Customer Rating:  
Summary: Waits of time.
Comment: Humphries is more concerned with how well he comes off to the reader than about Tom Waits' life. He struggles to write intelligently and impressively, and by trying to do this, he goes off on many tangents. He'll tell a joke, and try to make it as inaccessible to the average reader as possible, in order to make himself come off as more 'academic' in some way. It's a tedious read. It reads more like a freshman college English major's work than a professional. Humphries writes as if he has something to prove. Man, we are Waits fans. We didn't buy this book because we want to be impressed by your writing flair. For all of his pretention, he makes many mistakes in recounting Waits' life. The guy is a joke. What I wanted was a book about Tom Waits' life. What I got was, "What Patrick Humphries thinks of Tom Waits." I pee on this book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Small Change
Comment: This is actually a newer edition of Humphries' biography, "Small Change: The Many Lives of Tom Waits," which is why most of the material post 1990 is thin.
Furthermore, yes, this was the first look at the man in a biography format, but the author chooses to take a tone that suggests he is elevated above the material: in other words, Tom Waits is campy fodder for wanna-be academic writing (I am a fan of truly academic writing, as well as non-academic writing; this is the latter masquerading as the former).
Yes, Jay Jacobs' biography of Waits is fun, but presents Waits as a "true" fan would: respecting the man's privacy, relying mostly on myth (created by Waits), and (re-)telling a good yarn.
We probably won't see any officially published biography while the man is alive, because he is so intensely private, which is what should have made Humphries' book a more worthwhile journey, and what makes Jacob's take on the myth commendable, while leaving the reader wishing that there was a bit more of an actual biography.
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Summary: The Many Opinions of Patrick Humphries
Comment: This book is terrible. The depth leaves much to be desired, and author Patrick Humphries fills the book with his own opinions and tangents, which are often tedious and disagreeable.
I got into music biographies recently when my brother-in-law lent me Anthony Scaduto's 1972 Dylan book. It's a great read, offering an intimate portrait of Dylan the man, and how he came to create the music. By the end, I felt like I knew him (or at least, knew him circa '72).
After reading that, I decided to check out some of the books about my favorite musician, Tom Waits. The first book I read, Jay Jacobs' Wild Years, is a good read. I was disappointed that it didn't delve deeply into the man's life like Scaduto's book did, but it wasn't Jacobs' intention to do so. His book provides a detailed overview of Waits' career (his many careers, one could say), leaving you with an interesting framework for looking at his music, acting and theater careers.
On the contrary, The Many Lives of Tom Waits was incredibly disappointing. Though Humphries does look a little deeper at the first decade of Waits' career and how he got started than Jacobs did, everything from Swordfishtrombones on is lacking in detail, providing a more jumbled up and less enlightning picture than Jacobs' book. Attempts at characterizing the man himself come from speculation and hearsay, and are often contradictory.
Small inconsistencies of fact literally abound. To name a few: Humphries calls Swordfishtrombones the greatest creative rebirth since Paul Simon's Graceland (which came out three years AFTER the former); an apostrophe is always added to the title of the album Franks Wild Years; song titles are misquoted, such as "A Sweet Little Bullet From a Pretty Little Gun"; and Humphries tells an anecdote of how Waits "fooled" the hosts of TV talk show Fernwood Tonight into thinking that he was only there because his car broke down, among other things--this was a parody talk show, and Waits' interactions with the hosts was planned! Obviously anyone could make mistakes like this, but that's why books get edited.
But worst of all, the book is littered with Humphries' own opinions on Waits material, the movies he has acted in, and the like. Albums are dissected, with Humphries offering up his views on which songs are good and which are bad, as well as what waits "must have been listening to" that inspired him. He bashes many good, enjoyable songs. He also pokes fun at some of Waits' movies, such as Jim Jarmusch's Down By Law and Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula. Humphries commends Waits' performance in these films, but calls the films themselves fundamentally flawed--he even says that Gary Oldman's and Anthony Hopkins' performances in Dracula are lackluster.
Now, he's entitled to his opinions, obviously, just as I'm entitled to mine. But this is a biography, not a bloody op-ed piece. The stated goal of this book is to provide a window into the man's life and music. It's called The Many Lives of Tom Waits, not The Many Opinions of Patrick Humphries.
So basically, don't buy this book. I got it from a library, and am I ever glad that I didn't drop any money on it. But don't even bother to do that. It is awful. If you're a Waits fan, get Wild Years or Innocent When You Dream, the Tom Waits press reader. This book will probably just upset you as much as it upset me. I couldn't even finish reading it. I shudder to think how bad Humphries' Nick Drake biography is.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A great peek into the muse behind the man
Comment: If you like Tom Waits, then it is inevitable that in time you will Love Tom Waits. I picked up this book and have found it to be an excellent peep whole into the life of the enigmatic man. I enjoy the broader picture the author takes in helping one to understand the perspective of the time that Waits was trying to make it. He did not fit in and yet he endures. It's true the book is not perfect, but I'm glad I got it. Now I get to see him live in Jacksonville! Makes the book an excellent primer for me.
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Summary: Where is Waits????
Comment: I've always been a huge Waits fan. Patrick Humphries attempt at a bio is bogged down with page after page of self indulgent pop culture references, & historical perspectives that serve no other purpose than to impress the reader with his command of subjects other than Waits himself. The first reviewer was right in pointing out the factual errors in this book, among those being mistakes in quoting Wait's own lyrics.
Patrick Humphries should get the lazy writer of the year award for this wolf in sheeps clothing. What a dissappointment, don't waste your money on this book, you can the same bio info for free on line
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