TOM WAITS: ORPHANS: BRAWLERS, BAWLERS & BASTARDS (REVIEW)
March 3rd 2007 07:30
TOM WAITS
ORPHANS: BRAWLERS, BAWLERS & BASTARDS
(2006; ANTI/SHOCK)
RATING:
TRACK LISTING: BRAWLERS: 1) Lie To Me / 2) LowDown / 3) 2:19 / 4) Fish In The Jailhouse / 5) Bottom Of The World / 6) Lucinda / 7) Ain’t Goin’ Down To The Well / 8) Lord I’ve Been Changed / 9) Puttin’ On The Dog / 10) Road To Peace / 11) All The Time / 12) The Return Of Jacky And Judy / 13) Walk Away / 14) Sea Of Love / 15) Buzz Fledderjohn / 16) Rains On Me / BAWLERS: 1) Bend Down The Branches / 2) You Can Never Hold Back Spring / 3) Long Way Home / 4) Widow’s Grove / 5) Little Drop Of Poison / 6) Shiny Things / 7) World Keeps Turning / 8) Tell It To Me / 9) Never Let Go / 10) Fannin Street / 11) Little Man / 12) It’s Over / 13) If I Have To Go / 14) Goodnight Irene / 15) The Fall Of Troy / 16) Take Care Of All My Children / 17) Down There By The Train / 18) Danny Says / 19) Jayne’s Blue Wish / 20) Young At Heart / BASTARDS: 1) What Keeps Mankind Alive / 2) Children’s Story / 3) Heigh Ho / 4) Army Ants / 5) Books Of Moses / 6) Bone Chain / 7) Two Sisters / 8) First Kiss / 9) Dog Door / 10) Redrum / 11) Nirvana / 12) Home I’ll never be / 13) Poor Little Lamb / 14) Altar Boy / 15) The Promise / 16) Spidey’s Wild Ride / 17) King Kong / 18) On The Road
I’ve always preferred Tom Waits when he mixes up the many different sides of his untameable creativity like a spicy gumbo, rather than separating them out like the solitary ingredients of gumbo, whatever they may be (Gum? Gumby? Bo Derrick? Tae Bo master Billy Blanks?). With little regard for my taste or preference, Mr Waits has released Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards (2006), reducing the wild, swinging tangents of his career down to a lumpy ragout of bluesy, rockier numbers; gentle, jazzy ballads; and weird experiments and spoken word oddities. While it makes each disc a little singular, robbing the listener of the textured, narrative progression that he normally provides, I can’t think of any better way to serve up these rarities, b-sides, and thirty unreleased tunes, so fuck me.
I might as well give each disk its own review, because I’m a generous guy, and am always giving things to CDs, like money and venereal diseases. Brawlers represents the upbeat and rockin’ side of Waits’s more traditional, blues-based arrangements (except for “Bottom Of The World”; that one must have escaped from the second disc). The gravelly old muppet keeps things interesting here, bringing stomping, junkyard percussion and even beatboxing to these cotton-pickin’ worksongs and boxcar ramblers that continue his obsession with Kerouac and the elusive (and illusive)American Dream.
There are a few moments of boring-ass blues and gospel cliché (“Low Down,” “Lord I’ve Been Changed,” and the annoying vocal treatments of “Ain’t Goin’ Down To The Well”) but also many instances of excellence and interest. “Lie To Me” starts things off with murky, hiccupy rockabilly (something I’ve never heard Waits do before). “Fish In The Jailhouse” buries its Magic Band guitar under stomping oildrum percussion and relates the tale of Peoria Johnson who can break out of any prison with nothing but a fishbone. The distorted take on the Ramones’ “The Return Of Jacky And Judy” trades in their wall of guitar for a wall of percussion, coming off like a ‘50s rocker channeled through the blown speakers of an AM radio. And Waits transforms “Sea Of Love” into a haunting sailor’s dream, the chorus hoisting it out of the murk like a mainsail, where Waits’s sweet, gravelly delivery is backed by his own higher register. My absolute favourite may just be the beatboxing sea shanty “Lucinda,” adding salty new characters to Waits’s ever-expanding American mythology (‘Well they call me William the Pleaser / I sold opium, fireworks, and lead / now I’m telling my troubles to strangers / when the shadows grow long I’ll be dead’).
The heart-touching qualities of Waits’s crackling pipes are all over Bawlers. Showcasing the gentler, tearjerking side of traditional Waits, this is where his weather-beaten voice actually goes for notes, baring his old battered soul on tunes that are at their best when they touch on a sense of a timeless America, and at their worst when they dwell in mere nostalgia.
