Big Time (Tom Waits Album) - Background and Production

Background and Production

In efforts to promote Franks Wild Years, Waits began a historic tour of North America and Europe in October 1987. The tour incorporated a theatrical aspect, as Franks Wild Years was recorded based on a play written by Waits himself about his then-alter-ego, Frank O'Brien. Waits described his alter ego, who was first debuted on Swordfishtrombones as:

"Quite a guy. Grew up in a bird's eye frozen, oven-ready, rural American town where Bing, Bob, Dean, Wayne & Jerry are considered major constellations. Frank, mistakenly, thinks he can stuff himself into their shorts and present himself to an adoring world. He is a combination of Will Rogers and Mark Twain, playing accordian -- but without the wisdom they possessed. He has a poet's heart and a boy's sense of wonder with the world. A legend in Rainville since he burned his house down and took off for the Big Time."

The theatrical play, which premiered on June 17, 1986 at Chicago's Briar Street Theatre, ran for two months and received "mixed reviews".

Five of the final shows in North America were held at San Francisco's Warfield Theatre and Los Angeles' Wiltern Theatre in November 1987, shortly before Waits and his band left for Europe. Waits and his wife Kathleen Brennan then proposed the idea of releasing the recorded live footage as a concert film. Originally titled Crooked Time, Brennan played a large role in the development and eventual production of the idea.

During post-production of both the album and movie, Waits' voice was lowered in tone, apparently as both he and the producers wanted to "give more power to the songs." Several audio effects - such as the stamping of boots, finger snapping, maracas, gunshots, train whistles, traffic noise, laughter and applause - were also added in post-production. Additional footage from European performances in Dublin, Stockholm and Berlin was also added.

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