Wild Years: The Music and Myth of Tom Waits

Rating:
Summary: A very good biography
Review: I just finished reading both 'Wild Years' by Jacobs and 'Tom Waits' by Carroll (strangely that one is credited to Staunton on here). This was by far the better of the two books. It did a great job of covering Waits' music and acting and also gave you a sense that you knew the guy. I'd really recommend you read this book, if you like Waits or even if you were just curious about him.

Rating:
Summary: Dry
Review: I've just discovered Tom Waits in the last year and I've been wondering about his history. Well this book told me everything I needed to know. Man, what a funny guy and an interesting life. "Wild Years" is definitely worth the time and money!

Rating:
Summary: Very Informative Book
Review: Jacobs' has written an informative, interesting book about Tom Waits, one of my favorite artists. It reads like a who's who of creative geniuses as we trace Waits' life up to his current Epitaph recordings. The two best things about the book are the context it gives to each od his songs and the beautiful black and white photographs, which I wanted to cut out and paste to my apartment's walls. Obviously, the book no where near as breath-taking as Waits' music, but it's a great and rewarding accessory.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book!
Review: Jay S. Jacobs has done a remarkable job drawing us closer to the mystique and enigma that is Tom Waits. It's an extraordinary story. Expertly researched and immmaculately detailed, "The Wild Years" is just that, an absolutely riveting and engaging look at one of music's most provocative and insightful characters. A marvelous and thought provoking read.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book!
Review: Jay S. Jacobs has done a remarkable job drawing us closer to the mystique and enigma that is Tom Waits. It's an extraordinary story. Expertly researched and immmaculately detailed, "The Wild Years" is just that, an absolutely riveting and engaging look at one of music's most provocative and insightful characters. A marvelous and thought provoking read.

Rating:
Summary: A good basic source of information
Review: This book is pretty good if you want to get a feel for the human side of Tom Waits - I've been a fan of his music for years but never really know much about him. Of course, not much of the material in this book is from the horse's mouth, so to speak, so it does read a little like a patchwork quilt. In addition, Jacobs isn't the world's most engaging writer, but he's not bad either. One thing that bugged me was that Jacobs gets a little sloppy with the facts; for instance, there is a story at the beginning about a '55 caddy that Waits bought for $150 and sold for $12. About 20 pages later, the same story is told again, except this time the car was bought for only $125. It really didn't impact on the point of the story, but it was a little sloppy. Overall, worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: A good basic source of information
Review: This book is pretty good if you want to get a feel for the human side of Tom Waits - I've been a fan of his music for years but never really know much about him. Of course, not much of the material in this book is from the horse's mouth, so to speak, so it does read a little like a patchwork quilt. In addition, Jacobs isn't the world's most engaging writer, but he's not bad either. One thing that bugged me was that Jacobs gets a little sloppy with the facts; for instance, there is a story at the beginning about a '55 caddy that Waits bought for $150 and sold for $12. About 20 pages later, the same story is told again, except this time the car was bought for only $125. It really didn't impact on the point of the story, but it was a little sloppy. Overall, worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Decent
Review: This book on Tom Waits, one of my favorite artists, reads like one long newspaper article and most of the information seems to have come from past interviews. And considering that Waits himself loves to tell false facts to interviewers, it is hard to tell how much of this is fact and how much Tom is snickering about. The book also contains song-by-song commentary on almost every Waits album. The man's life was and is very interesting but Jacobs just did not hold my complete attention all the way through. It is quite funny due to Waits' quoted wisecracks. I feel the publisher's cover price is a little high, even for what the stores call an "oversized paperback". You will probably want to buy it here considering it is at a reduced price and also considering that this book shows up in local bookstores about as often and the man himself.

Rating:
Summary: A Well-Written Examination of a Persona
Review: Waits' fans are no strangers to paradox -- his music, steeped in its own history yet undeniably original, deeply textured as corrugated steel yet with a compassionate heart that doesn't quit, songs that reveal humanity's every weakness, and in doing so somehow redeem it. His music revels in its own originality without falling prey to self-indulgence.

So it shouldn't have surprised me that Tom Wait's biographies have been as badly written, speculative, and poorly directed as his music has been insightful and original. From his early years Waits portrayed the piano playing drunk, the street poet, the loser with dreams, and seemed to love using that voice to speak to the press. Interviewers were treated to long yarns about his life, loves and friends, yarns spun from a humorous imagination by a private man. Books trying to build on this paper foundation have fallen flat as last night's beer, and if some fans (and reporters) were annoyed by his evasions and stories, more were entertained by the them, and willingly accepted Waits as the character he portrayed, a seedy addition to American mythology.

Waits is not the first artist to use a stage persona as a privacy screen, but he was one of the most successful. It is my opinion that this avoidance was not so much a personal aversion to the limelight, but a desire to proect his music from himself. To that end, he only revealed the parts of himself that supported his music, and, like any good thespian, hid the machinery with the scenery.

Finally, someone got the point. Jay S. Jacobs writes about Waits from a thoughtful perspective unseen in previous biographers. Guiding us with a wink and a smile past the many myths and tall tales, Jacobs brings us backstage to the artist without knocking down his front door. Those looking for juicy details and scandalous stories will be disappointed-- the basics of his private life are related only in context of his musical career. Jacobs makes no attempt to analyse or interpret Waits' personality.

That being said, those looking for a portait of Waits the artist will be amply rewarded. The details of his career are recorded here as nowhere else; details of projects he's worked on, creative decisions and how they related to his goals and situation at the time, inspirations for songs both factual and fantastic, interviews with producers and musicians he has worked with broaden our view. Here too we see that the easygoing streetpoet is defended by an uncompromising artst who picks his fights carefully: his refusal to sell his music rights to sell products; his lawsuit against Frito Lay; his legal action against police officers who mistook him for someone they could abuse.

With each successive project, with each professional decision, we are given a block-by block construction of a remarkable career, which fell short (or steered clear?) of the commercial fast track in favour of a more winding road to a more unique, enduring and (I suspect) satisfying destiny.

I know that Waits himself does not approve of projects directed at his life; nevertheless as a musician I am deeply grateful to Jacobs for giving us biography. In the past I was moved and shaken by his music; now I am proud to count him as a role-model.