DEEp CuTs

Nigel Pulsford on lost-classic guitar albums you must hear

Tom Waits Rain Dogs Island Records 1985

The songs of Rain Dogs marry perfectly with Waits’ eclectic choice of instrumentation to create an idiosyncratic vision of a crumbling cityscape, like a journey across town just before dawn with Tom lurching from bar to bar to perform a song with different house bands. The tracks move effortlessly across genres, every song a perfectly-illustrated novella.

The sound of Rain Dogs is organic. Nothing manufactured by Roland here. The drums and percussion clatter and rattle. Marimbas, horns, guitars, accordions, violins, banjos and organs punctuate, inform and corrupt the soundscape. There’s such beauty within the chaos, from the pathos of Downtown Train to the New Orleans swagger of

Anywhere I Lay My Head. There’s even a nod to Mingus with Midtown!

Guitar-wise it never fails to inspire and surprise. Marc Ribot had his first real introduction to the wider public with this album. His style – a sort of skewed marriage of jazz, blues, soul and absurdity all performed with chutzpah – is mesmerising. Keith Richards appears on a few tracks, slotting easily into Waits’ groove. Robert Quine is also notable along with Tom who plays a lot of accompanying guitar himself. Further Listening: Swordfishtrombones, Bad As Me, Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards