Sign up for our mailing list Real artists creating records on their own terms

News

Tuesday, December 5th, 2006

Whiskey and Tom Waits Go Together...

Whiskey and Tom Waits Go Together Like Puppets and Cardboard Castles - By Christopher O'Keeffe

Have you ever ended a long-term relationship in order to give a great break-up album proper context? (Yeah, me, too.) Often in life, pairing certain items improves both. The same is true with music. Sometimes you just need to be in the right frame of mind in order to really "get" the intended effect of a record. Being heartbroken and alone helps, the perfect complement to a Tom Waits album is actually whiskey.

Neat or on the rocks, domestic, Canadian, Scotch or Irish, it doesn't matter. Whiskey and Tom Waits go together like puppets and cardboard castles. If the said whiskey happens to be a half-drunk bottle of rotgut that you obtained by wagering your last buffalo nickel against a one-eyed gypsy in a flaming boxcar game of spades, even better.

All I had was Jameson. Jameson and I sat down to digest Waits' newest release, Orphans, a sprawling, triple disc album subdivided into three categories: Brawlers, Bawlers, and Bastards. Of the fifty-six, (yes, that's 56) tracks on Orphans, thirty are brand-new recordings. However, Orphans is not a "best of" album. Insofar as Tom Waits can be said to have hits, you won't find them on this one.

Brawlers features the ghost-ship blues and stomp-clank-hiss machinations that make it hard to enjoy Waits with your girlfriend. The rollicking, epileptic "Lie to Me" leads off the album and is the first single. The sublime "Bottom of the World" proves that a fight song can, in fact, be a mandolin-driven waltz. The disc manages to be both satisfying and surprising, like when Waits wanders away from the circus long enough to give us "Road to Peace", a song that directly references the cycle of revenge and reprisals in Jerusalem. Upon the release of Tom Waits' previous album, the static-ridden and piano-less Real Gone, a friend of mine remarked, "You know, I think it might be time for Waits to put the megaphone down". On Brawlers, Waits makes a furious case for his ability to still wield the megaphone and an assortment of other noise-making apparatuses.

The more stripped down and sensitive Bawlers showcases Waits at his sad-bastard best. He croons and growls and whispers his tragedies and lullabies. The second track, "You Can Never Hold Back Spring", is an older tune that has Waits deploying his best Louis Armstrong, like a crackling and comforting lo-fi analog memory. This disc is all piano ballads and eyes-closed acoustic guitar prayers. As usual, Waits pulls players from his ether to add whatever instrumentation he sees fit. This disc is Waits' best set of kill-yourself tunes since his debut Closing Time.

If you are made uncomfortable by the descriptions of the first two discs, it is important to note that Brawlers and Bawlers contain Waits' more accessible, pop-oriented songs. And while he alludes to his demons on those, it is not until Bastards that he truly strikes his listeners with the werewolf stick.

The set starts off with the death-shanty show tune "What Keeps Mankind Alive". It continues through fractured spoken-word and painfully overloaded static soundscape polkas that sound as if they're played by undead sailors. In the especially poignant "King Kong", Waits relates the entire plot of the original 1933 epic over a chugging beat-box and one of the most brutally percussive growl samples ever put to tape. Toward the end he notes the tragic demise of Willis O'Brian, the animator for the film. He also quotes his successor, Ray Harryhausen, about the parallels between monkey and man. Plot Spoiler: "twas beauty that killed the beast."

