or Cohen was near impossible. No media here carried stories on them.
For years, myths grew up: Cohen was in jail for killing his wife. Rodriguez shot himself on stage/ was in jail for drugs/ had fled to Mexico after killing his brother/ had given up music and become a lawyer. I never believed any of these things. I was more inclined to believe my friend Grant, who always said, regarding Rodriguez: I bet you he's building decks or roofs in Philladelpia or somewhere.
An aside: Rodriguez was a musician who made two albums in the early seventies in America, then vanished. But over the next 25 years he became massive with whites in South Africa, and pretty big in Oz and New Zealand.
Eventually, in the late 90s, two South Africans tracked him down. He was a cabinet maker in Detroit!
But the myth of Waits in the 80s was that he was a street hobo, and some record industry dude had heard him busking on the street.
"He'd lived his whole life on the street ek se! I'm chooning you! It's true, ek se!"
I did kinda believe that for a year or two.
And after reading this book, I kinda wish I still did. I sort of enjoyed the book, because by the time it came out I was a huge fan. I knew the basics of his life: had been a bit of a drunk, met Kathleen, cleaned himself up etc etc. So it was cool to read more. But for what's actually in the book... Well, I expect a good music biography to do more than go through each album song by tedious song.
I wanted a glimpse into the head of this man who makes this astonishing, amazing, mad poignant music. Music that on some level seems to be the most fitting soundtrack for the world going to hell in a handbasket.
But it just wasn't there.
Two and a half stars.
For years, myths grew up: Cohen was in jail for killing his wife. Rodriguez shot himself on stage/ was in jail for drugs/ had fled to Mexico after killing his brother/ had given up music and become a lawyer. I never believed any of these things. I was more inclined to believe my friend Grant, who always said, regarding Rodriguez: I bet you he's building decks or roofs in Philladelpia or somewhere.
An aside: Rodriguez was a musician who made two albums in the early seventies in America, then vanished. But over the next 25 years he became massive with whites in South Africa, and pretty big in Oz and New Zealand.
Eventually, in the late 90s, two South Africans tracked him down. He was a cabinet maker in Detroit!
But the myth of Waits in the 80s was that he was a street hobo, and some record industry dude had heard him busking on the street.
"He'd lived his whole life on the street ek se! I'm chooning you! It's true, ek se!"
I did kinda believe that for a year or two.
And after reading this book, I kinda wish I still did. I sort of enjoyed the book, because by the time it came out I was a huge fan. I knew the basics of his life: had been a bit of a drunk, met Kathleen, cleaned himself up etc etc. So it was cool to read more. But for what's actually in the book... Well, I expect a good music biography to do more than go through each album song by tedious song.
I wanted a glimpse into the head of this man who makes this astonishing, amazing, mad poignant music. Music that on some level seems to be the most fitting soundtrack for the world going to hell in a handbasket.
But it just wasn't there.
Two and a half stars.
May 23, 2010
I knew that I would not learn heaps about Waits from any biography, as he is one of the most private entertainers around. However, that being said, Hoskyns had interviewed Waits many times and had a good knowledge about some of what makes Wait tick. Hoskyns is quite vocal about his own preferences in regard to Waits's music, but he does nice song by song reviews of the albums as they come in context with the timeline. It made me want to read a book on the recording sessions themselves, how some things were done for sounds and vocals, like the Beatles Recording Sessions book. Maybe some day. Still, there was nothing in the book that made me not like Waits quite so well, which sometimes happens with biographies, especially unauthorised. I laughed at all the letters to the author from his hoped-for contacts and interviews for the book, which politely refused any information as they are so loyal to the Waits camp.
I think any Waits fan would be interested in this book, if only for some background info regarding the music changes over the years, how Waits got into the business, the tours and the wonderful stories that do come from Waits himself. He is brilliant man who cannot be pinned onto a page.
I think any Waits fan would be interested in this book, if only for some background info regarding the music changes over the years, how Waits got into the business, the tours and the wonderful stories that do come from Waits himself. He is brilliant man who cannot be pinned onto a page.
