Because the human mind loves
pattern recognition, here are a couple of interesting facts. This is the third
straight review of an artist where I’m into double digits for reviews. Also of
interest, of the past 10 reviews, eight of them were released post-2000.
What conclusions do I draw from
this data? First, when I like an artist, I tend to really like them. Second, I continue
to find new music to listen to…kind of. Four of those eight recent albums are just
artists I’ve liked forever that are still releasing new music.
This next album is an example of
the latter.
Disc 852 is….Real Gone
Artist: Tom Waits
Year of Release: 2004
What’s up with the Cover? Artist name and album title. It
doesn’t get much simpler. Tom has chosen a font that says “I love spray paint,
but also murder.”
How I Came To Know It: Once again, this was just me
drilling through the collection of an artist I already loved.
How It Stacks Up: I have 19 Tom Waits albums but one of them
(“Big Time”) is a best of so really, there are 18. Of those 18, I put “Real
Gone” near the bottom of the pack at number 15. Tom Waits is very solid over
his career though, so there is no great shame here.
Ratings: 3 stars
“Real Gone” is Tom Waits at his brave and craziest.
It isn’t my favourite album of his, but I admire it for its pure uncut
chutzpah.
Waits has been experimenting with his ‘weird circus’
sound dating back to 1983’s “Swordfishtrombones” (reviewed way back at Disc 149).
However, from 2002 through 2004 he took all that clanging percussion and vaudevillian
oddity to a whole new level. “Real Gone” is the third album released in that
period (the other two being “Blood Money” (reviewed at Disc 235) and “Alice.”
Unfortunately it isn’t as good as either.
All the ingredients are there. Tom’s voice has its
usual style, ranging from ‘40-grit whiskey throat’ through ‘strangled homeless
man’ (both are surprisingly enjoyable). The arrangements are still as
innovative as anything I’ve ever heard in music and the underlying melodies are
still strong and thoughtful.
This last item is the most surprising. The songs are
packed with strange plunking of guitar notes, and the whacking of various unknown
objects. These objects (usually actual drums, but who knows?) make sounds that
go clang, boom or hiss (one song is actually called “Clang Boom Steam” and those are the three noises that establish the
repeating riff). It would be easy to lose the melody amid all this. If you cut
through all that, you realize these are traditional folk and blues chord
progressions, repurposed to serve whatever bizarre carnival plays through Tom’s
mind.
“Real Gone” is as crazy as they come. It isn’t for
everyone, but I appreciate it. Unfortunately, the songs didn’t appeal to me as
much as those on the two similarly styled records that precede it. I can’t put
my finger on why, and I think it is just a matter of taste. Maybe Tom finally
lost me in his quest to construct meaningful songs out of seemingly random percussion.
With Tom it is never random, but at some point it can be clever to the point of
losing the narrative.
While the music doesn’t grab me as much as a lot of
other records, the lyrics remain strong. “Circus”
is a spoken word track that isn’t at the same 5 star level of “9th
and Hennepin” off of “Rain Dogs”, but is still solid. Instead of telling
the stories of a street corner, “Circus” introduces us to a variety of circus
performers including Molly Hooey described in the following scene:
“And me and Molley Hoey drank
Pruno and Koolaid and she had a
Tattoo gun made out of a cassette
Motor and a guitar string and
She soaked a hanky in 3 Roses
And rubbed it on the spot
And drew a rickety heart and
A bent arrow and it hurt like
hell”
Another reason I get my ink done by professionals,
not carnies, but you can’t deny Tom paints a pretty picture of a lady who probably
gives ugly tattoos. On a related note, what the hell is Pruno?
On “Baby Gonna
Leave Me” Tom sings “If I was a tree,
I’d be a cut down tree/If I was a bed, I’d be an unmade bed.” No one paints
the disheveled down- and-out like Tom.
The best song on the record is “Make It Rain” which is dirty like a mud pit and energized like a poorly
grounded electrical panel with one of those “Danger: High Voltage” signs on it.
You shouldn’t touch either, but the riff is so infectious you do anyway. This
song is a blues track about lost love that’s as down and low as they get. As
Tom sings it:
“Since you're gone
Deep inside it hurts
I'm just another sad guest
On this dark earth”
Unfortunately, while “Real Gone” is good, it doesn’t
consistently manage the level of tracks like “Make It Rain.” “Real Gone” is also ‘real long,’ clocking in at 16
tracks and 71 minutes. I think the album would be a lot tighter with about four
fewer songs and 20 minutes less playing time.
Fortunately, even a weak Tom Waits album is still
pretty good, and there is enough on here to warrant a solid three stars.
Best
tracks: Don’t Go Into That Barn, Circus, Make It Rain
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