iTunes

Opening the iTunes Store.If iTunes doesn't open, click the iTunes application icon in your Dock or on your Windows desktop.
iTunes

iTunes is the world's easiest way to organize and add to your digital media collection.

We are unable to find iTunes on your computer. To preview and buy music from The Asylum Years by Tom Waits, download iTunes now.

Already have iTunes? Click I Have iTunes to open it now.

I Have iTunes Free Download
iTunes for Mac + PC

The Asylum Years

Tom Waits

View More By This Artist

Open iTunes to preview, buy, and download music.

Customer Reviews

What's Here, What's Not

These are all wonderful songs, but given the source material available, some of the best and most well-known (though early Waits is all pretty obscure) songs have not been included. No "Shiver Me Timbers", no "Step Right Up", and how can anyone have conceivably excluded "The Piano Has Been Drinking"? Still, this is a fine collection of Waits' early beat poet jazz ditties and ballads. If you've heard the later stuff (Mule Variations, Real Gone) and were turned off, give this album a try. Tom Waits has given enough to deserve another try.

Huh...

I just got finished ripping my vinyl version of Asylum Years - same cover art and all, but totaly different song list. My vinyl version has 20 songs in total - including "The Piano has been Drinking" and "Shiver Me Timbers" and "Step Right Up". And it doesn't include a few of the songs on this list. How can this group of songs be touted as "Asylum Years", when it's only (almost) half-right. It's an awesome album, by the way.

"Used Songs" is Better

The American Collection "Used Songs" from Waits' early years is far better a selection than this. While both do not include "Romeo is Bleeding" and "Closing Time, this collection lacks "Sight for Sore Eyes", "Whistlin' Past the Graveyard" and selections from "Heartattack and Vine". Unfortunetly, itunes does not carry this album but if you are looking for a good collection of Waits' early years than get "Used Songs"

Biography

Born: December 7, 1949 in Pomona, CA

Genre: Rock

Years Active: '70s, '80s, '90s, '00s, '10s

In the 1970s, Tom Waits combined a lyrical focus on desperate, low-life characters with a persona that seemed to embody the same lifestyle, which he sang about in a raspy, gravelly voice. From the '80s on, his work became increasingly theatrical as he moved into acting and composing. Growing up in Southern California, Waits attracted the attention of manager Herb Cohen, who also handled Frank Zappa, and was signed by him at the beginning of the 1970s, resulting in the material later released as The...
Full Bio

Top Albums and Songs By Tom Waits

Listeners Also Bought

Become a fan of the iTunes and App Store pages on Facebook for exclusive offers, the inside scoop on new apps and more.