Tom Waits just keeps getting better.. (1 Viewer)

[Henry Gale]

Bought the new albums last week, Alice and Blood Money.
They've been dominating the truck CD player ever since. Especially Blood Money.
Favorite moment... the family was together on a trip and I turned the Tom Waits down for some bit of conversation. The 8 year old daughter asked, "Jim, will you turn that back up...I'm listening to that."

 

[Ben Motley]

Just heard a little bit of Blood Money over at Dad's tonight. Just the first song and a half. I'm sold. I was reading some of the lyrics while Dad was makin' us a few Manhattans, and then his wife comes in and asks "what the hell is this??" while at the same time proceeding to turn it off. Well, the moment was lost, so we took our drinks outside, a few La Unica stoagies in tow, lit up and listened to The Sweetest Punch, Bill Frisell's arrangements of Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach's compositions from their cd Painted From Memory. Damn cool stuff which I recommend, but I digress...
I'll be picking up Blood Money very soon.

 

[John K Carter]

Pick-up up Alice, Blood Money, Neil Young's Are You Passionate? & The Band's Last Waltz DVD yesterday.

Needless to say it has been a very enjoyable weekend.

Some of the stuff on Tom's new releases sounds like it could have come from Rain Dogs or Swordfishtrombones, my two favorites.

 

[Zen Butler]

sounds like it could have come from Rain Dogs or Swordfishtrombones, my two favorites.

Thats a BOLD statement. Alice and Blood Money are my next purchase. I can't wait. You sure hyped it enough, they better be good.
P.S. please let us not forget the very underated "Bone Machine" prolly my 3rd favorite.

 

[Joseph Young]

Some of the stuff on Tom's new releases sounds like it could have come from Rain Dogs or Swordfishtrombones, my two favorites.

I agree with that. Amazing that Alice and Blood money both capture the sound so reminiscient of his mid 80's Island Records era... and yet with the stand up bass and piano there are songs that actually go back to his Electra/Asylum years. Great stuff.
Zen.. believe the hype. I've only listened to half of Blood Money and all of Alice, and it's classic Waits, enjoyable as hell. Alice is the more brooding, romantic of the two while Blood Money is feistier.
Oh.. and this is coming from a [rant]huge[/rant] Waits fan (there are a lot of us I know) who's got every 'official' release notwithstanding the mountain of deranged collector's items that I'm sure a lot of rabid fans clamor over.
Joseph

 

[Zen Butler]

of course, if you don't mind, I HAVE to post my review in this thread, when I've rec'd my copies.

 

[John K Carter]

If anyone is interested, while looking up Tom Waits on Amazon I found this free download from The Mule Variations period.
"Buzz Fledderjon (Non-CD bonus track)"
Zen, looking forward to the review.

 

[Zen Butler]

review of Tom Waits Alice and Blood Money :
Tom Waits is one of those "solo" artists that (IMO), has always transcended whatever the trend of the moment has been. Along with Johnny Cash, TW has been the "storytelling" father I have never had. When I put on a TW record, I always picture a horse-driven wagon, with pots and pans hanging from the sides. "Snake-oils" and "miracle-potions" littering the wagon's interior. He gives me a swig of his Early Times , rolls me a cigarette, pulls up a tree stump and begins to tell his story...
Alice was written (with his wife Kathleen Brennan)for Robert Wilson's play in 92. It opens with the title cut, haunting, with it's similarities to the ballads from Swordfishtrombones. "Everything you can think", has a "choice" blend of mellowtron and Stroh violin "were fighting our way up dreamland's spine" are some of the lyrics that come to mind. "Poor Richard's" violin line takes over the melody from the title track, with the strongest lyrics on the album, with an eirie melody at the songs epilogue. Alice is TW's most cohesive album ever. Not so much in concept, but in flow. The instrumentation is gorgeous. You would think after 30+ years his characters would get bland, overused or even repeated, It's just the opposite, they're even richer, deeper and in Alice's case even more melancholy.Alice is even more self-conscious.
Blood Money is a more lyrical outing, still laced with good instrumentation. He seems to put his "top hat" back on. "Misery is the River of the World" Everybody row!, sets the backdrop for BM with great clarinet work. "All the World Green" is a nice ballad. Among other strong tracks, "Lullaby", beautiful, if not out of place but breaks the action nicely. "A Good Man is Hard to Find", is a very Loius Armstrong track, with a nice blend of the pump organ and marimba. It almost sounds like it was recorded in the 20's or 30's. Complete with heavy woodwinds, horns, 1/2 step modulations, bottles, cans, squeeky bunker seats , and motor oil funnels. BM takes on a very "dark carnival" presence. Lyrically similar to Leonard Cohen's "New Skin for the Old World" at times. Both albums have great swing type ballads "Table Top Joe" for example. Blood Money compared to Alice is sinister, vaudevillian and more self-aware. While Blood Money seems to have enough layers to interest me for deeper listens. I can't at this time get Alice out of my head, it's that deep. They are both strong as hell releases. I now believe the hype. To address the original post, does he get better? I'd have to say so, but when a man has me in tears in rush hour LA traffic, I'd say he's approaching "god" status
Alice :star: :star: :star: :star: :star: out of :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:
Blood Money :star: :star: :star: :star: out of :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

 

[SteveGon]

Zen, nice reviews! I quite enjoyed Blood Money but have yet to pick up Alice. I think you just sold me on it, though!