July 12, 2020
Another fabulously researched and written book by Hoskyns. His love and respect for Waits was clear. As was his quandary about whether to write a book about someone who strongly protects his personal life and reveals very little about his art; preferring for people to make their own conclusions and, in so doing, strengthening the enigma that Waits has created for himself. His frustration at Waits not playing the biography game comes across at times and that would be my my criticism but I believe that this was born from him believing that he would be a safe and respecting pair of hand for Waits to trust. Hoskyns had of course, interviewed Waits and got to know the inner sanctum but that was not enough. The email trail at the end of the book reads as a desperate justification to the reader for publishing an unauthorised book. That said, I found this to be a very well written and thoroughly researched book and may be my favourite of his so far having read his 'Hotel California' and 'Across the Great Divide' books as well as 'Ragged Glories', his book of essays and articles.
April 29, 2014
This book was sort of a guilty pleasure for me. The author - British music critic Barney Hoskyns - attempts to pry into the determinedly private life of his subject. We ask & expect so much from our heroes and artists.
The story within the story is kind of funny - Hoskyns' frustrating attempts to get first-person perspectives, info & stories - when he himself appears to be such a great fan. It's amazing how loyal and protective others were of Waits. I think that says a lot about the man - and more power to him.
Nevertheless, it's a valuable reference source to Waits' work, for those not familiar with the breadth of his oeuvre. It is quite broad and prodigious, at that.
Music critics have contributed so much to my own understanding and appreciation of music. I love hearing what people like about songs; their emotional response; an insight or background. I hope ol' Tom is comfortable, after all, with the book...
The story within the story is kind of funny - Hoskyns' frustrating attempts to get first-person perspectives, info & stories - when he himself appears to be such a great fan. It's amazing how loyal and protective others were of Waits. I think that says a lot about the man - and more power to him.
Nevertheless, it's a valuable reference source to Waits' work, for those not familiar with the breadth of his oeuvre. It is quite broad and prodigious, at that.
Music critics have contributed so much to my own understanding and appreciation of music. I love hearing what people like about songs; their emotional response; an insight or background. I hope ol' Tom is comfortable, after all, with the book...
October 25, 2021
Uno de los artistas más singulares e influyentes del orbe, activo desde principio de los años 70, cuando el folk rock comenzaba a mostrarse como una forma de expresión natural en los escenarios del oeste norteamericano, es desnudado en muchas de sus facetas desconocidas por Hoskyns en esta biografía primordial para entender la dimensión del genio. El libro recorre la infancia de Waits y la influencia de la cultura mexicana en su vida (a partir de los viajes que realizaba su padre a la Tijuana convulsa de los años 50), sus primeros pasos como portero de El Trobadour y las oportunidades iniciales como cantante, sus relaciones amorosas más notables y sus primeros discos, hasta su vida más reciente como el músico tan genial como huraño y metódico que conocemos, un Tom Waits celoso de su vida privada, amoroso padre y esposo y un amigo incierto y hasta conflictivo. Ojalá haya una nueva colaboración que cierre los paréntesis abiertos que deja este libro no autorizado por el cantante.
February 7, 2011
The further I read in Hoskyns biography, the more I was reminded of A.J. Weberman, the guy who spent years digging through Bob Dylan's trash and analyzing it. I was surprised when, a few pages before the end of this Tom Waits biography, Hoskyns asks himself, and his readers, whether he isn't doing something like Weberman. My answer is yes, and it's not pretty. While Hoskyns cites Waits' clear statements about the need to keep some part of his life private, and the relationship between mystery and art, Hoskyns clearly holds it against Waits that he refused to authorize this biography and refused access to himself and his family, and then discouraged close friends from talking with Hoskyns. He opens the book with this gripe and includes an appendix of e-mails from friends of Waits who have turned down his requests for interviews. Sour grapes, and they sour the whole project.
