Review: Tom Waits - Bad As Me

Donning the mask of a fatalistic joker, Tom Waits gives 2011 its defining album, singing, stomping and wheezing in revolt against the bleak lows that mark this doomed age.

A deep study of any of the 13 songs on Bad as Me would serve the same purpose, with nearly the same result: This is the soundtrack to an occupied nation, encapsulating the fear, anger and defiance coursing through a people wronged again and again.

"All the news is bad, is there any other kind?" Waits sings in falsetto on "Talking at the Same Time," a swampy indictment of the dirty profiteers who've left America in tatters. "We bailed out all the millionaires—they got the fruit; we got the rind." It's a country drowning in the miserable wake of its own greed, watching helplessly as desperate chaos extends the hard times.

Dark, preposterous, incensed and confrontational, Bad as Me is mostly "brawlers" in the Waits parlance, but even the tender ballads are haunted by war, futility, autumnal decay and dying embers.

"Pay Me" is about how easy a man can become stuck—"To hold yourself up's not a crime here, you know"—and about how the only optimism for this time is to sing merrily as you sink.

Waits ends with "New Year's Eve," a hard-luck tale that's typical of both his previous work and the Great Recession, turning "auld lang syne" into the only hope he can muster: Even a shitty year must come to an end.

Published Nov. 3, 2011 in the Tucson Weekly.

New Tom Waits!

"What if you had a root canal and I asked you to gargle with raw sewage, would you be OK with that? Would it be safe to jump rope with a live electrical wire?"

Review: Tom Waits - Glitter & Doom Live

I reviewed the new Tom Waits Glitter & Doom Live album in this week's East Bay Express:

Part barnstorming preacher, part carnival barker, and part scarecrow come to life, Tom Waits took the stage in a string of theaters and ballrooms last summer for the aptly named Glitter and Doom tour, shuffling across the country with his wildly imaginative and profoundly weird songs.

A two-disc live set culled from ten of those performances now stands as a permanent artifact for those fleeting, ethereal moments savored by Waits enthusiasts. The reclusive and self-mythologizing Waits rarely tours, so it's no surprise that Glitter and Doom Live shows the fingerprints of a perfectionist.

The vivid and thrilling record captures Waits at his peak as a showman, backed by an excellent and versatile band that shines in Karl Derfler's clear and precise mix. At nearly two hours, the set is teeming with memorable moments, both in the first disc of 16 songs and one characteristically odd story (about buying the last dying breath of Henry Ford on eBay) and in the second disc, a single 36-minute track of priceless Waits banter.

The set, strung together like one live show, focuses on his latter-day material (2004's Real Gone is the best represented album, at four songs), proof that his records over the past decade are as good as any in his long career. The songs selected lean more toward brawlers than bawlers, to use Waits' own parlance, as he growls, moans, and wheezes his way through them. The jazzy, slinking menace of "Dead in the Ground," the wistful "Fannin Street," and the gorgeously mournful "Lucky Day" are just a few of the highlights.

Ultimately, the only thing left to ask for is simply more. The Glitter and Doom shows were typically 20 to 24 songs, with setlists that varied widely from night to night. Surely there were enough off-beat treasures to stretch this live album by another disc or two.

And reaching back about a year and a half, here's what I wrote after seeing the Glitter & Doom stop in El Paso.

DOWNLOAD:
Tom Waits - Live NPR Broadcast 2008-07-05 (2 hours 20 minutes, 130 mb)

Preview Tom Waits' Glitter & Doom live disc

One of the best shows I've ever seen was the Tom Waits performance in El Paso last summer, and across the country, his Glitter and Doom tour was widely praised. So a live album from the tour is more than a little thrilling - and it's great to hear a full disc will be devoted to nothing but Waits' fascinating banter.

The kind folks over at Anti- Records have released a free digital preview of eight songs from the upcoming release (available Nov. 24). Just click on the widget below, enter your email and download away.

