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Music Review: TOM WAITS - ORPHANS: BRAWLERS, BAWLERS, AND BASTARDS

This 3-disc set was released in 2006, and it is a compilation of songs which were cut from (or never made it onto) his previous albums. While many releases of this variety (from other artists, that is) are just a dozen or so b-sides and outtakes, this set contains nearly 60 tracks, and not a one of them feels like an outtake or afterthought. Here's a little breakdown:


DISC 1: BRAWLERS
This disc is compiled of rock and blues tunes, and has a number of songs that have been played live many times, but never before appeared on an album. Highlights on this disc include "Lucinda," "Bottom of the World," "Walk Away," and "Lie To Me."

DISC 2: BAWLERS
As the title implies, this disc is composed mainly of ballads and slow numbers, many of which will break your heart. There are some great songs on this album ("Fannin Street" and "Long Way Home" are the standouts here), but this disc is the only one that feels like a bunch of songs, rather than an album. Now bear in mind that they are fantastic songs, but for me it doesn't have the cohesion of the other two discs.

DISC 3: BASTARDS
This is my favorite disc of the set, and is quickly becoming one of my favorite Waits albums. Peppered with spoken-word pieces (including the most depressing bedtime story of all time and a Twilight Zone-esque lecture on insects), some blues numbers, and even a sea shanty, the overall tone is best described as Unrelentingly Dark. Many of these songs feel like they were culled from BONE MACHINE, THE BLACK RIDER, and REAL GONE, but put together they create a potent--if sinister-collage. I love this one, and the last track on the disc ("Missing My Son") turns everything on its ear.

That's it for this morning, gang. I'm going to listen to Tom Waits on the way to work, go ye and do likewise.

Concert Review: TOM WAITS - GLITTER AND DOOM, LIVE IN ATLANTA

A few months ago, I got this concert as a free download from All Songs Considered (you can get if for yourself right here), and after listening to it exactly once I forget about it for a while. My initial reaction to the concert was a mixture of elation and disappointment: elated that I had more music from Tom Waits (a two-and-a-half hour concert, people!), but disappointed that the quality of his voice had deteriorated so much in the last five years. I have a 2004 concert where he utilizes every range and tonal variety of his (admittedly raspy) voice, and as I listened to the Atlanta concert it seemed like every song was performed in his deepest, most gravelly profundo, and I felt that not all of the songs were given their full due with the bronchial treatment they received. It was still a great show, but it left me a little melancholy.

HOWEVER! Last week, I learned that they were releasing a live album of his Glitter and Doom Tour, and it made me want to go back and listen to the concert again to see if I would want to purchase the album or not. Jump ahead to this week, where I am currently (and by "currently" I mean "as I am typing this") listening to the concert for the seventh time. It has now become my favorite Tom Waits album (I know it's a podcast, but I'm calling it an album. So there.) I think my initial reaction is what most people experience when a favorite artist--be it musician, writer, director, whatever-- comes out with something new, which is to compare it to the things they made before. This gets tricky a live concert, since you will have a connection to the album version of the songs you are going to hear. (This is even trickier with Tom Waits, since he never plays a song the same way twice, and if he does three nights of shows in a city, each night will have a radically different set list from the other two.)As I listened to the concert for the second time, I realized that there was much more vocal variety that I had thought the first time around, and the songs that got the Chest Cold In Hell voice were actually enriched by the depth and darkness, rather than cheated. (For example, the album version of "Dirt In The Ground" is done is a high, raspy whine, while this live version is deep and resonating. At first I lamented the change, but now I find it incredibly moving.) The more I listen to this concert, the more I love it.

And then there are the songs themselves: 26 songs, taken from 11 of his 19 albums. It's not often that you get a concert this long, but for Tom Waits it seems to be the rule, rather than the exception. There is not a single performance here that fails to move you in one direction or another, and this version of "Get Behind The Mule" is officially my favorite recording of that tune. When the CD comes out next month, it will have 17 tracks taken from various cities, and there are only four or five overlaps from this concert (which means, in essence, that I will have two utterly different concerts from the same tour. Kick ass.) I wholeheartedly recommend that you download this concert RIGHT NOW, although I will say that if you are just getting into Tom Waits you might want to wait a while to listen to this one, as I think it is best appreciated after you are familiar with the bulk of his material. (That's just my opinion, it should in no way stop you from getting the concert and listening to it 24 hours a day for the next month and a half.)

Well, in the time it took me to write this, the concert has ended and I've been sitting in silence for the last five minutes. Anyone care to guess what I'm going to put on?

You Should Be Listening to Tom Waits Right Now, And Here's Why...

I have a friend at work named Rusty, and the other day he came into the produce back room as I was trimming celery and said,

"So Matt, yesterday I heard a song on the radio by that guy you're always talking about on Facebook, whatshisname--"

"Tom Waits?!" I nearly shouted.

"Yeah, that's him."

"And?"

"And... he's not really for me. Sorry"

I took a deep breath, then set my knife on the sink (so as to avoid any charges of involuntary manslaughter). I raised may hands in front of me and fixed Rusty in my eye.

"Whoa, bro--you cannot write off Tom Waits after hearing one song. That's like saying you don't like a movie after watching one half of one scene. Uh-uh. No way."

After a brief discussion (in which I likened the music of Tom Waits to a Forest, a Visiting Extra-Terrestrial, and the Entire Continuum of Human Existence), Rusty agreed to accept a cd from me, a cd containing one track from each Tom Waits album, so that he could dip his toes in the various Tom Waits pools. I delivered said cd the next day, and I am waiting to hear Rusty's thoughts. (I am highly optimistic, because Tom Waits rules.)

The point of this anecdote (roundabout though it may be) is that you can't listen to one--or even ten--Tom Waits songs and formulate a permanent opinion on the man or his music. I was not being facetious when I compared his music to the Entire Continuum of Human Existence, because it has it all: joy, sorrow, elation, fear, magic, death, love, hate, anger, peace, despair, hope. Tom Waits has a soft spot for the underdogs, losers, and freaks, and as a result he touches on the universal within us all. He sings about broken hearts and damaged souls, and if that isn't a little bit of each and every one of us, I don't know what is. Coupled with the fact that he writes in styles ranging from piano ballads and jazz numbers to blues and apocalyptic junkyard stomp, Tom Waits just isn't a guy to listen to only once.

And if you do, you'll only be cheating yourself.

Waits and Coffee

That's the way to start your day: a hot cup of joe and Tom Waits Live in Atlanta, 2008. I got a free concert from his "Glitter and Doom" Tour at tomwaits.com (courtesy of NPR) and have been listening to it in chunks before I go to work in the mornings. I have several concert bootlegs (as well as every single album), and the thing that amazes me about Tom Waits is that he never plays a song the same way twice. You know how sometimes you'll hear a live version of a song by a band you enjoy, and it's like "Yeah, that was okay, but I think the studio version is better." Well, with Tom Waits, no matter how he plays it, it's friggin' awesome.

Go listen to Tom Waits RIGHT NOW.

Tom Waits and Me

Those of you who know me personally or work with me know that I have developed something of a Tom Waits habit over the last few months, and those of you who are married to me (hi Toots) know that if you ask me to put on some music for dinner it is going to be Tom Waits. Every time.

For my friends, this just means that I will talk about Tom Waits at length if you show even the slightest interest, and if you are my wife it means that you are the most forbearing woman on the planet and I love you.

All of which is to say that the music of Tom Waits speaks to me in ways that no other music ever has, and the power of his songs doesn't diminish with repeated listening (and believe you me, I have been listening repeatedly). More to come...