by Daryl Barnett

Created on: February 20, 2007   Last Updated: September 16, 2010

Tom Waits album review: Orphans Bawlers, Brawlers and Bastards - 2006

If you don't know who Tom Waits is, who he really is, now is an excellent time to find out. His newest album is packed with three cds worth of songs, growls, grunts, raps, stories, scatting and noises that can only be described as an epiphany experience of this artist and musician finding himself and thus becoming able to serve himself better (and tastier) on a platter to the world to dine upon.

I've listened to this album many times and different ways (straight through, cd by cd, and shuffled). Mainstream rock music reviewers will give you technical explanations of what Tom has done with this album. I will try to break it down a little more simply for you. Tom Waits is a strange man with strange ideas in his head, strange life experiences, and maybe some faulty wiring that connects his senses to his brain. He sings songs about pain, death, darkness, being lost, but also sings about home, love, irony, and luck. He all the years of his career has translated his understanding of the world into music via rough and coarse sounding lyrics and a voice that sounds like a grandfather that died last year. Yeah, he is a little scary.

That is why I (hesitatingly) recommend that you listen to the second CD in this album first. On it, Tom sings ballads, love songs, even a lullaby to his young son in a voice that you can understand and might even mistake for an entirely different singer. (I say that I hesitatingly recommend you do this because I don't want to irk Tom!) But even for the seasoned fan of Tom Waits, the first cd is very intense and takes more than a few reflective listenings to absorb. Tom has sung ballads and love songs before, sure, but there is something different in his voice on this album. He has matured in an almost adult, aha, parental way that makes these songs seem more gentle and insightful. CD two would almost be suitable for lullaby music for youngsters.

Now this is not meant to delude you into thinking that the entire album is "softer" because by all means, it is not. Side three is actually a little scary and should be listened to in the dark for full affect! The lullaby "Children's Story" is about a poor child with no parents who finds that there is no one left on earth and that the earth is nothing more than an "over-turned piss-pot". The songs on side three sound like things you'd hear on an old Victrola Radio if one were to turn on today and play a radio show from the depression. Some of the tunes even have a Twilight Zone mood to them.

Now I introduced this review stating that if you didn't know who Tom Waits was that this was a good album to start with. It is by no means a greatest hits, or even a sampler. It is Tom gone deeper, harder and darker. So for old Tom fans this is a real treasure. What makes it extra special, I feel, is that there are signs that the artist is still growing and discovering himself. He does what he has done well for so long, better, but he also finds new ways to make his genre all that more unique and interesting.

Side Two: acoustic, guitar, piano, accordion, horns, drum, voice, ballads: softest voice, easy to understand lyrics, some familiar songs: Tom's tender side.

Side Three: a little louder, creepy songs, eerie melodies, moody: Tom's most fun side of himself I think.

Side One: electric, rock, noisy, loud, experimental, boisterous, heavy blues, gospel: Tom feeling good and being vocal about it!

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