The Hartford Currant gives Orphans another glowing review!
Tom Waits has spent an uncompromising career on the rough fringes of folk and rock, producing gritty poetry by surveying the back alleys of humanity and replicating the seamiest of underbellies. He digs into his vaults for 54 entrancingly rough-hewn songs, 30 released for the first time, on the potent three-disc set "Orphans," mixing leftovers, rarities and fresh tales into an eclectic stewpot of styles and imagery.
Subtitled "Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards" by way of breaking down its quirky brew into loose categories, the collection is an assortment of hardscrabble stories told with rugged gusto, from the mechanical, mildly dissonant gristle of "Lucinda" to the grubby, piano-laced jazz of "It's Over." Waits is fearless in generating atmosphere and relentless in avoiding polish, whether he's growling the craggy lullaby "Bend Down the Branches" or weaving a patchwork of industrial sounds into his wonderfully subversive 1988 version of the Disney tune "Heigh Ho."
Waits is as bold in slathering the jagged edge of his voice onto a cover of "Sea of Love" as he is nestling it into the freaky rock pulse of "Lie to Me." As a result, all of his tunes mingle comfortably, bound together by the unsettled energy at the core of each. This compilation surveys a broad expanse of his career and collects material from many different projects, but the set is cohesive nonetheless as it showcases nearly two decades' worth of agitated, offbeat artistry.
- THOMAS KINTNER href="http://www.ctnow.com/music/hce-albums1207.artdec07,0,3084684.story?coll=hce-headlines-music-top" target="_blank">www.ctnow.com