Which Tom Waits pressings are the Waits-y-ist

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Lance-Vance-the-Rapper

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Hi all. Does anyone know which specific pressings of Tom Wait's discography are worth acquiring on vinyl--specifically in regards to sound quality? On Discogs, some of his albums have a decent amount of notation and information regarding a pressing's quality (e.g. *Rain Dogs*). But others, like the pressings for *Frank's Wild Years*, indicate almost nothing. So if ya know something....
 
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Lance-Vance-the-Rapper said:
Hi all. Does anyone know which specific pressings of Tom Wait's discography are worth acquiring on vinyl--specifically in regards to sound quality? On Discogs, some of his albums have a decent amount of notation and information regarding a pressing's quality (e.g. *Rain Dogs*). But others, like the pressings for *Frank's Wild Years*, indicate almost nothing. So if ya know something....
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Might be worth popping your question over here as well: The Tom Waits Thread
 
Originals are all good. The Rhinos from a few years back of the first few Asylum albums are great, but make sure you get the Chris Bellman re-cuts as the Ron McMaster cuts were not good, hence the re-cuts.

Not sure I've heard of great reissues of the Island years. I think the MOVs are supposed to be alright. I've had good luck finding originals of Swordfishtrombones and Rain Dogs at good prices on eBay. I need to get a copy of Frank's Wild Years.
 
dhodo said:
Originals are all good. The Rhinos from a few years back of the first few Asylum albums are great, but make sure you get the Chris Bellman re-cuts as the Ron McMaster cuts were not good, hence the re-cuts.

Not sure I've heard of great reissues of the Island years. I think the MOVs are supposed to be alright. I've had good luck finding originals of Swordfishtrombones and Rain Dogs at good prices on eBay. I need to get a copy of Frank's Wild Years.
Click to expand...

Thaaaaaat is incredibly helpful--thank you so much! 💯 For me, find out the quality of a pressing plant that's more than about 25-30 years old is a bit trickier (and often pricier) than some of the newer ones (for example, don't touch United with a 20-foot pole).

Frank's is a tough one to come by, and all the official Bone Machine pressings are both *stupid* expensive. But! Maybe VMP will do a repressing of some of these one day...? (Doubt it, how bad could it be to dream in this day-and-age?) Anywho, thanks so much again!
 
Lance-Vance-the-Rapper said:
Thaaaaaat is incredibly helpful--thank you so much! 💯 For me, find out the quality of a pressing plant that's more than about 25-30 years old is a bit trickier (and often pricier) than some of the newer ones (for example, don't touch United with a 20-foot pole).

Frank's is a tough one to come by, and all the official Bone Machine pressings are both *stupid* expensive. But! Maybe VMP will do a repressing of some of these one day...? (Doubt it, how bad could it be to dream in this day-and-age?) Anywho, thanks so much again!
Click to expand...
I haven't found too many bad pressings on 70s and 80s albums by big labels as long as they weren't using recycled vinyl or something. Pretty much any plant back then outperformed our Rainbow, United's, GZ, Third Mans. Wear and tear is almost always a bigger concern for vintage vinyl, but if you find a decent seller and get VG+ or better, you should be good. Can always complain if the rating is bad.

Man I would kill for a (great) reissue of Bone Machine!
 
dhodo said:
I haven't found too many bad pressings on 70s and 80s albums by big labels as long as they weren't using recycled vinyl or something. Pretty much any plant back then outperformed our Rainbow, United's, GZ, Third Mans. Wear and tear is almost always a bigger concern for vintage vinyl, but if you find a decent seller and get VG+ or better, you should be good. Can always complain if the rating is bad.

Man I would kill for a (great) reissue of Bone Machine!
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Hell yeah, thanks for the tip 🍻

And for real: I'd say that, from what I can garner from my fairly limited purview, Bone Machine could probably use a repress more than almost any of Wait's other albums. The boots are noisy rubbish and I haven't seen any of his other albums selling for higher than this one (which I'm guessing has something to do with it coming out around the times CDs became the biggest thing since sliced bread...?)
 
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