Customer Reviews

Bad As Me

5 star:		(53)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Anyone thumbing through Tim Adams revealing interview with Tom Waits in last weeks Observer (23/10/11) should also read the subsequent comments upon it by Waits aficionados who are a particularly articulate bunch. One summarizes his Waits infatuation with the immortal line that "Tom Waits. He's the Dad I never had, the brother who wouldn't play with me, and the sister with the strangely deep voice". You know what he means. Tom Waits is both a one-man history of American music but also a vivid reflection of our lives ribald joys, drunken disasters, tender moments and defeated heartaches. He is a first class honours American maverick and the most genuinely original artist in modern rock music. On "Bad as me" he is back in over powering form and rocking harder than he has done for years. "Anyone who has ever played a piano," Waits has previously stated, "would really like to hear how it sounds when dropped from a 12th-floor window" and on his 17th album he does on occasions make a mighty racket. He is helped in this task by the presence on the album of his wife Kathleen Brennan, guitarist Marc Ribot, Flea from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and a previous collaborator that other old blues reprobate Keith Richards.

The album starts with "Chicago" a roaring blast of horns and fast chops which sees Waits in fine voice and doing a Casey Jones style "all aboard" chant. He follows it by outdoing Nick Cave in the dirty blues stakes with "Raised Right Man" where Waits exclaims "Heavens to murkatroid/Miners to coal/A good women can make a diamond out of a measly lump of coal". Throughout the album Waits serves up a Royal Variety Performance in terms of styles whether it be on the ghostly rolling "Talking at the same time" which is the nearest Waits has come to delivering a falsetto or the whiskey soaked "Last leaf" destined to soundtrack many deep stares into the bottom of a glass where Richards and Waits draw upon all their vast expertise.

In broad terms "Bad as me" is a very approachable and accessible album and certainly those whose "boats are floated" by the experimentation of "Swordfishrombones" with its mix of German cabaret and free jazz leanings may find it too straightforward. Thus for example "Satisfied" is a great rock stomp and will delight live audiences but were it done by anyone other than Waits it could be seen as derivative. Yet as always with the great man appearances deceive. The pounding almost industrial drums on "Hell broke Luce" reveal a blues sensibility that modern music has lacked since Captain Beefheart popped his clogs and the weird imagery of the swirling title track shows his continued ability to challenge.

It is great to see strong song structures back at the heart of his work and when they come in the form of the brilliant "Face the highway" or the gorgeous `Put me back in the crowd" which has been described by Waits as "Elvis meets Jim Reeves" this should be a cause for unbounded celebration. This feeling will be further confirmed after listening to the irrepressible rockabilly of "Get lost" which is almost pure New Orleans funk and guaranteed to storm any party. Waits as ever obliges by giving you an equally exquisite comedown in the form of the classic heartbreak ballad "Pay me" standing in the fine tradition of lonely laments such as "Nobody knows when I'm gone"

Ultimately "Bad as me" is a fiercely intelligent and savvy album which profitably raids the junkyard of American music. Tom Waits is certainly a magpie but he takes this old base metal and forges something that is indefinably his own. This rare ability is fully recognised by his contemporaries where Elton John has recently hailed Waits as "the Jackson Pollock of song" and Neil Young said of him at Waits induction to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame that 'I will say that this next man is indescribable and I'm here to describe him... this man is a great singer, actor, magician, spirit guide, changeling and performer for you.' After a seven year silence the return of Tom Waits with the truly excellent "Bad of Me" brings a warm feeling and the knowledge that the world has just become a significantly better place.

Up until now, Rain Dogs, Bone Machine and Mule Variations were my favourite Waits albums - and I love all his work: early and latter, drunk and sober, soft and loud. Bad As Me is right up there with them and might even be better. I won't do a song-by-song analysis - someone will do this way better than me. But all the slower tempo songs are superb, with a few traces of DNA to earlier years (the start of Blue Valentines is repeated). The uptempo songs don't fall into any simple category - there's a great tasty musical stew boiling - including some sounds that haven't been made before by anybody (Hell Broke Luce is Tom at his most brutal and most innovative). So it's sort of like the White Album, but without all the weaker songs. And Keef is on 3 tracks, including a touching duet. How cool is that!

If I can work it, this is the way I find out if we're gonna be pals: I toss a Tom Waits cd in the machine and I watch your reaction. If you make a face and say, "What's this?", we aren't gonna make it. If your eyes turn to pinwheels and you say something like "Buh, buh, buh..." I'll give you what ever you want. Once a friend of mine, when we were listening to "Lie to Me" from Tom's album ORPHANS said, "Don't you think this is what music should be?" I laughed because it was one of the truest things I'd ever heard. "Yes I do," I said. And that's exactly how I feel about BAD AS ME.

This is the kind of music that'll dry your mouth out and make you thirsty for more. We've always needed Tom Waits to show us what music really is; vibrations just under the skin that warm the blood and make the heart grow. And we'll always need Tom Waits to remind us of that. I can become very desperate for his music. I am much less desperate today.

