Tom's Newest Album is Well Worth the Waits.
Every once in a while, something amazing happens to music. Something that until now has been a rarity. Yes, it's true that there are bands releasing good solid albums every day of every week, but every once in a while something truly amazing happens to music... Tom Waits releases a new album.
"Bad As Me" is Waits' seventeenth studio album and his first album of entirely new materiel in seven years, since "Real Gone" in 2004. However, listening to the album it's hard to believe that Waits has been doing anything other than writing for the last seven years.
There is no doubt that Tom Waits still has his experimental hard-hat on, and with the help of his wife Kathleen Brennan who has been a major influence on his musical style over the years, has crafted "Bad As Me" into a well thought out and emotional album.
With the assistance of a mountain of talented musicians (Keith Richards, Flea and Les Claypool all make their way onto the album) Waits has delivered what seems like a musical sampling of his whole career. Some choice nuggets include album opener 'Chicago', which cuts in clean with a section of horns and a repetitive guitar twang, and while relatively short at only 2 minutes 15 seconds, it's long enough for Waits to grumble and growl and do all those wonderful things you've been waiting seven years for. Title track 'Bad as Me' and 'Raised Right Man' seem to be the albums modern contingent, showcasing Waits' mastery of the oddball blues, with songs such as 'Talking at the Same Time' and 'Kiss Me' serving as powerful reminders of the eloquence and emotion of Waits' earlier material. It's certainly a hard task to describe something beautiful that captivates the imagination, as is definitely the case with "Bad as Me".
While there is an insistence that Waits has storyboarded his own career in "Bad As Me", it has also been suggested that he is hinting at a change in musical direction, an idea which holds up when you shine a light in the right direction. While he has already embraced the influence of Captain Beefheart, thanks again to his wife Kathleen, Waits finishes off "Bad as Me" with a rendition of 'Auld Lang Syne' called 'New Years Eve'. Aside from being beautifully evocative of a time full of hope and cheer, this song seems to be a powerful indicator that Mr. Waits is ready to move on to new musical pastures and do something different. This is all speculation of course, but if the next album is even half as good as this one, I can't waits.