Here's the info on the release:

Available November 24th, Glitter and Doom is a 2 disc collection of the best of the best tracks from Tom Waits' sold out, highly acclaimed Glitter and Doom tour of the US and Europe in the summer of 2008.

Disc One is designed to sound like one evening's performance, even though the 17 tracks are selected from 10 cities, from Paris to Birmingham; Tulsa to Milan; and Atlanta to Dublin. Sonically the album is superb and has been beautifully recorded and meticulously mastered . Disc Two is a bonus compendium called TOM TALES, which is a selection of the comic bromides, strange musings, and unusual facts that Tom traditionally shares with his audience during the piano set. Waits' topics range from the ritual of insects to the last dying breath of Henry Ford.

DOWNLOAD:
Tom Waits - Live NPR Broadcast 2008-07-05 (2 hours 20 minutes, 130 mb)

Live: Tom Waits, El Paso Plaza Theatre

My companions for the trip to El Paso were a guitar player, a pizza maker and a guy who drives trains, fitting because that's exactly the type of rag-tag company I imagine Tom Waits likes to keep.

Inside the magnificent restored Plaza Theatre, Waits took his place on a slightly elevated platform, center stage and smack in the middle of a junkyard set that was as odd and fitting as his video "press conference" announcing the tour.

In what appeared to be an all black leather suit, Waits shimmied and stomped his way through the opener "Lucinda," one of the "Brawlers" that highlight his 2006 Orphans box set. Looking like a scarecrow come to life, he raised a small cloud of dust with every stomp, a rhythmic and mood-setting touch that was brilliant.

Next up was "Way Down in the Hole," a resurgent tune among his best known tunes now thanks to its appearance on The Wire and subsequent cover versions. With those two songs Waits set a spooky and mesmerizing tone that carried most of the way through the show.

I was more clueless than I wished on the set list, which took a big detour from his Phoenix shows. Nine of the songs came from his records this decade, and along with the three 1999 tunes, it was a surprisingly new set list. The highlight for me was those three tunes from Mule Variations - "Chocolate Jesus" in the high-energy early part of the set, an exceptionally bluesy "Get Behind The Mule" mid-set and the gorgeously mournful "House Where Nobody Lives" during his short stint on piano.

I've always leaned more toward Waits piano ballads and would've loved it if he'd sat at the keys for a few more songs, but Waits seemed restless and was back to his quirky stomping and preacher-style arm waving quickly.

Right before his first tune on the piano, a cop walked out on stage, saying he was there to serve Waits with something. The singer turned wiley, with a string of excuses that ended with him saying that he didn't know exactly where Tom Waits was, but he could surely get a message to him. The bizarre interlude ended with Waits being given the key to the city, and saying "If you find me in your living room in my underwear, we have an understanding."

We talked afterward about whether Waits knew what was happening, or how he'd been approached about an in-set interruption. Turns out, he set the whole thing up himself, according to the review in the El Paso Times.

Thinking back, I'm taken by just how accurately named this tour is. Glitter & Doom is evocative of Waits' music in general, but there's something extra fitting about his live performance Friday. He's a showman to the core, and as he ran through song after song, he kind of danced around both of those extremes. With "Lucinda" and the closing "Dirt in the Ground," I'd say he mixed in equal measures of glitter and doom.

The show was a remarkable experience, and one that in no way satiated my desire to see Tom Waits live. I was able to put a check mark on that goal, but all I really want now is to see the reclusive and rarely-touring Waits again and again.

DOWNLOAD:
Tom Waits - House Where Nobody Lives (live Storytellers)
Tom Waits - Storytellers 1999 (zip file)

The Mule Introduction

If Tom Waits hadn't released the stunning and remarkably varied Mule Variations in 1999, I don't think I would have ever found myself exploring his music so deeply, or ever found so many of the off-beat treasures and poetic screwball truths that flowed out like an unexpected drip from his rough growl of a voice and beatnik shuffle tunes. I'd be missing several favorite songs, I'd have likely bypassed all but his most obvious musical moments. I'd be left wondering what the big deal was when I heard his name. And I'd certainly have a clear head today, not lost in the anticipation of watching the man perform in El Paso on Friday.