September 3, 2019
The bulk of this book is an interesting look at the early life and discography of Waits and how his friends and relationships affected him as an artist, but my concern with the book stems from the author's clear annoyance with Waits and his family's desire for privacy. It made for an awkward introduction, but became almost embarrassing by the end, when the author began to deride Tom's later albums seemingly out of spite. It was clear the author didn't know how to end the book, and it unravels over the last 30 or so pages, but the middle 80% is fascinating, with plenty of funny, thoughtful quips by Tom. But be forewarned: this is an unauthorized bio and the author won't let you forget it, even going so far as to print all the emails from Tom's friends who agreed to respect Tom and Kathleen's wishes for privacy. That was a kind if snotty on the author's part, but so it goes.
January 14, 2024
Considering that this is an unauthorised biography, Hoskyns does an unbelievable job of pulling together insights and views on both Waits’ work and life. It’s as compelling as anything the musician has produced, a fantastic, meandering story which ultimately ends well with his wife Brennan and a secure family grounding the wild young man into solid, productive middle-age (arguably his most productive and progressive period). Fabulously well-researched, bringing together voices from all aspects both from Waits’ musical - and acting - careers.
February 24, 2022
As good as any biography can be about a guy who doesn’t want a biography.
July 24, 2023
The book was interesting enough for me to finish, but I certainly felt like I had to put some work in around the halfway mark, and I finished it mostly out of persistence.
Its main sin is that it is bogged down by its details, with its endless lists of colloborators for each album, its unrestrain when it comes to tangents (Rickie Lee Jones), and its tendency to namedrop*. All in all it could have been significantly shorter or relegated a lot of stuff to endnotes.
*It assumes and requires a very deep knowledge of the American music scene, across 4 decades and a number of genres, lacking that, the first 3rd of the book will either have an ungodly amount of namedrops and references to obscure acts that the reader is entirely unaware of, or about 7 Youtube searches per pages, for the reader to get a feel of just what kind of music the author is describing.
With that being said, I certainly gained something from reading it:
-a detailed understanding of the chronology and evolution of his career (I now know which album/phase fits which mood e.g. Rain Dogs for an urban feel, Frank's Wild Years for European, late 70s for Cinematic) (but that is stuff one could glean from a sufficiently careful reading of the wikipedia entry)
-in a number of cases the author provides backstories to songs, which makes them even more interesting than they were
-The main strong point of the book are its descriptions of songs, the author is very capable and creative at desribing the ever-stranger textures and composition of TW's songs. And there is a peculaliar value in being able to describe with words sounds which felt then ineffable.
Lastly, a concern I have is that it also possibly demythologizes it's subject, a possibly unavoidable side effect of detailed knowledge, but one which I felt the book did not work against at all.
Its main sin is that it is bogged down by its details, with its endless lists of colloborators for each album, its unrestrain when it comes to tangents (Rickie Lee Jones), and its tendency to namedrop*. All in all it could have been significantly shorter or relegated a lot of stuff to endnotes.
*It assumes and requires a very deep knowledge of the American music scene, across 4 decades and a number of genres, lacking that, the first 3rd of the book will either have an ungodly amount of namedrops and references to obscure acts that the reader is entirely unaware of, or about 7 Youtube searches per pages, for the reader to get a feel of just what kind of music the author is describing.
With that being said, I certainly gained something from reading it:
-a detailed understanding of the chronology and evolution of his career (I now know which album/phase fits which mood e.g. Rain Dogs for an urban feel, Frank's Wild Years for European, late 70s for Cinematic) (but that is stuff one could glean from a sufficiently careful reading of the wikipedia entry)
-in a number of cases the author provides backstories to songs, which makes them even more interesting than they were
-The main strong point of the book are its descriptions of songs, the author is very capable and creative at desribing the ever-stranger textures and composition of TW's songs. And there is a peculaliar value in being able to describe with words sounds which felt then ineffable.
Lastly, a concern I have is that it also possibly demythologizes it's subject, a possibly unavoidable side effect of detailed knowledge, but one which I felt the book did not work against at all.