I listened to this with a hangover, thinking that would unlock its world weary inner secrets, but the fact is this is still my least favourite of the three. But the jaunty tango of “Little Drop Of Poison” (originally from the Shrek 2 soundtrack) is a winner, along with the crooked marches of “Never Let Go” and “Take Care Of All My Children;” the warm, trainlike shuffle of “Long Way Home;” and the gorgeous nursery rhyme lyrics, intimate guitar-picking, and pristine trumpet solo of “Jayne’s Blue Wish.” Some of the most interesting stuff here is the covers: the glorious drunken singalong of Leadbelly’s “Goodnight Irene;” the gorgeous night time jazz and shuffling drums of Teddy Edwards’ “Little Man;” the heart-string-pulling tale of loneliness on the road in “Danny Says” (a second Ramones cover); and the Jimmy Durante classic “Young At Heart,” which acknowledges Waits’s debt to the gravely voice and humour of ol’ Schnozzola, while finishing things on a sweet and upbeat note. The problem with these excellent reworkings is that they expose the several dull, listless originals that don’t really show off Waits’s usually excellent ear for song. There aren’t any awful songs as such; its’ just kinda hard to isolate genuine moments from these twenty tracks when many of them sound so similar. It’s certainly not without its charms though, and Waits’s wrecked voice will lead you through if you let it.
If Bawlers is the most accessible, Bastards will probably get the least spins on people’s stereos, which is a darn shame cuz while it’s the most frustratingly uneven of the trilogy, it yields up the roughest and most sparkly diamonds. It’s a CD that shows off the theatrical side of Waits, where he’s at his most deliciously dark and humorous.
Here Waits addresses his interest in great American literature with readings of Keruoac and Bukowski (“Home I’ll Never Be,” “On The Road,” “Nirvana”); his love of obscure, mentally-troubled singer-songwriters with a cover of Daniel Johnston’s “King Kong;” and his own excellent and poetic storytelling abilities (“The Pontiac” and a strangely romantic tale that paints his wife and songwriting partner Kathleen as some sort of beautiful bag lady goddess: “First Kiss”). The standouts for me come when Waits gets more experimental and freaky, barking lyrics and mumbling stories full of gallows humour and pathos. Among these are the ghastly details about insect life intoned over walking bass and scuttling guitar in “Army Ants;” the foreboding industrial retelling of the Seven Dwarves’ tune “Heigh Ho;” and the monstrous, looped nightmare collaboration with Sparklehorse’s Mark Linkous of “Dog Door”. It’s the direction of this latter tune—experimenting with tape-manipulation, beatboxing, and loops (also explored on “Spidey’s Wild Ride,” “Redrum,” and “King Kong”)—that I’d be excited to see Waits move in more often (he first visited it on his last studio album Real Gone (2004)). It’s here that his encyclopedic knowledge of American song gets updated with the innovations of industrial and hiphop, borrowing a few avant-garde tricks from Mike Patton’s repertoire of weird vocal noises, without losing his sense of the organic and darkly real. He’s like a Beck for an older generation, but much better than that description sounds.
I suppose your reaction to this box set depends on how much you love Tom Waits, and how you approach your listening. If you’re a casual fan, I’ll tell ya it’s probably not worth shelling out the $40 for unless you’ve got cash to burn (in which case you should probably give it to the homeless to burn for warmth). But if you love Tom like I love Tom (like a deep-fried banana and peanut butter milkshake), then the sumptuous hand-made booklet and sheer weight of material here makes it essential—but then again you probably already know that. It’s a hearty, fifty-six-songs-long meal, probably best not gorged on in one sitting, but ladled in small doses, used as jaffle filling, and frozen to be revisited later. Alternately, Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards can be loaded into your Ipod and played on random, making for one three-hour motherfucker of a Tom Waits experience.