Sound varied and strange? It is and it can be a challenge at times. But Waits has done people a service by sorting through the mess for us. Another thing to keep in mind is although neatly sub-divided onto three discs there are many forms on display throughout the collection. Notably absent from the 26 older tracks is anything from Waits' early, "not-crazy" period. However, this is still the most complete survey of Waits' many styles, sounds and voices to date. This album is equally valuable as an introduction to the man or a capstone to an already extensive collection of his albums.

href="http://media.www.the-mass-media.com/media/storage/paper445/news/2006/12/04/Arts/Whiskey.And.Tom.Waits.Go.Together.Like.Puppets.And.Cardboard.Castles-2521006-page2.shtml?sourcedomain=www.the-mass-media.com&MIIHost=media.collegepublisher.com" target="_blank">http://media.www.the-mass-media.com

Facebook | Twitter
 

Browse by Artist

2115All Artists 100Tom Waits 74Mavis Staples 59Neko Case 51Lost In The Trees 50Sean Rowe 48Dr. Dog 45The Milk Carton Kids
41Jolie Holland 40Bettye LaVette 37Man Man 36Son Little 35Tinariwen 33Tim Fite 33DeVotchKa 31Islands 31Grinderman 29Glen Hansard 28Saintseneca 27Galactic 27Delicate Steve 27Wilco 26Andy Shauf 25The Drums 24Xenia Rubinos 24Michael Franti and Spe... 22William Elliott Whitmo... 22Doe Paoro 22Bob Mould 21The Frames 21Nick Cave & The Bad Se... 20Joe Henry 20Christopher Paul Stell... 19Cass McCombs 19Booker T. Jones 19Yves Jarvis 19Sage Francis 18Gary V 18Calexico 18Deafheaven 17John K. Samson 17Yann Tiersen 16Ramblin Jack Elliott 16Danny Elfman 16The Antlers 16Jason Lytle 14Jeremy Ivey 14Half Waif 14Madi Diaz 14Daniel Lanois 13Billy Bragg 13The Dream Syndicate 12Combo Chimbita 12Girlpool 12Xavier Rudd 12Peter Silberman 12Leyla McCalla 11Ryan Pollie 11The Weakerthans 11Glitterer 11Jade Jackson 11Purr 11Roky Erickson 11Lyrics Born 11Japandroids 11Rain Machine 11Mose Allison 10Lido Pimienta 10The Melodic 10Darrin Bradbury 10Curtis Harding 10High Pulp 10Moor Mother 10Alfa Mist 10Christian Lee Hutson 10So Much Light 10The Swell Season 9Hey, King! 9Cameron Avery 9N.A.S.A. 9Marianne Faithfull 9Wynonna 9Josiah Johnson 9M. Ward 8Solillaquists of Sound 8Rafiq Bhatia 8The Coup 8Kate Davis 8Slow Pulp 8Katy Kirby 8Cadence Weapon 8Greg Graffin 8James Brandon Lewis 7Beth Orton 7Kelly Hogan 7Title Fight 7Eddie Izzard 7Ben Harper 7Dead Man's Bones 7Alec Ounsworth 7Ben Harper and Charlie... 7Richard Reed Parry 7Elliott Smith 6Bonny Doon 6Deradoorian 6Os Mutantes 6Waxahatchee 6Kate Bush 6Busdriver 6MJ Lenderman 6Broken Twin 6A Girl Called Eddy 5Ezra Furman 5One Day As A Lion 5Beat Connection 5Sam Akpro 5Art Moore 5Jasmyn 5Kristine Leschper 5Keaton Henson 5The Field 5Foxwarren 5Scott McMicken and THE... 5The Tallest Man On Ear... 4Marketa Irglova 4Pops Staples 4Ersi Arvizu 4Jackson+Sellers 4sunking 4The Good Ones 4Sparklehorse 3Mothers 3Petra Haden 3Plains 3Danny Cohen 3Mavis Staples & Levon... 3Sierra Leones Refugee... 3Walter Wolfman Washing... 3Marc Ribot 2Fleet Foxes 2Jeff Tweedy 2ANTI- Records 2Various Artists: RANGO 1Solomon Burke 1case/lang/veirs 1Merle Haggard 1Youth Group 1Blackalicious 1Taylor Vick 1The Beths 1Lightman Jarvis Ecstat... 1Simian Mobile Disco 1Porter Wagoner 1Rogue's Gallery 1Antibalas 1Various Artists: ROGUE... 1Kronos Quartet with Br... 1Joe Strummer And The M... 1Tricky 1The Locust
See Full List+