Blood Money is up there with Waits's best albums from the mid-'80s, veering as it does from sexy insomniac circus music to gorgeously heart-tugging lullabies to woozy zigzag bluesy romps to what can only be described as Oscar the Grouch singing out of tune on top of the soundtrack to an old French film. Blood Money's 13 songs were cowritten by Tom Waits and longtime collaborator and wife Kathleen Brennan for a Robert Wilson production of Georg Büchner's unfinished, protomodernist 1837 play, Woyzeck, about a Kafkaesque German soldier who goes crazy after doing medical experiments for money and kills his girlfriend after witnessing a perceived infidelity. The album's worldview is, necessarily, bleak. The lyrics are hilariously misanthropic, occasionally hallucinatory, and ring with the truth of Tin Pan Alley clichés turned inside out. "Coney Island Baby," in particular, is a grand statement, with Waits delicately croaking the lines "She's a rose, she's the pearl / She's the spin on my world / All the stars make their wishes on her eyes." The album's manifesto, however, is to be found in the title tune, as Waits spits out the words "If there's one thing you can say about mankind / There's nothing kind about man / You can drive out nature with a pitch fork / But it always comes roaring back again." Released at the same time as the lyrical, lovely Alice, the ragged and rhythmic Blood Money marks the return of one of our most gifted meta-singer-songwriters to the top of his game. --Mike McGonigal

Tales From The Underground - Vol. 5, 2000
PMS Records. CID 1505 00. CD, 2000. Various recordings (not authorized by Tom Waits)

Born December 7th. 1949, in Pomona, California. Tom Waits first album, "Closing Time", was released in 1973. A contemporary artist, Waits is mostly known for his lyrical and poetical songwriting and raspy gravelly voice.
His own inspiration is rooted in early blues and beat poetry with influences like Howlin' Wolf and Jack Kerouac. Apart from music, Waits also has a strong presence in movies. He has appeared in works by Francis Ford Coppola, Jim Jarmusch, Terry Gilliam, and Robert Altman.

PMS Records: CID 31 1097, 0 14431-1097-1 1. CD, 1997. Under license from Hollywood Inc. (1976-1997 NY & LA studios. Manufactured in Canada). Various recordings (not authorized by Tom Waits)

PMS records, CID 20896. CD, 1996. Various recordings (not authorized by Tom Waits)

The middle album of the trilogy that includes Swordfishtrombones and Franks Wild Years, Rain Dogs is Waits's best overall effort. The songs are first-rate, and there are a lot of them--19 in all, ranging from grim nightlife memoirs ("9th and Hennepin," "Singapore") to portraits of small-time hustlers ("Gun Street Girl," "Union Square") to bursts of street-corner philosophy ("Blind Love," "Time"). The album also contains the original version of "Downtown Train," which Rod Stewart turned into a smash hit. The image of "rain dogs"--animals who've lost their way home because the rain has washed away their scent--is an appropriate symbol for the entire cast of characters Waits has brought to life over the years, and this album has thus far proved to be his most enduring effort. --Daniel Durchholz

Shawn Colvin is an American singer-songwriter and musician. While Colvin has been a solo recording artist for decades, she is best known for her 1998 Grammy Award-winning song "Sunny Came Home".