***
IMAGES
Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards
(album cover used under fair dealing)
*images on this page were taken from the following Wikipedia page:
Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards
ORPHANS: BRAWLERS, BAWLERS & BASTARDS
(2006; ANTI/SHOCK)
RATING:
TRACK LISTING: BRAWLERS: 1) Lie To Me / 2) LowDown / 3) 2:19 / 4) Fish In The Jailhouse / 5) Bottom Of The World / 6) Lucinda / 7) Ain’t Goin’ Down To The Well / 8) Lord I’ve Been Changed / 9) Puttin’ On The Dog / 10) Road To Peace / 11) All The Time / 12) The Return Of Jacky And Judy / 13) Walk Away / 14) Sea Of Love / 15) Buzz Fledderjohn / 16) Rains On Me / BAWLERS: 1) Bend Down The Branches / 2) You Can Never Hold Back Spring / 3) Long Way Home / 4) Widow’s Grove / 5) Little Drop Of Poison / 6) Shiny Things / 7) World Keeps Turning / 8) Tell It To Me / 9) Never Let Go / 10) Fannin Street / 11) Little Man / 12) It’s Over / 13) If I Have To Go / 14) Goodnight Irene / 15) The Fall Of Troy / 16) Take Care Of All My Children / 17) Down There By The Train / 18) Danny Says / 19) Jayne’s Blue Wish / 20) Young At Heart / BASTARDS: 1) What Keeps Mankind Alive / 2) Children’s Story / 3) Heigh Ho / 4) Army Ants / 5) Books Of Moses / 6) Bone Chain / 7) Two Sisters / 8) First Kiss / 9) Dog Door / 10) Redrum / 11) Nirvana / 12) Home I’ll never be / 13) Poor Little Lamb / 14) Altar Boy / 15) The Promise / 16) Spidey’s Wild Ride / 17) King Kong / 18) On The Road
Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards (2006)
I might as well give each disk its own review, because I’m a generous guy, and am always giving things to CDs, like money and venereal diseases. Brawlers represents the upbeat and rockin’ side of Waits’s more traditional, blues-based arrangements (except for “Bottom Of The World”; that one must have escaped from the second disc). The gravelly old muppet keeps things interesting here, bringing stomping, junkyard percussion and even beatboxing to these cotton-pickin’ worksongs and boxcar ramblers that continue his obsession with Kerouac and the elusive (and illusive)American Dream.
There are a few moments of boring-ass blues and gospel cliché (“Low Down,” “Lord I’ve Been Changed,” and the annoying vocal treatments of “Ain’t Goin’ Down To The Well”) but also many instances of excellence and interest. “Lie To Me” starts things off with murky, hiccupy rockabilly (something I’ve never heard Waits do before). “Fish In The Jailhouse” buries its Magic Band guitar under stomping oildrum percussion and relates the tale of Peoria Johnson who can break out of any prison with nothing but a fishbone. The distorted take on the Ramones’ “The Return Of Jacky And Judy” trades in their wall of guitar for a wall of percussion, coming off like a ‘50s rocker channeled through the blown speakers of an AM radio. And Waits transforms “Sea Of Love” into a haunting sailor’s dream, the chorus hoisting it out of the murk like a mainsail, where Waits’s sweet, gravelly delivery is backed by his own higher register. My absolute favourite may just be the beatboxing sea shanty “Lucinda,” adding salty new characters to Waits’s ever-expanding American mythology (‘Well they call me William the Pleaser / I sold opium, fireworks, and lead / now I’m telling my troubles to strangers / when the shadows grow long I’ll be dead’).
The heart-touching qualities of Waits’s crackling pipes are all over Bawlers. Showcasing the gentler, tearjerking side of traditional Waits, this is where his weather-beaten voice actually goes for notes, baring his old battered soul on tunes that are at their best when they touch on a sense of a timeless America, and at their worst when they dwell in mere nostalgia.
I listened to this with a hangover, thinking that would unlock its world weary inner secrets, but the fact is this is still my least favourite of the three. But the jaunty tango of “Little Drop Of Poison” (originally from the Shrek 2 soundtrack) is a winner, along with the crooked marches of “Never Let Go” and “Take Care Of All My Children;” the warm, trainlike shuffle of “Long Way Home;” and the gorgeous nursery rhyme lyrics, intimate guitar-picking, and pristine trumpet solo of “Jayne’s Blue Wish.” Some of the most interesting stuff here is the covers: the glorious drunken singalong of Leadbelly’s “Goodnight Irene;” the gorgeous night time jazz and shuffling drums of Teddy Edwards’ “Little Man;” the heart-string-pulling tale of loneliness on the road in “Danny Says” (a second Ramones cover); and the Jimmy Durante classic “Young At Heart,” which acknowledges Waits’s debt to the gravely voice and humour of ol’ Schnozzola, while finishing things on a sweet and upbeat note. The problem with these excellent reworkings is that they expose the several dull, listless originals that don’t really show off Waits’s usually excellent ear for song. There aren’t any awful songs as such; its’ just kinda hard to isolate genuine moments from these twenty tracks when many of them sound so similar. It’s certainly not without its charms though, and Waits’s wrecked voice will lead you through if you let it.
