Customer Reviews

Night On Earth: Original Soundtrack Recording

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
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Waits' soundtrack to this 1992 Jarmusch film is at times haunting, beautiful, deranged, aggravating, and amusing. Worth a listen by any Waits fan. Includes 3 vocal performances that rank among his best - particularly the waltz "Good Old World" and its instrumental equivalent.

Night On Earth is a mostly instrumental recording from Tom Waits. The songs are mostly in the vein of his recent four studio albums at that time (Swordfishtrombones through Bone Machine - particularly the latter album and Rain Dogs), in that they feature his typically quirky percussion and wind instrument soundscapes - his "junkyard orchestra." The album's motif is quite nifty: Waits has crafted a main theme that changes and morphs according to the different cities that they represent in the movie - from the raging electric guitar of the Los Angeles theme to the beautiful stringed instrumentals of the later tracks. These instrumentals are fairly typical of Waits, and are good as far as they go. Imagine Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs, or Bone Machine without vocals, and you have a pretty good idea of what you're getting. There are also three songs with vocals. These feature Waits's typically wacky and intimitable lyrics, and are performed in a calmer, more soothing way than his other current material of the time (Bone Machine.) This album seems like it would work best as a backdrop for the movie (which I haven't seen), than as a stand-alone product. Still, it has its charms in the latter context as well. Reccommended for Waits fans (though you should have his other albums before you pick this one up), and fans of the movie.

The music has a repetitiveness I like, a constantly moving theme, like a monster tramping around in the darkness. These are not pop tunes but mood music. Variations give it an alternately boozy barroom feel or a Twilight Zone paranoia. The two versions of the sung "Good Old World"--one brutal and bulldoggy, one sentimentally in-the-cups--are both keepers, reminiscent of the parallel versions of "Innocent When You Dream" on Franks Wild Years. "The Other Side of the World", the only other track with lyrics, is a bridge between the Franks Wild Years and Black Rider albums, with lots of that lost, old world, Brothers Grimm mood. It's one of my favorite Waits tunes, and full of his new love for Kathleen Brennan.

Tom Waits is the kinda guy that makes eclectic music with a lot of experimenting, and with experiments, one can fail as easily as succeed. This means that on one Tom Waits album you can find true gems, songs that reset the bounadries of music, next to other stuff that is... well, just not so exiting. The same goes for artists like Nick Cave and Current 93. It is both their weakness and strength but at the end, this eclectic aproach to their music must be applauded and embraced, for only true artists have the guts to go all the way, and in the process, sometimes prevail and some other times fall flat on their face.

Since "Swordfishtrombones" (1983) Tom Waits has left the smokey piano-in-a-remote-bar tunes behind and started experimenting with less obvious instruments like the marimba, banjo, organ and harmonium. Some songs prevail and become recognizable "Waitsian music", others just "are what they are", this is the way things go.

But here is the soundtrack to Jim Jarmusch' movie "Night on earth" and for Tom Waits it is surprisingly even from A to Z. Besides that, it's also remakebly low-key.
The string of sixteen musical tracks (of which three are with vocals) play like one big song with each track being a variation on the former and the next. The three songs beautifully blend in with their non-vocal surroundings and the result is an moodful piece of nightmusic.

Not many soundtracks can be enjoyed all on their own if you haven't seen the movie. Most musical tunes are too much connected with the images they accompanied. But Tom Waits has the adventage of being a musical craftsman for many years so he is able to create a atmospherical piece of music that is perfect for the film and at the same time can pretty much stand on its own.

And listen for a moment to the man himself, humming "In the spring the weeds will show that he brought back the only rose / and he gave it to his girl on the other side of the world." into your left ear.
"Night on earth" is both in image and sound a tale well told.

This is a gorgeous album with a lot of great instumental music. It also has a bit of vocals, namely "Back In The Good Old World." That song is probably the greatest on the album, and is a favorite amonsgt Waits fans, even without seeing the movie. Getting the album is difficult, as it is now out of print, but a true Waits fan is glad to shell out some more for the real good stuff. Now, if you don't want to pay at least thirty dollars plus shipping, you can search out "Goin' Out West." It was a single from Waits' "Bone Machine" and it has Back in the good old world on it. Sadly this may also prove difficult to find, but this single is an oddly cheap buy. My copy was just 6 dollars in a used music store. Overall, it is absolutely worth the money, and I recomend it whole heartedly.

Where's earth when you know Ralph Carney's influence on an album. Check out recent music that turns sidewalks into quicksand and reverts C notes into D double flat. Carney did some of his best work with Tom Waits as is heard on this album. There are few multi-instrumentalists who don't get lost and it's cause they're building the road without the lines and the roadsides ebb. If you like their collaboration on this album, I recommend checking out more of Ralph's music.
http://www.akroncracker.com/
http://www.carneyballjohnson.com/