辑介绍：
香港MCB杂志评出的100张欧美最具革命性专辑之一，评语为：“美国后摇滚体系的先锋乐团，一张影响着整个后摇运动发展的导航唱片。”
存在于1987-1991年间的美国post-rock乐队，这是他们的第二张，也是最后一张完整的录音室专辑，专辑发行不久乐队即告解散。他们在音乐中大量使用吉他噪音和怪异的和弦来营造旋律和氛围，人声退居到很不显眼的位置。这张专辑被许多人认为是第一张后摇滚专辑，影响十分深远。专辑发行的时候，封套上留了个地址，希望有兴趣参与的女音乐人和他们联系。PJ Harvey曾经给这个地址去过信，但那时乐队已经不存在了。
关于Slint：
（引自jickbin朋友在
的介绍）
肯塔基州路易维尔的 Slint 成军于 1987 年，在出版两张叫好不叫座的专辑《Tweez》(1989) 和《Spiderland》(1991) 后便宣告解散﹝1994 年出版的迷你辑《Slint》录制于 1990 年左右﹞，但影响力却随着团员四散新组的乐团，和无数受 Slint 启蒙而纷纷仿效的后进，而与日俱增。被众多媒体包括 Alternative Press、 Pitchfork 等选为90 年代百大专辑，NME、Melody Maker 等选为乐史百大专辑，由 Steve Albini 制作的 《Spiderland》是乐史第一张可以称作后摇滚的唱片。这个堂皇的冠冕虽然成就了后来 Slint 无与伦比的传奇名声，但实际上听过 Slint 音乐的人，其实少得可怜，不少人可能只听过 1995 年发的《Kids》原声带里收录的结束曲〈Good Morning Captain〉。但无庸置疑的，从 Polvo、June of 44、Dirty Three 到 Mogwai、Godspeed You Black Emporer!、Sigur Ros，Slint 的影响至今持续发酵。
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★時代雜誌「年度最具影響力人物」、滾石雜誌「史上百大經典藝人」第94位，創作鬼才Trent Reznor一手打造的工業金屬王國★
★2010年全新數位化錄製1989年一鳴驚人之作，包括：“Head Like A Hole”、“Down In It”、“Sin”等排行暢銷作★
★滾石雜誌(4.5/5)+AMG滿分+芝加哥論壇報(3.5/4)高評推薦★
頂著全球2000萬張唱片銷量、時代雜誌「年度最具影響力人物」、Spin「音樂領域中最具核心領導力藝人」、滾石雜誌「史上百大經典藝人」第94位，由創作鬼才Trent Reznor一手打造的王國Nine Inch Nails(以下簡稱NIN)，替工業金屬樂派帶出搖滾革命新震撼！
5歲開始學習鋼琴並接觸古典音樂課程的Trent Reznor，1989年以一人樂團NIN帶出充滿電氣竄流、令人窒息的貝斯和扭曲吉他響音，於獨立廠TVT發行『Pretty Hate Machine』，竟然在排行榜停留兩年之久，AMG送上5星滿分評價！90年代的Trent開始施展其影響力，著手創立音樂廠牌「Nothing」，簽入Pop Will Eat Itself、Marilyn Manson等樂團。EP『Broken』更因單曲“Wish”，獲得葛萊美「最佳金屬表演」獎。1994年的『The Downward Spiral』，受到70年代前衛搖滾的影響，可說是工業噪音的概念專輯，Trent還成為「Playgirl」十大性感男搖滾歌手之一，受邀參加Woodstock音樂節演出。1996 年一曲“Happiness In Slavery”再獲葛萊美「最佳金屬表演」獎，經典神話雙CD專輯『The Fragile』空降全美專輯榜冠軍，大破200萬張，藝術商業皆大獲全勝。
重新發行1989年一鳴驚人之作【Pretty Hate Machine】，光在美國本土即破300萬張銷售大關，Trent和葛萊美大師Flood(U2、The Killers)+Adrian Sherwood(Sinead O’Connor、Primal Scream)+John Fryer(White Zombie、Depeche Mode)齊力激發最燦爛的音樂火花。長達5分鐘的“Head Like A Hole”見面禮，成為跨進英美兩地主流市場的矚目關鍵，Trent爆發力十足的嗓音詮釋，更是迷人加分的重點；首支主打“Down In It”，利用Synth-Pop元素穿繞Industrial Rock裡頭，同時霸佔US舞曲榜以及搖滾榜Top16；濃厚的Funky頻率逐步瀰漫“Sanctified”全曲，神秘宗教般的吟唱從中浮現，有種不寒而慄的感覺；靜謐的“Something I Can Never Have”，漂浮迷離的詭譎氣息，沉溺在一種無法自拔的晦暗氛圍裡；舞曲榜No.10的“Sin”，瘋狂依舊，在電子力道輔佐下，交流陣陣簡潔有力的搖滾爽勁。最後加贈首度曝光作“Get Down Make Love”，是翻唱自華麗搖滾代表團Queen的優作。

"100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s" (Rolling Stone, 1989)
"100 Alternative Albums" (Spin, 1995)
"Top 99 Albums of `85 to `95" (Alternative Press, 1995)
"The Essential 200 Rock Records" (Rolling Stone, 1997)
"Top 100 Albums of All Time" (New Musical Express, 2003)

芝加哥唱作人Andrew Bird的新专辑 <Andrew Bird and The Mysterious Production of Eggs> 是上半年又一重头戏。这是一张关于童年、关于想象力的专辑，古典出身的 Bird 几乎包揽了全部器乐的编排与演奏。专辑前后经历三个版本，最终呈现给听者的是小提琴、钟琴、电吉他以及 Bird 招牌式的口哨交织的一派生机， jazz 风格的 chamber-pop ，优雅中处处闪现着机智。访谈中 Bird 先生提到， 27 年音乐生命中从未离开自己的创造力，便是源自童年的 mysiterious production 之一。

This record starts with "Don't Make Me A Target", a song that builds on Spoon's familiar minimal rhythmic piano/guitar vamp popularized on earlier hits like "Small Stakes" or "The Way We Get By". The album quickly moves into uncharted territory with the atmospheric "The Ghost Of You Lingers" and moves through several different stylistic changes from the explosive "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb" to the wall-of-sound horns of radio single "The Underdog". Their most heartfelt batch of songs since 2001's "Girls Can Tell".

Platinum recording artists Fastball return with their Rykodisc debut Keep Your Wig On, their loosest and strongest collection yet. Recorded at Viewpoint Studios in Austin, the bulk of the album was produced by Mike McCarthy (Spoon), with production contributions from Sheryl Crow songwriter Jeff Trott ("Our Misunderstanding") and Fountains of Wayne&#146;s Adam Schlesinger ("Someday," "Red Light"). The album was mixed by the legendary Bob Clearmountain.