If Bawlers is the most accessible, Bastards will probably get the least spins on people’s stereos, which is a darn shame cuz while it’s the most frustratingly uneven of the trilogy, it yields up the roughest and most sparkly diamonds. It’s a CD that shows off the theatrical side of Waits, where he’s at his most deliciously dark and humorous.
Here Waits addresses his interest in great American literature with readings of Keruoac and Bukowski (“Home I’ll Never Be,” “On The Road,” “Nirvana”); his love of obscure, mentally-troubled singer-songwriters with a cover of Daniel Johnston’s “King Kong;” and his own excellent and poetic storytelling abilities (“The Pontiac” and a strangely romantic tale that paints his wife and songwriting partner Kathleen as some sort of beautiful bag lady goddess: “First Kiss”). The standouts for me come when Waits gets more experimental and freaky, barking lyrics and mumbling stories full of gallows humour and pathos. Among these are the ghastly details about insect life intoned over walking bass and scuttling guitar in “Army Ants;” the foreboding industrial retelling of the Seven Dwarves’ tune “Heigh Ho;” and the monstrous, looped nightmare collaboration with Sparklehorse’s Mark Linkous of “Dog Door”. It’s the direction of this latter tune—experimenting with tape-manipulation, beatboxing, and loops (also explored on “Spidey’s Wild Ride,” “Redrum,” and “King Kong”)—that I’d be excited to see Waits move in more often (he first visited it on his last studio album Real Gone (2004)). It’s here that his encyclopedic knowledge of American song gets updated with the innovations of industrial and hiphop, borrowing a few avant-garde tricks from Mike Patton’s repertoire of weird vocal noises, without losing his sense of the organic and darkly real. He’s like a Beck for an older generation, but much better than that description sounds.
I suppose your reaction to this box set depends on how much you love Tom Waits, and how you approach your listening. If you’re a casual fan, I’ll tell ya it’s probably not worth shelling out the $40 for unless you’ve got cash to burn (in which case you should probably give it to the homeless to burn for warmth). But if you love Tom like I love Tom (like a deep-fried banana and peanut butter milkshake), then the sumptuous hand-made booklet and sheer weight of material here makes it essential—but then again you probably already know that. It’s a hearty, fifty-six-songs-long meal, probably best not gorged on in one sitting, but ladled in small doses, used as jaffle filling, and frozen to be revisited later. Alternately, Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards can be loaded into your Ipod and played on random, making for one three-hour motherfucker of a Tom Waits experience.
***
IMAGES
Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards
(album cover used under fair dealing)
*images on this page were taken from the following Wikipedia page:
Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards
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Comment by Adrian
Philosophy Blog
The experimental stuff sounds particularly interesting.
Comment by Hellvis
Earache Hotel
I know what you mean about encyclopedic knowledge. I feel I fall short in this category, but the act of listening, reading, and trying to understand is a means of accumalating knowledge that I really enjoy. From your blog, you seem like a dude who relishes this process too.
I don't know if you need so much knowledge to talk about music. I think the intuitive and emotional responses are just as valid, perhaps even more so. I perhaps rely too much on information and fact giving to cover up my inability to express my emotional attachment, but at the same time these are both linked. Lester Bangs I ain't.
Orphans is great, and the experimental stuff excites me. What Tom Waits have you heard? Perhaps I can direct you to other albums of his that won't be such a strain on the budget.
Comment by Adrian
Philosophy Blog
Comment by David
Comment by Hellvis
Earache Hotel
Small Change is a wonderful example of early Waits, just as his vox were getting all fucked up and grumbly. It's got so much humour and heartbreak. Why am I telling you this? You already know.
Mule Variations is a good, relatively recent album if you want an overall look at what he does: bluesy chaingang rockers, gorgeous ballads (I want to get married to "Picture In A Frame"), and weird-ass experiments. If you want to go full-blown dark and avant-garde, I also can't recommend Bone Machine highly enough. It's like a dejected demon crossed with an avenging angel rising out of the dying earth.
I wrote about a whole heap of others, but I was about to give you a complete rundown of his discography bar some earlier albums that I haven't checked out yet. I deleted it because I could go on forever. Those two albums would be a good start though.
Comment by Hellvis
Earache Hotel
I feel the same. I was lucky enough to get this for Christmas. Still, maybe if you weren't burning them so often...
Comment by Uula Limaski
Uula
PS: For me his best work would be Mule Variations. Does anyone recommend me one older disc that looks a bit like this one? I've tried some of his old stuff, but is really not the same thing..
