Franks Wild Years
by Tom Waits

Franks Wild Years by Tom Waits
Year: 1987
Release date: 1987-08-17
Overall rank: 1,670th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
78/100 (from 279 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1987 (33rd)
Award Top albums of of the 1980s (257th)
Award Best albums of all time (1,670th)

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Tom Waits Franks Wild Years LP Island Universal 2023 Sealed Vinyl Remastered
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Tom Waits - Frank's Wild Years 180g GOLD OPAQUE Vinyl 2023 NEW MINT SEALED
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Tom Waits 'Franks Wild Years' CD 1987 Island Records Release Excellent Condition
Condition: Like New


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Tom Waits bestography

Franks Wild Years is ranked 9th best out of 27 albums by Tom Waits on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Tom Waits is Rain Dogs which is ranked number 111 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 11,394.

Tom Waits album bestography « Higher ranked (1,661st)
Heartattack And Vine
This album (1,670th)
Franks Wild Years
Lower ranked (1,688th) »
Bad As Me

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

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Franks Wild Years track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 82 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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Track
Rating/Comments
15.
Track pick (860 - 73 votes)
Average Rating: 86 (73 votes)Comments: View 0

Track pick (1000 - 100 votes) Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.

Franks Wild Years rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 1,670th | 1980s rank: 257th | 1987 rank: 33rd

Franks Wild Years collection

Franks Wild Years ratings

Average Rating: 
78/100 (from 279 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 5 ratings for this album.  | Show all 279 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
95/100
 !
03/30/2026 01:36 thedudeabides  Ratings distribution  16983/100
 
100/100
 !
03/23/2026 14:01 Jofunkystrass  Ratings distribution  695/100
 
75/100
 !
03/18/2026 16:21 Exist-en-ciel  Ratings distribution  12,85870/100
 
70/100
 !
02/28/2026 16:43 DaveH68  Ratings distribution  1,36376/100
 
80/100
 !
01/24/2026 12:09 haz215  Ratings distribution  11473/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)

This album is rated in the top 3% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 77.6/100, a mean average of 76.3/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 77.8/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.1.

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Franks Wild Years comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 14 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)

Rating:  
100/100
From 07/20/2025 00:07 | #310216
Possibly my favorite album of all time
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 05/06/2020 19:10 | #251001 | TOP COMMENT
Didn't like it on the first listen, but it's grown on me. Not as good as Swordfishtrombones or Rain Dogs, but a solid album nonetheless.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 12/31/2019 16:49 | #246235
Great stuff.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
From 02/18/2018 11:44 | #208667
Questo ennesimo, strambo, parto della fantasia di Tom Waits è un disco compiuto, un ballo in maschera a cui partecipano solo i freaks, un accompagnamento notturno non romanticamente epico come "Raindogs" ma comunque intenso.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 04/13/2017 06:34 | #189191
Extraordinarily experimental and pretty hard to listen to around the middle (because it's so sad). I have to value the creative arrangements but at the same time I miss the fun you can find in other Waits albums. Also, I have a specific problem with how some of the vocals/recordings sound on this album that sound flat, that I hadn't noticed in at least his earlier recordings.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 04/21/2016 12:17 | #164222
It is my favorite Tom Waits album and is somewhere on my chart
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 04/20/2016 15:06 | #164177 | TOP COMMENT
Another brilliant Tom Waits album. For all the talk that it's a musical, or whatever the hell it's meant to be, at the end of the day, it's a stunning record full of great songs. I do almost think if it though as a kind of final part of a trilogy after, swordfish, and, Rain dogs. As for the songs, temptation, innocent when you dream, more than rain, and, telephone call from Istanbul, are all fantastic, as are, cold, cold ground, train song, and, i'll be gone. In fact the whole album is great. I especially like the sinatra-esque, straight to the top, which switches into a kind of nightmare version of Sinatra's own, new york, new york, on, i'll take new York. It's another breathtaking album from Waits, got to be up there in his top five or six.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 12/14/2014 22:29 | #129381 | TOP COMMENT
Not as strong as Rain Dogs, but still chock full of Tom Waits quality. Underrated.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 11/13/2013 19:49 | #92202
I'd so love to see the play performed.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 11/19/2011 14:06 | #30842
I love this album.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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