Small Change: A Life of Tom Waits: Amazon.ca: Patrick Humphries: Books

Product Description

Traces the life and career of Tom Waits, who writes about those down on their luck, looks at his major albums, and describes his work as a motion picture actor.

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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews

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Average Customer Review

1.8 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)

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1.0 out of 5 stars More a collection of the author's opinions than a bio., July 26 2001

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"vinces" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Small Change: A Life of Tom Waits (Paperback)

Fans of Waits are sure to be disappointed by this book which pretends to be a bio. It's actually mostly a collection of the author's own enthusiastic essays about Waits. Read a Dave Marsh bio of Springsteen to get an idea of the flavor. Direct quotes from Waits are mostly familiar, having already appeared in well known magazines. Save your money or buy a spare copy of a Waits CD instead.

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3.0 out of 5 stars more fanzine than fact filled, Sep 3 2000

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George Schaefer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Small Change: A Life of Tom Waits (Paperback)

Tom Waits is one of the great iconoclasts of the late 20th Century. His lyrics are brilliantly subversive laid over a simple jazzy sound. I bought this book hoping to gain some insight into Waits the man but I found the book to be somewhat abbreviated and abridged. This is more like a pulpy, fanzine type of bio that doesn't really probe the depths of this complex musician. It will feature small morsels of info but for the most part, it does little to get down to the heart of the matter. It does have moments but it doesn't quench one's thirst for knowledge and understanding of Tom Waits.

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2.0 out of 5 stars An extended fan-mag article, Nov 9 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Small Change: A Life of Tom Waits (Paperback)

The author tries to match Waits with his metaphor magic and of course fails. This kind of punchy "clever" writing might work for a magazine but is very hard to read for an extended period time, as in a book. There are lots of weird mistakes (is the author English and missing some things?) and the font used is almost illegible. Still it's the only book I know of and somewhat helpful if you can find the facts among the fluff.

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Most recent customer reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars the wrong author for the job
Mr. Humphries is a big fan of Tom Waits. Unfortunately, he's mainly a fond of the early Tom, and spends a great deal of this book trying to explain why Swordfishtrombones, Rain... Read more

Published on Nov 3 1999 by devon w thompson

1.0 out of 5 stars More a collection of the author's opinions than a bio.
Fans of Waits are sure to be disappointed by this book which pretends to be a bio. It's actually mostly a collection of the author's own enthusiastic essays about Waits. Read more

Published on Jan 22 1998