Tom Waits
(Anti-)
Tom Waits will never play in your town and you will never see or hear him in a live setting. No. NO.
If you get over that fact now, it'll simply prepare you to buy this tour guide through Waits' summer of 2008 soiree faster. This carnival barking crooning carnivore and maestro of the swordfishtrombone avantbossatangowaltz has mastered his particular brand of theater, noise and nuance; its rich despair, its decadent yet romantic espirit, its yawning Brecht-Springsteen-Partchian display; its comic belch - certainly more so than when he started touring this sort-of clatter in 1985 with Rain Dogs. (And yes, I saw those shows - several - and plenty before those too, so suck on it).
Since the start, Waits seemed to rely on bunk-male-ing percussion and cranky guitars to raise his mournful, jarring melodies to their heightened melodramatic dream-level. No more though. On the jazz-noir "Make it Rain" (recorded Atlanta 7/05/08), the humpback swing "Singapore" (Edinburgh 7/28/08), the bleak and beautiful "Trampled Rose" (Dublin 8/01/08), there's an effortlessness between Waits and his tight six-piece ensemble that comes from its master's having lived within the roar for decades. He's finally tamed the beast.
Yet, one thing he's never had to consider taming, since he's always had it in control, is the tall order story-telling department that fills all of Disc 2's "Tom Tales" and its 36 minutes and 10 seconds. As the spiritual cousin to the mostly-chatty 1975 Nighthawks at the Diner that was recorded live in the studio over two nights, the 2008 version features a huskier-voiced Waits but one no less sprightly and at ill-ease with his wise-assed tomes of the raw, the ribald, and the Dada-like. And no - I won't tell you what is on it. Seriously, it is much better to be surprised.
Standout Tracks: "I'll Shoot The Moon" (Paris 7/24/08), "Make It Rain" (Atlanta 7/05/08), "Lucky Day" (Atlanta 07/05/08) A.D. AMOROSI
