After an already-unorthodox career as one of the most unique singers of the '70s, Tom Waits went on to reinvent his idiosyncratic sound as the '80s dawned. The fruits of that labor - a five-album stint on Island Records - will be revisited this fall in a series of CD and vinyl reissues.

The five albums Waits issued for the label between 1983 and 1993 - the loose trilogy Swordfishtrombones (1983), Rain Dogs (1985) and Franks Wild Years (1987), and the follow-ups Bone Machine (1992) and The Black Rider (1993) - will be re-released in two batches: the first three releasing to stores September 1 (40 years to the day that Swordfishtrombones was released) and the other two released October 6. They've been remastered in high-resolution 192kHz/24-bit audio from original sources - an original EQ'd 1/2" production master for Swordfishtrombones, and 1/2" flat masters for the rest. Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering serves as mastering engineer, and Alex Abrash at AA Mastering has cut the new vinyl lacquers. (The LPs will be released on 180-gram black vinyl and limited color variants available through Wait's online store and the uDiscoverMusic store.) All work was overseen by Waits' longtime engineer Karl Derfler and approved by Waits himself along with his longtime personal and creative partner Kathleen Brennan.

It was Brennan who marks the effective beginning of this second wave of Waits' career. The pair met while working on Francis Ford Coppola's One from the Heart - she was an assistant story editor, he was scoring the film - and got engaged within a week. At the same time, Waits - feeling challenged by scoring One from the Heart in a style close to his earlier albums - sought to move beyond the spare, jazz/blues-based sound from which he'd earned cult status. When longtime label Asylum showed little interest in the self-produced sessions that would become Swordfishtrombones, he took it to Island Records and found a new match for his more avant-garde arrangements, now inspired by the likes of Captain Beefheart and Harry Partch.

Waits would follow his muse to unusual places over the next decade, rarely failing to garner some critical attention for his sonic journeys. 1985's Rain Dogs was recorded after a move to New York City, with a rotating cast of musicians including guitarists Marc Ribot, Robert Quine and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones. The album also featured one of the most unique songs in Waits' discography: the impassioned "Downtown Train," which became an unlikely hit for Rod Stewart at the end of the decade. Two years later, he'd release Franks Wild Years, a collection of songs written for a play he'd starred in while in Chicago the year before. (Once again, another song from this album enjoyed an unusual second life: versions of "Way Down in the Hole" became the theme songs for the acclaimed HBO drama The Wire.)

After a live album and soundtrack work for friend Jim Jarmusch, Waits was back in the studio for the drearily experimental Bone Machine, characterized by several percussive elements played by Waits himself. His next album, The Black Rider, was actually recorded before Bone Machine, offering material from a 1990 play he'd co-written with Beat author William S. Burroughs. Based on a German folk tale, Der Freischütz, which had been adapted into an opera in the 19th century, The Black Rider offers Waits' by-now signature avant-garde rock style alongside some instrumental chamber pieces.

In the years since, the notoriously private Waits has continued to record, though he's not issued an album of material since 2011's Bad As Me, which, like all albums since 1996's Mule Variations, was released on Anti- Records. He's also an occasional face on screen, offering cameos in films like The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and Licorice Pizza. These remastered recordings - ready to pre-order below and streaming now - will offer a timely reintroduction to one of rock's most unique figures.

Swordfishtrombones (released as Island 90095, 1983 - reissued Island/UMe, 2023)
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Official Store (canary yellow vinyl)

Rain Dogs (released as Island 90299, 1985 - reissued Island/UMe, 2023)
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Official Store (opaque sky blue vinyl)

Franks Wild Years (released as Island 90572, 1987 - reissued Island/UMe, 2023)
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Official Store (opaque gold vinyl)

Bone Machine (released as Island 314 512 580-2, 1992 - reissued Island/UMe, 2023)
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Official Store (translucent milky vinyl)

The Black Rider (released as Island 314 518 559-2, 1993 - reissued Island/UMe, 2023)
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Official Store (opaque apple red vinyl)