Swordfishtrombones is an album by American singer-songwriter Tom Waits, released in September 1983. It was the first album that Waits produced himself and is marked as such by a sense of artistic freedom that would increasingly characterize his later work. Stylistically different from his previous LPs, Swordfishtrombones moves away from the piano and string orchestra arrangements of the late seventies replacing them instead with unusual instrumentation and a somewhat more abstract songwriting approach. Swordfishtrombones peaked at #164 on Billboard's Pop Albums and Billboard 200 albums chart. In 1989, Spin Magazine named Swordfishtrombones the second greatest album of all time. Read more on Last.fm.
For an album to be ahead of its time nearly thirty years after its release is a testament to its genius. This, and all Tom’s records that followed, were a experiential lesson in our Great American Mythology, one that evoked a truly inimitable pastiche and required all the senses to appreciate. It’s still the most original music I’ve ever known, and yet it’s all so familiar, rooted firmly (and with supreme authenticity) in the blues. This record could be a time capsule all its own, and the superhumans of the future can process and dissect all its sounds at once, getting an idea for all that made us radical and rotten. Oh, and that VOICE … !