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Though Heart contains a little too much of the finger-snappin' leer that characterizes Waits' early work, it's still pretty charming. (The least fitting is, of course, Rod Stewart's "Downtown Train.") There's the stomp and holler of the title track, the faux-nightclub atmosphere of "In Shades," and the weepy grandeur of "Ruby's Arms." "Jersey Girl" was later appropriated by Bruce Springsteen for certainly one of the most fitting Waits covers. Still, "God's Away on Business" is a great song (even though it sounds a bit like a lost track from The Nightmare Before Christmas), and "Another Man's Vine" is a nicely swooning tale of infidelity.Ī schizophrenic collection of songs rough-edged and tender, Heartattack and Vine is almost more interesting as a museum piece: all of the elements of Waits, past and future, are in place here, though they've yet to be integrated. It's not that it's a bad album, but in contrast to the restrained Alice (released the same month), Blood Money feels limited in its range. To paraphrase one of his later songs, this album might as well be titled Clank Boom Growl.
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vet Pete Christlieb turns in a concise gem of a sax solo on "Warm Beer and Cold Women," one of the only songs on Nighthawks that manages to work past its own cleverness into real emotion.īlood Money finds Waits getting dangerously close to self-parody. The whole thing leans more towards caricature than the nuanced sketches Waits would begin churning out later on, though his assembled band absolutely kills it. Recorded in a studio, but in front of a live audience, Nighthawks was probably a lot more fun if you were there. "Jack & Neal / California, Here I Come" is a neat display of Waits' Beat-influenced rambling, but the Gershwin-meets-Kerouac aesthetic never fully gels - except on the sweetly nonsensical pairing of Waits and Bette Midler on "I Never Talk to Strangers," which is just cheesy enough to work. Sprawling arrangements and overwrought vocals weigh the songs down and stifle the flow of the album. On Foreign Affairs, Waits' reach exceeded his grasp. "Back in the Good Old World" is an enjoyably boozy, nostalgic lurch, though. It's mostly instrumental, and great for scaring neighborhood kids on Halloween, but there's not much to it beyond that. Waits' soundtrack to Jim Jarmusch's Night on Earth is really only for completists. (As per Hooksexup convention, I've excluded compilations and live albums.) It is with a fan's reverence I take on the daunting task of assessing that journey, in honor of his new album, Bad As Me. Tom Waits occupies a beautifully twisted spot in American music: his meandering path from boozy bohemian jazzbo to elder statesman of old-world Americana is compelling and cinematic. In honor of Tom Waits' new album, Bad As Me, we take a look at music's patron saint of weird. Ranked: Tom Waits Albums from Worst to Best