Franks Wild Years

Originally released in 1987 on Island Records, "Franks Wild Years" is Tom Waits’ 10th studio album. Titled after a play of the same name co-authored by Waits and his wife, Kathleen Brennan, the album was performed by Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1986. An iteration of the track "Frank's Wild Years" from Waits' 1983 album "Swordfishtrombones," the album divides the story neatly into two acts. Despite being titled "un operachi romantic," there is no opera in "Franks." While the play featured a 14-member cast on stage, the album solely features Waits, yet suggests a multitude of characters through his chameleon vocals. The album presents a collection of lost dreams, bad dreams, and dreams that may not even be dreams. The music is described as nightmarish, ethereal, and beautiful, evoking imagery of broken calliopes played by genius children, horns played at dawn in a graveyard, and banjos leaking through practice room walls. Newly remastered for the first time ever from the original ½" flat master tape and personally overseen by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan, the album has been mastered by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering under the guidance of Waits’ longtime audio engineer, Karl Derfler. The album packaging has also been restored.