Orphans gets another stellar review!
Tom Waits -- "Orphans" (Anti-) **** Talk about cleaning our your closet. The one-of-a-kind Waits unleashes a dizzying and dazzling collection of 54 songs, including 30 new ones, that add up to three hours of music, enough to satisfy even the most ravenous of his cult of fans.
"Orphans" is broken into three CDs, subtitled "Brawlers," "Bawlers" and "Bastards," which pretty much defines the omnivorous Waits' approach to making music. "Brawlers" is loaded with raunchy, frayed-around-the-edges blues-rockers, while "Bawlers" spotlights Waits' tender, sentimental and melancholy side with ballads, lullabies and waltzes. "Bastards" is best described as experimental and totally off the wall.
Along with the ton of previously unreleased material, "Orphans" also includes numerous pieces originally recorded for film, theater and elsewhere. Highlights are simply too numerous to mention, but let's just say you haven't really lived until you've heard Waits tackle the Ramones' classic "The Return Of Jackie and Judy." In stores Tuesday.
By Martin Bandyke, Free Press special writer