Tom Waits: Bad As Me album review
Seven long years after Tom Waits last album he returns with 'Bad as me'.
After one listen I was already feeling that this is one of his best; the tunes, the vocal slurs, the stream of conscious lyrics, the rackety rack percussion, the brass band and the street corner accordian player. Check them off - they are all present. And I welcomed them like old friends.
Things that are new and different: new singing styles, swear words, the use of samples (is that a Tommy Gun and an explosion on 'Hell Broke Luce') - and a more muscular and dense production.
There's less space in this record than on previous; Waits has filled in all the holes with dirt coloured aural wadding; which gives the music a dense claustrophobic feel. The first couple of tracks 'Chicago' and 'Raised Right Men' are cases in point; you couldn't push the blade of a penknife into the spaces in these songs.
Even more theatrical than previous releases (is that possible?); it sounds like it was recorded on a stage - while a bemused audience looked on. As the Cliché goes, 'each of these songs is like a one act play'.
There are good tunes aplenty. How about 'Pay Me' - Waits sings 'They pay me not to come home' - to a slow tuneful waltz - backed by the sound of an old accordian. Poignant; made even more so by the unsteady plink of a piano at the end. Or 'Back In The Crowd'; sang in another new vocal style; Waits sounding like a 70 year old Elvis.
'Bad As Me' - we hear that old characteristic junkyard beat; like the drummer is using dustbin lids. Waits jumps between upfront talk that would frighten the kids and a strangled vocal that sounds like a strain even for him.
Both 'Kiss Me' and the final track 'New Years Eve'- remind me of his earliest songs; pre-swordfishtrombones; but more weary in tone. On the home straight I hear him marching off with Keth Richards in tow, 'I had a good home but I left' he croaks.
This is one of Tom Wait's best albums; and with every listen it sounds better.
"a heady and exotic mix. " Q Magazine.
"..full of cinematic turns of phrase, dressed up in alluring melodies delivered by some of the most respected players on the modern-day Celtic Folk scene." UNCUT