Details
Track Listing
1. Hang on St. Christopher
2. Straight to the Top (Rhumba)
3. Blow Wind Blow
4. Temptation
5. Innocent When You Dream (Barroom)
6. I'll Be Gone
7. Yesterday Is Here
8. Please Wake Me Up
9. Franks Theme
10. More Than Rain
11. Way Down in the Hole
12. Straight to the Top (Vegas)
13. I'll Take New York
14. Telephone Call From Istanbul
15. Cold Cold Ground
16. Train Song
17. Innocent When You Dream (78)
Album Notes
Personnel: Tom Waits (vocals, guitar, Mellotron, pump organ, Farfisa, drums, tambourine, congas); Morris Tepper (guitar); Marc Ribot (guitar, banjo); Ralph Carney (violin, tenor saxophone, baritone horn); David Hidalgo (accordion); William Schimmel (accordion, piano, pump organ, Leslie bass pedals); Greg Cohen (alto horn, bass, Leslie bass pedals); Francis Thumm (piano, pump organ); Michael Blair (glockenspiel, marimba, drums, percussion); Larry Taylor (acoustic bass); Jay Anderson (bass); Angela Brown, Lynne Jordan (background vocals).
Recorded at Sunset Sound and Sunset Sound Factory, Los Angeles, California, and Universal Recording Corp., Chicago, Illinois.
FRANKS WILD YEARS by Kathleen Brennan and Tom Waits had its theatrical debut with the Steppenwolf Theater Company in Chicago, Illinois on June 22, 1986.
Ostensibly a "concept" piece about the strange adventures of a ne'er-do-well named Frank, FRANK'S WILD YEARS is an album full of masterfully written songs and brilliant arrangements, whether one follows the conceptual thread or not. This final album in the loose trilogy that began with SWORDFISHTROMBONES expands upon the advances of its predecessors both in terms of hazy, dreamlike imagery and eclectic, exotic instrumentation.
Waits is nothing if not theatrical, and he plays a wide range of characters here. On the uproarious "Straight to the Top" he's a gonzo lounge singer. On "Innocent When You Dream" he's an old-world balladeer after too many whiskeys. He dons the preacher's cloak for "Down in the Hole," warning of the devil's powers, and he braves the top of his range for an unearthly shriek on "Temptation." Buoyed by the angular, eccentric accompaniment of Mark Ribot, Michael Blair and others, he rides an oddly wrought, multicolored train to musical glory.
Industry Reviews
Ranked #57 in AP's list of the `Top 99 Of '85-'95' - ...Tom Waits at his rosiest....The best part about FRANKS is that it [is] no rock record. It's truly a musical with Waits' avant, freakish touch, including the hitting of some off-color notes and Victrola-like warbles to add a touch of dementia to the mix...
Alternative Press (07/01/1995)
4 Stars - Excellent - ...Sad, delirious, soused and bedraggled by turns...tapped into a timeless wellspring of emotion, illuminating situations you never realized you'd experienced...
Q (10/01/1992)
Ranked #57 in AP's list of the `Top 99 Of '85-'95' - ...Tom Waits at his rosiest....The best part about FRANKS is that it [is] no rock record. It's truly a musical with Waits' avant, freakish touch, including the hitting of some off-color notes and Victrola-like warbles to add a touch of dementia to the mix...
Alternative Press (07/01/1995)
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