Franks Wild Years

Franks Wild Years is Tom Waits's 1987 album that functions as a song cycle and soundtrack for his stage play of the same name. It continues the experimental, genre-blurring approach heard on Swordfishtrombones and Rain Dogs, mixing elements of blues, jazz, rock and vaudeville with unconventional instrumentation and found percussion. The songs are theatrical and narrative, featuring ragged piano, brass touches, odd rhythms and Waits's gravelly spoken-sung delivery, creating a darkly comic, cinematic sequence of character-driven vignettes.