Buy. This. Album.

I've been reading a number of the reviews stating that Tom is a genius, national treasure, tapped into the soul of America, etc. IMHO, all of these things are true, and I think his great works (Rain Dogs, Swordfishtrombones, Mule Variations) are absolute, must have, desert island classics. Sadly, I don't believe that "Bad as Me" ranks up there with any of these works, nor do I think the album deserves the deluge of 5-star ratings being thrown at it.

Undoubtedly a new Tom Waits album is an event, and as aways he manages to say things in his unique fashion. Ironically, however, my problem is that the album's "strengths" highlighted by most of the other reviewers are in fact it's weaknesses, when measured against Tom's previous outputs and his status as our favorite off-beat icon. I agree fully that the songs are tightly-knit - the backing band is packed with luminaries, melodies and arrangements are carefully constructed, and Tom displays just about all of his various vocal persona's through the album. All of this makes for an easily accessible album with catchy hooks, but this isn't what I'm looking for when I sit down to listen to Tom. I can't shake the feeling that we are being treated to something formulaic, with all of the elements we know and love - some quirky instruments, a well-placed howl or growl, the gamut of emotions from rage to despair - being in attendance, but somehow Tom is going through the motions, showing off his skills and smarts, but neither baring his soul nor showing any new insights or musical directions. In many ways, it sounds more like an end-of career retrospective than a new beginning or "return to form".

Maybe I expect too much, but I think some realism is required amongst the idolatry amongst these reviews- this is a solid and polished album, but it is not a great one. It may also be a good introduction for those who don't know Tom's music (could this be possible?), but it doesn't get anywhere near to exposing his real genius.

Only Tom Waits could do what he does on this album. I am not into track by track analysis. I want to address why this album is important and is an album few artists, perhaps even only Tom Waits, could release. What I mean is this. Tom Waits has released an album of entirely new material and it sounds like a "greatest hits" compendium at the same time. To listen to this album is to be introduced to Tom Waits for the first time and to make his acquaintance again. He is your brand new oldest musical friend. He is brand new and he is eternal. He cannot so much as cough and not sound musical. He is master of his domain and he is just beginning to discover the wealth and depth of his talent.
I first became aware of Tom Waits in the very early '70's. I am a huge Zappa fan. My girlfriend had, for my birthday, gotten us tickets to 2, two, count 'em, two Frank Zappa's shows in the month of April, 1972. The first was at the vaunted OrpheumTheater in downtown Boston. The opening act was Ram-A-Tam, the waste of time band put together by Jimi's drummer since Jimi had died. Pity anyone who opened for Zappa. You were bound to be booed off the stage. The second show was at the gymnasium, sit on the floor, at Lowell Tech College. The opening act was some nobody named Tom Waits. So, with the huge balls it took to open for Zappa, there he stood. Famous beard, smokes, hat and attitude. I was hoping it would be over soon. It was just him, his piano and an electric bass player. I wish I could tell you what he played, but I can't. I only know I was blown away. I think the best summary of what he was like then is captured on the somewhat hard to find album, "The Dime Store Novels, Vol. 1. I remember being utterly blown away. Here I was, planning to tolerate another period of "please hurry up and let the REAL musicians play," moment. Here stood this utterly confident, unassuming guy who sang with a growl, played piano like the genius he is and kept time by banging his hat on his thigh when he wasn't at the piano. He may have done "Diamonds on My Windshield," but I can't say for certain. I only know that for the first time I was at a Zappa concert and was SAD when the opening act, Mr. Waits, was done. I wanted more. I was amazed. This statement of amazement can only be contextualized properly by realizing that I was a HUGE fan of FZ.
Tom went from there to putting together a body of work that is beyond compare. He is an artist. He is a musicologist. He has more American music history in his little pinky than the libraries and curricula of many schools who offer degrees in music. I went to Berklee, so I know something of what I speak.
He is a songwriter. I imagine he has made a nice little nest egg just from people covering some of his songs, such as 'Ol 55, Closing Time and Temptation (Diana Krall of all people), just to name a few. Oh yeah, I should include "On A Downtown Train," too.
He could have rested on his laurels after creating and releasing his live album, "Nighthawks at the Diner," which sounds as fresh today as it did when it was released. Then comes the "reinvention" or, as I like to put it, "ah, okay, that was fine but then thee's this, and along comes, "Bone Machine" and "The Mule Variations," (you got to get behind the mule). and then thee's "Black Rider," then a string of utterly amazing albums which, getting myself out of order chronologically, gave us "Rain Dogs," "Heart Attack and Vine," "Blue Valentine" and "Small Change" (I'm not listing them all, dammit) and "Swordfish Trombones," and "Frank's Wild Years." Then came the previously mentioned movement to what I will summarize as the "Mule Variations" segment.
Then he releases a multi=disc set of songs that didn't make it over the years, "Orphans, Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards," which contained what many of us feel are some of his best work. He releases two completely different albums, "alice" and "Blood Money" AT THE SAME TIME! I admit I have days when I just have to hear "Tabletop Joe" or things just won't feel right.
To make what is already a too long review longer, brings us to "Bad As Me (Deluxe Edition).
It is a work of pure genius of the sort of which Tom Waits is capable. It is at once new and different and utterly familiar. New songs that sound like the history of Tom Waits' career. This album is living proof of the obvious; ;there is and only ever will be, one Tom Waits. Not in style, never. Always at the forefront and instantly recognizable, yet, at the same time, an unknown. A brand spanking new album of completely new material that is old and familiar at the same time.
He is utterly unique. He is an unqualified genius of the musical world. He is known to millions; he is known to almost no one. He is the best at what he does and what he does no one else can do. He just goes about his life being Tom Waits, gift, blessing, devil-worker, genius, dense, complex, simply and utterly musically enjoyable. What I did was download the regular edition and then the three extra tracks from the deluxe edition separately and there you have it. Pure genius, pure enjoyment, pure Americana, pure Tom Waits.