Comment by Uula Limanski
Thinking The World
Uula
PS: For me his best work would be Mule Variations. Does anyone recommend me one older disc that looks a bit like this one? I've tried some of his old stuff, but is really not the same thing..
Comment by Hellvis
Earache Hotel
Thanks for stopping by (twice).
If you want older than Mule, but with a bit of the weird stuff, I'd recommend anything from Swordfishtrombones onwards (with Bone Machine being my favourite).
Swordfishtrombones is where he started going a bit loopy, listening to Captain Beefheart, and shedding the barroom balladier rut that he'd worked himself into. Which older albums have you heard? If it's pre-Swordfish, I can understand if it wasn't quite the same.
Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs, Frank's Wild Years, Bone Machine, The Black Rider: these are the works that built up to Mule Variations, which is sort of a culmination of all the styles and ideas he was exploring. I prefer all of these albums to Mule btw, which is still a great record.
P.S. I ended up doing a sort of half-career rundown anyways. These reccomendations go for you too, Adrian. AND EVERYONE. Still, if you want to stare into the heart of darkness, and live, Bone Machine is your puppy.
Comment by Uula Limanski
Thinking The World
I can't remenber the name of the other one i listened, but it is quite old, and he passes the hole album on the piano, singing like a drunk....hehe, i like though the drunk part
Comment by Lilla
Enviro Warrior
An Extra Ordinary Life
Dream Herald
I certainly agree with... the intuitive and emotional responses, especially when it comes to Tom Waits … as you know, he is one of my favs … but having said that, I really enjoyed your words and knowledge here too... I learnt some new things, thanks.
…and thanks for the heads-up on this one, I’ll track it down, fast…
Lilla ..
Comment by Cibbuano
20/20 Filmsight
Science News
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
Comment by yonicsooth
Do you reckon if I take Byrne's advice from Seen and Not Seen and envision Mr Waits' mug nightly I could join the Sons of Lee Marvin? Nightmares!
Comment by Hellvis
Earache Hotel
I suppose the problem with the intuitive emotional side is that it can be a bit too personal and insular for readers to connect with. At the opposite end of the spectrum, if I just talk about the sound of the album and how it relates to the artist's other works, that's alienating to a lot of people too.
I need to find a balance, and go with my heart, and then justify myself through musical description and context. This is my new mission.
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Comment by Hellvis
Earache Hotel
What is it that you didn't like about Tom Waits? I'm interested to hear in differing perspectives.
Comment by Hellvis
Earache Hotel
Yeah, the collection is a sumptuous three course meal that is satisfying but impossible to digest in one go. Or maybe I was just hungry when I wrote it.
Looking the ol' grizzled barfly like Tom Waits wouldn't be so bad. I think you've found the key how through the power of song. Have you been giving advice to Ron Perlman?
Comment by Hellvis
Earache Hotel
I love your work too (wish I could comment more, but you know how it is).
Keep on truckin'
Comment by mr jaytee
Also listened to The Heart Of Saturday Night to compare it to Jonathans upbeat version, speaking of whom, I find this amusing, from jojoblog :
It really happens just like Coffee and Cigarettes, rock stars with nothing to say to each other.
Also I have recently watched all of The Wire & I cant stand the song Way Down in the Hole
Comment by Hellvis
Earache Hotel
I love 'Goin' Out West' too. Bone Machine is definitely my fave album. But let me think. Heartattack & Vine is pretty geetarish but mostly blues, and pretty generic blooz at that. Tom gets away with it cuz his voice is like chicken gumbo. Mule Variations is similarly bluuzhy with quite a bit of geet but a good mix of other stuffs as well. If I was to recommend anything, it'd be Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs, and Frank's Wild Years. Tom was on a roll with those three, and there's plenty of geetar. Problem is, Frank's Wild Years has 'Way Down in the Hole' on it. Yeah it's grating, but not as grating as 'I'll Take New York' which is also on it. 'Goin' Out West' is probably his heaviest geetar tune in terms of having geetar on it which is heavy, rather than having lots of geetar on it, thus making it heavy with the sheer weight of geetar, if you know what I mean. Tom manages to be heavy and fucked up without geeter though, especially on Blood Money and maybe on Real Gone (his beatbox album). This paragraph ends now.
Great Richman and Waits story. Still haven't got any Richman of my own. I want the Modern Lovers album, but never see it for a decent price. I'll get there one day. I've seen Coffee & Cigarettes and didn't love it. I get the whole rock stars having nothing to say to eachother schtick. Doesn't mean I want to sit through it again though.