Sometimes albums are released at the absolute perfect time in your life, when they can smack you in the face and shake up everything you thought you knew about music. They alter what you want from a song - deliver meaning when you wanted a beat, substitute truth for a good melody, or leave you staring at the horizon in confusion just a second after you thought you might be close to grasping what it all mean.

The most powerful albums in my life have almost always been the ones I caught on to when they were fresh, those new musical artifacts you get to ride as if they were waves, right at the same time everyone else in the world is listening. The new is what captivates the most. The new is what makes you feel like you're worthy of walking the hippest razor's edge you can find. The new is the powerful.

And Mule Variations is Waits returning with a new studio album after seven years. His 16th record was lagging a bit considering it was his 16th in 26 years, but as an established musician and cult favorite it really wasn't that long. So consider this as a comparison: Mule Variations was released the week I turned 20, more or less a good ways down my road to being a savvy music fan. But as a 13-year-old barely able to wrap his head around the emerging grunge trend, I wouldn't have had the slightest clue what to do with an album like Bone Machine.

But I was more-or-less equipped mentally to take in Mule Variations. And friends from all walks seemed to be finding it and sharing it in one big soupy mix of exploration. I was finding that folks who called their favorite bands Radiohead, Bob Dylan, B.B. King, the Magnetic Fields, Wilco, Bad Religion, Johnny Cash and Beck were all coming together over this new Tom Waits record. The agreement was notable enough in itself, but the fervor with which I was watching various friends recommend this new album was what drove me to join the club.

I was most immediately drawn to the ballads: "Hold On" is permanently the list of my five favorite songs - and "House Where Nobody Lives," "Pony" and "Picture in a Frame" were all immediate touchstones on that album. That reaction is fitting because as I've continued to dive into the man's intense and dense catalog for the last nine years (digging both proper albums and a good number of bootlegs), that early folk-jazz period is what I find most captivating. But Mule Variations is far from a pretty or precious album. Waits' ramshackle rythymic witchery just may be at the highest level he ever reached.

After all these years, what I like most about the album is how it makes such a strong statement in favor of all the different paths his career has taken over nearly 30 years. Mule Variations represents everything that Tom Waits does well - from the heart-broken troubadour stuff to his so-called junkyard orchestra. He's a madman and an oracle, running through 16 songs, half of which you could dance to with your grandmother and half of which make you shake with fear.

I'm sure 99 percent of the people who ever wrote a song would rest their heads with pride and glory to have Mule Variations as a greatest hits collection. And the record could certainly stand as a greatest hits for Waits, if anyone is reductive enough to take it as such. It's certainly one of my all-time top 10 albums, but more than that, it was a springboard for me into a fascinating and rewarding catalog of albums that I'll almost certainly continue absorbing over decades rather than years.

And I can't say enough great things about the VH1 Storytellers show Waits performed in connection with the Mule Variations release. It is without a doubt among the top handful of concert recordings I have ever heard. The songs, the stories, the overall performance and the recording quality are all A+ material. So give it a few good listens, and let's all just thank the man for writing and singing songs for all these years...

DOWNLOAD:
Tom Waits - Picture in a Frame (live Storytellers)
Tom Waits - VH1 Storytellers 1999 (zip file)

Two young men and two old men

I'm fascinated by watching these Tom Waits interviews with David Letterman, with various available clips spanning 20 years. They both look like they're having loads of fun whenever they get together. Hell, you could put together a nightly show with just the two of them (it'd be funny enough, but of course it would ruin the mystery Waits has built up over the years).