April 10, 2018
I have been trying to get a hold of this book for some time now - apparently, it went out of print for a short while. I found it out in Fremantle in JAN. I have been fascinated by the artistry of Tom Waits for decades, ever since I first heard him on a Salt Lake City radio station in the late 70's. While I only have a handful of his vast musical output and have seen only some of the films he has appeared, I respect his artistry. This is an unauthorised biography, ie Mr Waits refused to co-operate and even asked his friends and recent associates to avoid talking to the author. Still, the book is well researched and many musicians, promoters and record execs did speak. For me, it gave me what I needed- what were his influences from family life, to his earliest musical experiences - the sounds that shaped his own sound and there is that in spades. The book dives into his early career as a beatnik wanna be. When Tom's first albums came out he was a reaction against arena rock as it was developing and the California country rock sound. He got caught in between mixing up be-bop jazz, spoken word and poetry. As he realised he needed to break away from this in the 80's, and his spreading his wings into cinema, in the guise of Robert Altman and Jim Jarmusch and then the theatre world of Robert Wilson, he dove right into experimental music and found sounds. If you wish to know what makes Tom Waits tic this book is a good start. I also recently bought Uncut's Tom Wait's Ultimate Record collection. All in all, both will help me flesh out a Route 66 radio show on Tom Waits jukebox.
August 5, 2022
Tom Waits is, by design, a mysterious character, simultaneously gregarious and cagey, a raconteur and a conman whose music toes the line of artifice and innovation. I love him the way one loves a pro-wrestler; part of the fun is distinguishing reality from “the act,” and scrutinizing his discography for clues that the act has become the real thing. Hoskyns approaches this book with respect for the mystery of Waits, though not to the extent that he listened to Waits’/Brennan’s clear resistance to the book’s very existence. Of the three books I’ve read by Hoskyns, this is my favorite, as he really excels having a single person (as opposed to a place or scene) to focus his narrative around. At times Hoskyns plays the role of dogged private eye, pursuing promised interviews that are then denied. As far as primary sources from Waits himself, Hoskyns had to rely on published interviews, including a few he did before he started writing the book. But he talks to dozens of collaborators and acquaintances to put together an intriguing portrait of Waits the musician and performer. Lowside of the Road works as a deeply compelling book, but never demystifies Waits to such an extent that it strips away his allure. If anything, it left me with an admiration for the depth of Waits’ persona and, even more so, for his work ethic. And who needs the truth when you can have art instead?
November 9, 2023
Hoskyns is a professional, and he's written some very good books, but like his tome on The Band, this isn't necessarily one of them. It is far longer than it should be, and it is obvious that the author is trying to compensate for the lack of access to his principal subject and the unwillingness of many of those closest to Waits to talk about him by including impressionistic accounts of virtually every song on every album. It doesn't work. It's boring. Having said that, there is a lot of interesting information herein that should keep any fan engaged, but too much to engage a newcomer to Waits' lengthy and complex career. In the interest of disclosure, I have listened to many, but not all, of Waits' albums and think at least two (Swordfishtrombones and Rain Dogs) are certified masterpieces, and I have seen many, but not all, of his film performances, of which the most endearing by far remains Down By Law. I regard him as the second most important American songwriter of the past 50 years, after Randy Newman. I hope someday someone can write a definitive biography of the man, but I suspect it will have to wait until after his death.
May 21, 2020
I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, it’s well written and much of the information was new to me. I would consider Tom Waits one of my “top 3” favorite artists, so I appreciate all of the information shared in this book.
That said, while I feel this book is worth reading, too often the author inserts himself into the story - more so his opinions. Especially in regards to Waits’ latter years working with his wife, the author becomes kind of a drag. He “nay says” songs and albums I, and other many fans I would think, really enjoy. It’s kind of a shame. The “Glitter and Doom” tour was a highlight of my life - at the age of 19 - and for the author to cut down “Lucinda” and the setlist... I understand people have opinions, but... I just don’t feel they were well placed. All in all, it was a good book, although somewhat disappointing.
That said, while I feel this book is worth reading, too often the author inserts himself into the story - more so his opinions. Especially in regards to Waits’ latter years working with his wife, the author becomes kind of a drag. He “nay says” songs and albums I, and other many fans I would think, really enjoy. It’s kind of a shame. The “Glitter and Doom” tour was a highlight of my life - at the age of 19 - and for the author to cut down “Lucinda” and the setlist... I understand people have opinions, but... I just don’t feel they were well placed. All in all, it was a good book, although somewhat disappointing.
