Tom Waits is tied with the Misfits for my favorite musical artist. He writes the best lyrics I've ever heard. Earth Died Screaming, Singapore, Eyeball Kid, etc. Man, that man's a genius.

Real Gone is outstanding - that may be my favorite of his - but that being said i only have 4 of his albums -

Closing Time
the second one
Real Gone
Mule Variations
Swordfish Trombones

well that is five - and I have a few burned copies of a few others I haven't processed yet -

anymore thoughts on mr. waits - he seems really cool to a neophyte

My favorites in no particular order:

Rain Dogs
swordfishtrombones
Franks Wild Years
Closing Time
Blue Valentine
Small Change
Bone Machine
Mule Variations
<p><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END-->"What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is that (the hurricane victims ) all want to stay in Texas. Everybody is so overhwlemed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this (chuckle)--this is working very well for them."—Barbara Antoinet-- erm... Bush</p>Edited by: Bert Fischer at: 11/21/05 1:05 am

he seems like one of those artists you could engulf yourself in - some of his music is very soothing - others cool - and some - to say the least is challenging - one day i will really dig into his cataloge - i think i dig closing time and real gone the best - kinda funny - his first and last

I have two of his albums (supposedly his best) with Swordfishtrombones and Rain Dogs with the former being my favorite out of the two.

One of the biggest "You either get it or you don't" musical talents ever.

I'm a huge fan of Nighthawks at the Diner. It's a live set and is amazing. But everything I've heard him do has been pretty damn good.