Throughout, there's this sort of comfortable charm between the two. Letterman plays the straight man, patiently goading Waits into answers he knows will be ludicrous. But Letterman obviously knows how much he's being put on and doesn't even try to conceal how funny he thinks the whole thing is. And Waits is just bursting to let loose with ridiculous answers and strange yarns. It's really an act more than an interview.

Taken together, these clips form an insightful and compelling overview of Waits' music and persona. He's at turns rough and wise, a jester and a showman, and all along Letterman keeps poking around for something weirder and funnier from his guest. I'm sure they know each other fairly well by now and I don't doubt that private conversations are any less hilarious.

First up is a 1983 interview, with Waits pushing Frank's Wild Years:



Next is Rain Dogs era Waits, in 1986:



"Straight from the Top," in 1988, and another top-notch interview:



And next we'll jump forward to 2002, with Waits playing "All the World is Green" on his promo push for Alice and Blood Money:



And then we reach the near-present, with Tom visiting Dave once again, in 2006:



DOWNLOAD:
Tom Waits - A Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis (live Austin City Limits, 1978)

"Tom, you project a very strange image..."

Welcome to Tom Waits Week here at Catfish Vegas Presents...

Until Friday we'll be celebrating and sharing the music and stories of the great and truly singular American icon Tom Waits. And then on Friday, it's off to El Paso to see the man himself in concert. Two Phoenix shows sold out in something like eight minutes (and tickets on Craigslist are going for something like $500 a pair), but apparently the LA crowd isn't willing to cruise the extra few hours down I-10. I was shocked a couple weeks ago when some friends said tickets were still available, but I got to it and ordered a pair myself.

And I've certainly been preparing, listening non-stop to Tom Waits. And while I had no doubt that his recording career was rich and varied enough to support this sort of extended immersion, the breadth of excellence is truly astonishing. The volume of top quality songs and albums recorded by Waits puts him in a league with probably just Dylan, Springsteen and Neil Young. And his personality dwarfs all those other fellers in terms of how captivating he is as a sheer character.

The quote leading off this post is from an appearance Waits did on The Mike Douglas Show in November 1976. Douglas introduces Waits as a "combination of a poet, jazz singer and vagrant, with a surprising amount of personal charm."

I'm about halfway through Jay S. Jacobs marvelous biography "Wild Years: The Music and Myth of Tom Waits," and Jacobs describes how shocking Waits was to the television folks: first Waits missed out on rehearsing because the security guard refused to let him into the building, then Douglas himself nearly freaked out when he found a "homeless" guy asleep on the green room couch.

After playing "Eggs and Sausage," Waits sat in for a typically mystifying interview, telling Douglas that he's "an unemployed service-station attendant" and he "just talk(s) this way on the weekends." Check out the clip:



And here's an August 1977 Waits appearance on Fernwood Tonight, with "The Piano Has Been Drinking" and another curveball interview:



DOWNLOAD:
Tom Waits - Eggs and Sausage (live KQRS, Minneapolis, Dec. 16, 1975)
Tom Waits - The Piano Has Been Drinking (live WNEW New York, Dec. 14, 1976)

Stay tuned all week for more Tom Waits...

Glitter and Doom

A Tom Waits tour is fantastic news. A Tom Waits tour that stops for not one but two nights in the great state of Arizona is several degrees beyond fantastic!
And leave it to Waits to announce his new tour in the strangest manner imaginable:



Check out all the dates at the Tom Waits Anti- page.

And let's agree to not rush out and buy up all the tickets until I get a chance, OK? Tom Waits is probably alone at the top of my list of musicians I've never gotten the chance to see play but must before I (or they) die. I've dug through a few bootlegs and his concerts are things of glory, almost as much for the stories as for the songs. And as much as I dig Arlo Guthrie and Robyn Hitchcock for their wonderful storytelling, Waits is in a league of his own. Check out a story and a song from his 1999 Storytellers appearance:

DOWNLOAD:
Tom Waits - Picture In A Frame Story
Tom Waits - Picture In A Frame