August 9, 2022
Growing up, I had been introduced to Tom Waits' music (and the writings of Charles Bukowski) and enjoyed both of them but didn't really know much of how that connection went. This author has clarified this to the degree that what he writes is pretty much either in the public record or otherwise received from various second and third hand sources. It must be challenging (and obviously a labor of love) to compile a biography of someone who really doesn't want people to know his private business. This "unauthorized" tome, accented by the author providing an entertaining string of emails at the end of people ultimately declining to speak on the record about Tom Waits, is really well done. It made me want to seek out more of his work and to listen to his newer material and to look up the various films in which he appeared.
December 31, 2022
"I like beautiful melodies telling you terrible things."
This seems to be the best biography of Tom Waits on the market. It provides as full a picture of our beloved, very private Tom as we can probably wish for. That said, I'm giving this 4 stars because of the content, not because of the way it was written. Barney inserts way too many shoddy opinions and useless details and does not give us enough of Tom's words themselves. There are several references to certain people being "gay" or "homosexual" when it has absolutely no bearing or relevance to the story being told. Barney is a fairly predictable relic of the 20th century and his writing often reflects this.
A shorter version of this might have been welcomed. A nicely edited collection of Tom's interviews would be even better.
A fairly fine read, though.
This seems to be the best biography of Tom Waits on the market. It provides as full a picture of our beloved, very private Tom as we can probably wish for. That said, I'm giving this 4 stars because of the content, not because of the way it was written. Barney inserts way too many shoddy opinions and useless details and does not give us enough of Tom's words themselves. There are several references to certain people being "gay" or "homosexual" when it has absolutely no bearing or relevance to the story being told. Barney is a fairly predictable relic of the 20th century and his writing often reflects this.
A shorter version of this might have been welcomed. A nicely edited collection of Tom's interviews would be even better.
A fairly fine read, though.
Read
July 27, 2011Hmmm. I think the problem with reading a book about someone you admire is that you have your own version of that person tucked away in your head. My key problem with this book is that the author and I both love Tom Waits, yet each of us have a very different, mutually exclusive view of him.
I made a mistake in that I began this book by reading the appendix containing the author's top 40 Waits songs. Exactly half of these were drawn from the Asylum/Electra period and sentimental ballads in the 'Kentucky Avenue' mode feature very prominently.
This is, of course, personal preference and sounds petty but a man who in his 'Top 40' list only manages one track from the majestic 'Franks Wild Years' (an album which in the book he summarises as "unrewarding"), nothing from 'The Black Rider' and by his own admission has little interest in anything Waits has released post 'Heart Attack and Vine' has entirely missed the point and his views are worthless to me. Personally, whilst I enjoy Waits early albums, I feel he only began to show his true greatness with 'Swordfishtrombones', when he began to develop his sound in more unconventional directions. If Barney Hoskyns likes music that doesn't challenge this is fine, but I think he is backing the wrong horse and - given his apparent love of piano balladry - should perhaps get some Liberace albums or something. Content yourself with musical puree Mr Hoskyns but I will have mine on the bone.
Not, by the way, that I have a problem with Waits' ballads, I just feel that in his early albums he erred too far into Spielbergian mawkishness. I prefer the genuine emotional power of songs such as 'Time' (one of the many baffling omissions from Hoskyn's list).
Okay, a second major problem is that Waits did not want Hoskyns to write a book about him, he refused to take part in its creation and asked his friends not to speak to the author. Understandably Hoskyns seems to have been hurt by this and whilst he is not so crass as to start slinging mud there is, nonetheless, a feeling of bitterness towards Waits that colours the book.
I understand Hoskyns feelings here and, yes, it is a shame that Waits would not take part. However, I think what you have to remember - painful though this is - is that as a Waits fan you may love the man - I never met anyone who thought he was 'okay', Waits is a musician who polarises people, you either love him or hate him - but he does not love you back, he does not need you in the way you need him. Hoskyns does not seem to see this and appears to take Waits' cold shoulder very personally.
