Record Review 2 Tom Waits "Orphans, Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards"

Tom Waits
Orphans, Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards
2006
Anti, Inc
What do you do about Tom Waits? Obviously he is the band leader for the St. Louis Diner Review but his “body of work” can most kindly be described as odd and somewhat inconsistent. The problem is that on almost every Album or CD he throws something that is just brilliant. In the last few years he gave us “Alice” and “Blood Money”, both released at the same time and although they had their moments could be described as less then compelling. The you have to reach back to 1999 to find a great CD in “The Mule Variations.” Now he gives us a 3 disc set. Double CD’s and even worse 3 CD compilations tend to be...self indulgent. CD’s are cheap and easy enough to produce and contain over an hours worth of recording time on each. If you have something to say write an essay or a short story. In this case Waits gives us all the brevity of a Russian Author with the equivalent of a 900 page tome. That having been said...I do what I always do which is to listen to a CD three times.
I started out with “Brawlers” which is disc one. Wow. This is some of the best stuff he has done in .Brawlers contains raucous stomps and up tempo jams. This is my favorite time Waits...romping along bellowing angrily at everything. It opens with the song “Lie To Me” where he admits to the woman in question, I”I don’t want to be told the truth.” And all God’s children say Amen. This disc does not have a weak cut. If you don’t know Tom Waits this disc is worth the price of all three all by itself. The CD is tight, bouncy and evocative. Mark Ribot’s guitar just shows why he is everyone’s favorite session guitarist.

The second disc, BAWLERS, is full of lyrical balladry. “You Can Never Hold Back Spring,” followed by “Long Way Home” just kind of break your heart. Something about that ugly...growling voice singing beautiful songs...yin and yang...blah, blah, blah. It is just really..compelling. Some really beautiful playing too. Understated, emphasizing his voice...you almost never notice how great the music is. The band could be playing for Sinatra or Torme on “It’s Over” and songs like “Down by the Train” and “Good night Irene” are just...classic.

The third, BASTARDS, is a hodge-podge of experimental tunes and covers. Many of the songs are outtakes from studio albums, while others are the results of outside projects or one-off oddities. Waits's unique sensibility is in full flower throughout the set: his gruff croon, barks, and howls. There is a lot of spoken word crap and narration and although interesting and as I said, "unique", it is not something you would put on in the background. It is too odd and disjointed yet, still Tom Waits. And when Tom Waits tells you that the little boy found the moon was made of wood and the earth was an overturned piss pot, as part of a bed time story... you believe it.

This is the guy who said in an old Rolling Stone interview I read...well, a long time ago...that he “has always been fascinated by the sounds coming from down the hall.” The insistent clanking of strange percussion which reminds you sometimes of those old radiators in our classrooms (do they still have radiators in old classrooms?) That would clank and moan as the steam filled them making moving metallic noises where you knew even a s a ten year old there was nothing metal moving...just the noise. and his evocative, detail-rich lyrics are all on ample display.

From the spooky rave-up of "Lie to Me" through the heartrending beauty of "Shiny Things" and the familiar strains of "Goodnight Irene," to his off-kilter cover of Daniel Johnston's "King Kong," ORPHANS is packed with spectacular surprises. This is good shit. 8 out of 10 Slingers! Which is unbelievable for a three disc set.

Personnel: Tom Waits (vocals, guitar, keyboard, percussion); Dave Alvin, Joe Gore, Larry LaLonde, Marc Ribot, Ron Hacker, Brett Gurewitz (guitar); Anges Amar (whistle); John Hammond , Charlie Musselwhite (harmonica); Ralph Carney (saxophone); Seth Ford-Young, Larry Taylor, Les Claypool (bass instrument); Casey Waits (drums); Bobby Baloo (cowbells); Gino Robair, Jeff Sloan, Stephen Hodges, Steve Foreman, Andrew Borger, Brain (percussion)