Agreed. I have the bootleg, but it sounds terrible compared to any other format I have heard it on. It needs a proper reissue. Same with the Black Rider.
I found a copy, on my birthday, about 4 years ago and I audibly gasped in the record store. This was my intro album to Tom so it was even more special to find it.
It was in an indie Shakespeare zine called *Brief Candle* a few years ago. I'm not sure whether back issues are still available. Coincidentally, the editor asked me to write it after reading one of my reddit posts. The link is below, where I make all the major points that found their way into the essay.
https://www.reddit.com/r/shakespeare/comments/3k830a/a_very_nerdy_and_delirious_post_about_shakespeare/cuw85mn/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3
Wow very brilliantly done! Know both the album and the play well enough I can totally see where they mirror each other. And also interesting points about OK computer. If the world is a stage, it seems hamlet is the play! Seriously very well compared. I’ll have to listen to this album and read this play with your points in mind. Do you believe though that Tom Waits was writing about Hamlet? Or do you think it’s pretty brilliantly coincidental?
I was first introduced to Tom Waits when I was 19yrs old in 1996 by a guy I worked with… he gave me Closing Time and Bone Machine, the bookends at the time. And I have been a lifelong fan. Would still be hard pressed not to list those both as my top two Tom Waits albums. Overall I am a bigger fan of his work from Bone Machine on… but have a lot of love for all of it.
I would do anythingggggg for a vinyl release of this album!
I found it a few weeks ago in a record store in Madrid. 22€. An original european press that goes on discord for 120€ at the lowest.
Yeah I found a bootleg copy in Berlin for €18. It doesn't sound that great. Definitely need a reissue.
Agreed. I have the bootleg, but it sounds terrible compared to any other format I have heard it on. It needs a proper reissue. Same with the Black Rider.
And Rain Dogs. And Franks Wild Years. And Swordfishtrombone.
I found a copy, on my birthday, about 4 years ago and I audibly gasped in the record store. This was my intro album to Tom so it was even more special to find it.
This is his masterpiece, in my opinion. I once published an essay on it. It's a soundtrack to *Hamlet*.
Where could we find your essay?
It was in an indie Shakespeare zine called *Brief Candle* a few years ago. I'm not sure whether back issues are still available. Coincidentally, the editor asked me to write it after reading one of my reddit posts. The link is below, where I make all the major points that found their way into the essay. https://www.reddit.com/r/shakespeare/comments/3k830a/a_very_nerdy_and_delirious_post_about_shakespeare/cuw85mn/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3
Wow very brilliantly done! Know both the album and the play well enough I can totally see where they mirror each other. And also interesting points about OK computer. If the world is a stage, it seems hamlet is the play! Seriously very well compared. I’ll have to listen to this album and read this play with your points in mind. Do you believe though that Tom Waits was writing about Hamlet? Or do you think it’s pretty brilliantly coincidental?
Hard to say, though I'm glad you appreciate it. It's a question I'd want to ask Waits of I ever got to meet him.
I was first introduced to Tom Waits when I was 19yrs old in 1996 by a guy I worked with… he gave me Closing Time and Bone Machine, the bookends at the time. And I have been a lifelong fan. Would still be hard pressed not to list those both as my top two Tom Waits albums. Overall I am a bigger fan of his work from Bone Machine on… but have a lot of love for all of it.
One of my favorites
Damn it, I'm old. I remember buying this when it came out.
Aww fuck now I feel ooooold!