However - and this is a point the author himself somewhat disingenuously raises - if someone doesn't want you to write about their personal life, what gives you the right to do so? (I guess by extension I would have to ask if it was okay for me to read it, I guess it wasn't but I still did). This may seem a contradictory stance for Waits to take as someone who, perhaps more than most artists, has made a career out of their persona. However I think that word 'persona' is key. Waits in interview has always been a famous teller of tall tales and has frequently stated that he largely just makes stuff up as it is more interesting than the truth. I think Waits genius as a self mythologiser is that he makes explicit the fact that his public persona is largely a fiction and I think that whilst this fascinates people, the blurring of the boundary between Tom Waits the man and 'Tom Waits' the artist. What Waits understands though is that ultimately, if you try to separate fact from fiction you will only be disappointed. It is the tension between the real and the ireal that generates that sense of mystery and for Waits to actively collude in dispelling this would be counterproductive. Also lets face it: an interesting lie is better than a mundane truth.
Hoskyns professes some awareness of this, though he does not address the issue in any meaningful way. Perhaps this is intentional, due to the implications for the validity of his biography, however primarily I think this is because he cant tell when Waits is bullshitting. Frequently he presents obvious fantasies from Waits' previous interviews as fact. For example a story about Waits gravely-throated uncle coughing up a surgical instrument during Thanksgiving dinner is presented as a straight fact, as is a story about another uncle who had a full size church organ in his house with the pipes sticking out of the roof.
So what does this leave? We have a guy who, for my money, needs to go back and actually listen to Waits' later albums writing a book on Tom Waits with no involvement from Waits - and consequently none from anyone currently close to him. This means that the book is largely cannibalised from old interviews - which many of us have read - with long descriptive passages describing Waits albums. I have heard all Waits' albums many, many times and trust my perceptions of them over Hoskyns' any day. What redeems the book to some extent though is some insightful interviews with people who worked with Waits early in his career. Sadly Waits does seem to have a habit of dropping people and as such his early collaborators were free to talk to the author without jeopardising their standing with Waits. This coupled with the author's enthusiasm for this period makes it an interesting read, its just a shame that Hoskyns cant maintain this enthusiasm - or offer any insight on - the later, more interesting, stages of Waits' career.
I made a mistake in that I began this book by reading the appendix containing the author's top 40 Waits songs. Exactly half of these were drawn from the Asylum/Electra period and sentimental ballads in the 'Kentucky Avenue' mode feature very prominently.
This is, of course, personal preference and sounds petty but a man who in his 'Top 40' list only manages one track from the majestic 'Franks Wild Years' (an album which in the book he summarises as "unrewarding"), nothing from 'The Black Rider' and by his own admission has little interest in anything Waits has released post 'Heart Attack and Vine' has entirely missed the point and his views are worthless to me. Personally, whilst I enjoy Waits early albums, I feel he only began to show his true greatness with 'Swordfishtrombones', when he began to develop his sound in more unconventional directions. If Barney Hoskyns likes music that doesn't challenge this is fine, but I think he is backing the wrong horse and - given his apparent love of piano balladry - should perhaps get some Liberace albums or something. Content yourself with musical puree Mr Hoskyns but I will have mine on the bone.
Not, by the way, that I have a problem with Waits' ballads, I just feel that in his early albums he erred too far into Spielbergian mawkishness. I prefer the genuine emotional power of songs such as 'Time' (one of the many baffling omissions from Hoskyn's list).
Okay, a second major problem is that Waits did not want Hoskyns to write a book about him, he refused to take part in its creation and asked his friends not to speak to the author. Understandably Hoskyns seems to have been hurt by this and whilst he is not so crass as to start slinging mud there is, nonetheless, a feeling of bitterness towards Waits that colours the book.
I understand Hoskyns feelings here and, yes, it is a shame that Waits would not take part. However, I think what you have to remember - painful though this is - is that as a Waits fan you may love the man - I never met anyone who thought he was 'okay', Waits is a musician who polarises people, you either love him or hate him - but he does not love you back, he does not need you in the way you need him. Hoskyns does not seem to see this and appears to take Waits' cold shoulder very personally.