After listening to the groaning beautiful voice on "Dead Man Walking" soundtrack particularly "The Fall of Troy," I purchased my first-ever works by Tom Waits, the double-header release of "Blood Money" and "Alice." Soon, lyrics like "misery is the river of the world;" wild incomprehensible shouts of "Zelbuchlesch!"; "as far as a monkey could climb, the more you see it's tail;" & "everybody row!" incredibly became benchmarks for how far gone & into Waits I became. In fact, so far gone was I that my wife emphatically suggested I move our c.d. player into the cellar.

In "Bad as me, " Waits hammers more nails into the cross on which fans are hooked. "Kiss me" is a beautiful song -- I sensed Waits was singing to the piano that's sobering-up after endless nights of drinking. The wildness of "Satisfied" --doubtless music lovers are never satisfied, more is always desired, and Waits is "grieving satisfaction," & its fairly sensible to believe Mr. Wait's will be "carousin" when he's a "thousand."

'Ya gotta inject some "Bad as me" into the madness of lousy jobs, failed relationships, etcetera, and one cannot but enjoy "Last Leaf," listen to the last gasps of a reflective life hanging-limp upon a branch, laugh when Waits says he's "been here since Eisenhower," and I for one believe the artist has found who "puts flowers on a flower's grave."

I just received the "Limited Deluxe Edition" in the mail and immediately gave it a spin, and it didn't disappoint. Tom's voice is harsh and penetrating, both in lyrics and sound. People have been asking, who and where is the Bob Dylan for the world's current social unrest? Here he is. Listen to "Talking at the same time":
"Get a job, save your money, listen to Jane
Everybody knows umbrellas cost more in the rain.
And all the news is bad
Is there any other kind . . .
Well we bailed out all the millionaires
they got the fruit
we got the rind
and everybody's talking at the same time."
Not as catchy as "Times they are a'changin'", but a howl in the right direction.

I think its high time that Amazon seperate the Cd from vinyl reviews. Heres why. The abum is quite good. Ive only listened a couple times, but the material sounds solid to a waits fan such as i am. What impresses me is that wait understands what the vinyl buyer is in it for. Sounds great, packaged great, big booklet with photos, lyrics, etc. Even gives you the cd version if you want to listen in your car. This is a great release for vinyl fans. But the music stands on its own also, even if your just listening to it on the way to work on your ipod with some crummy earbud headphones.

Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad album. There's nothing wrong with it. But the number one reason I am such a big fan of Mr. Waits is because of his wild creativity, his ability to reinvent himself & his sound at the drop of a hat. Not one song on this album sounded "new" to me. What this album sounded like was a collection of B-sides, orphans, & one-offs from his previous albums. I kept forgetting which album I was listening to, and that it was supposed to be new. Each song felt as though I had heard it already...when it was on Swordfishtrombones, or Mule Variations, or what have you. And THAT I find to be terribly disappointing. Im always up for seeing what Tom's got up his sleeve next, but this time, unfortunately, there's nothing there but the same old arm.

Initially this was a challenging album to approach (I'm not talking about the music, because Waits music by its very nature is challenging to the uninitiated). The problem lies with the fact that when you have a true musical icon like Waits you naturally make comparisons to the classic definitive albums of the past. That being said this album holds up extremely well in the Waits catalog. It is truly refreshing that after nearly 40 years of recorded music he continues to be a relevant and creative presence who refuses to rest on his laurels.

The album has all of the elements of a classic Tom Waits album. It features raucous tunes (like Chicago), the avant garde (Hell Broke Luce) and poignant ballads (Last Leaf). He evens displays a surprising falsetto on Talking at the Same Time (one of the albums more enduring moments). Like his best work it is eclectic but cohesive. For someone who has been making music as long as Waits it is amazing he can display such youthful exuberance. Even with the album's sadder moments this is a truly life affirming album. Waits continues to be one of the greatest living songwriters.