However - and this is a point the author himself somewhat disingenuously raises - if someone doesn't want you to write about their personal life, what gives you the right to do so? (I guess by extension I would have to ask if it was okay for me to read it, I guess it wasn't but I still did). This may seem a contradictory stance for Waits to take as someone who, perhaps more than most artists, has made a career out of their persona. However I think that word 'persona' is key. Waits in interview has always been a famous teller of tall tales and has frequently stated that he largely just makes stuff up as it is more interesting than the truth. I think Waits genius as a self mythologiser is that he makes explicit the fact that his public persona is largely a fiction and I think that whilst this fascinates people, the blurring of the boundary between Tom Waits the man and 'Tom Waits' the artist. What Waits understands though is that ultimately, if you try to separate fact from fiction you will only be disappointed. It is the tension between the real and the ireal that generates that sense of mystery and for Waits to actively collude in dispelling this would be counterproductive. Also lets face it: an interesting lie is better than a mundane truth.
Hoskyns professes some awareness of this, though he does not address the issue in any meaningful way. Perhaps this is intentional, due to the implications for the validity of his biography, however primarily I think this is because he cant tell when Waits is bullshitting. Frequently he presents obvious fantasies from Waits' previous interviews as fact. For example a story about Waits gravely-throated uncle coughing up a surgical instrument during Thanksgiving dinner is presented as a straight fact, as is a story about another uncle who had a full size church organ in his house with the pipes sticking out of the roof.
So what does this leave? We have a guy who, for my money, needs to go back and actually listen to Waits' later albums writing a book on Tom Waits with no involvement from Waits - and consequently none from anyone currently close to him. This means that the book is largely cannibalised from old interviews - which many of us have read - with long descriptive passages describing Waits albums. I have heard all Waits' albums many, many times and trust my perceptions of them over Hoskyns' any day. What redeems the book to some extent though is some insightful interviews with people who worked with Waits early in his career. Sadly Waits does seem to have a habit of dropping people and as such his early collaborators were free to talk to the author without jeopardising their standing with Waits. This coupled with the author's enthusiasm for this period makes it an interesting read, its just a shame that Hoskyns cant maintain this enthusiasm - or offer any insight on - the later, more interesting, stages of Waits' career.
March 18, 2024
I'm a Tom waits fan but apparently not enough of one to read 500 pages about him. I made it to 215 before bagging it, and it took me a couple of months to plod through them. The author spends too much time drawing conclusions about Waits from listening to his songs, though he says Waits was not terribly cooperative in talking to him. So 500 pages? It was interesting to find out how Waits started and who some of his cronies were. But I finally called it a day about when the author was moving into some Waits albums that I hadn't had the time or interest to listen to much.
August 11, 2018
Once you get past the initial “this book is an unauthorized biography and this is what I did to try and make it an authorized one”, the book actually takes off. It is obvious that Mr. Hoskyns has great respect for Mr. Waits, and is a great fan of his music. And if he never really gets to “know” the real Tom Waits, he seems okay with the idea of protecting Tom and Kathleen’s privacy. I found it to be thoroughly enjoyable (after the first chapter or so) and an enlightening read.
November 27, 2019
Thoroughly entertaining account of trying to unravel Tom’s mystery
Wish we had an authorised book but still loved it. My only gripe is that I don’t agree with the authors music tastes and don’t necessarily think he should be so confident of the value of the songs that he subjectively likes or dislikes. I like Lucinda
Wish we had an authorised book but still loved it. My only gripe is that I don’t agree with the authors music tastes and don’t necessarily think he should be so confident of the value of the songs that he subjectively likes or dislikes. I like Lucinda
May 17, 2022
Did not finish, as about 10 pages in, the author makes several ableist and uninformed damaging remarks about autism and neurodivergence. As an autistic person, this made the rest of the book hard to read, knowing his beliefs and preconceived notions. I love Tom Waits though and am giving two starts because before that I was legitimately enjoying the book.
June 14, 2023
I didn't finish it. I read 200 pages and I love Tom Waits, but It got boring to me, I want it to know more about the mindset in each album and you get a little bit of that but got to sit through gossip and other details. And example of why biopics left things on the cutting room to save the narrative.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 120 reviews