It’s been seven years since “Real Gone” (2004) and ladies and gentlemen, Tom Waits are back and he’s brutally fresh. “Chicago” is a noisy opening track with garage rock pulse and horn-fueled cabaret rock after-taste and the whole album flows glowing and pumping, it’s like a radiography of Wait’s whole career and his best moments projected into the future. If “alternative” and “avant-garde” rock actually means something, then Tom Waits makes sense. Nowadays nothing means anything and nothing make sense, except commercials and music is nothing, but ultimately additional accessory to our iPods. And this is the world we use to say we’re against, but we’re accept it. Tom Waits said sometimes ago: “Apparently, the highest compliment our culture grants artists nowadays is to be in an ad ideally, naked and purring on the hood of a new car”, and he added: “I have adamantly and repeatedly refused this dubious honor.”
There’s no room for artificial intellectual bullshit, for faking alternatives. If you don’t actually feel it, better… “Get Lost”. 😀
“Bad As Me” is one of the wickedest song Waits delivered in the last two decades. On the opposite, “Kiss Me” is one of the smoothest jazz ballad I hear. And Waits know exactly how to juggling between all these sounds and styles and with the support of Kathleen Brennan, “Bad As Me” far the best album Waits bring to the surface in the post “Big Time” era.
Tom Waits – Bad As Me by antirecords
“Raised Right Men” combine smooth tension and post-rock nerve with dirty blues resonances. Waits singing and spitting simultaneously as only he knew. “Talking At the Same Time” might fits perfectly into some David Lynch movie, have that mood of killing time blues and strange mystery. Brilliant. “Get Lost” is only rock and roll – but rock and roll never was so alive and kicking. “Face to the Highway” is quite foggy and actually feels like going away. “Pay Me” put us in a closed bar after hours, smells like a cup of absinth. Poisonous. “Back In the Crowd” is the country-fueled moment dressed up in a smooth, waltzing outfit. Charming at first touch surfacing up from the blue.
“Satisfied” is another big time rock anthem, “Last Leaf” is one of the most charming Tom Waits trademarked ballad, while “Hell Broke Luce” bring to the surface the experimental side of Waits with some tasty exotic aromas and noisy rock guitars merged into a hypnotizing tribal dance. It’s pure magic. The closing “New Year’s Eve” sound so familiar that you have to play again the whole album.
Words are kind of empty and useless. Thank you Mr. Tom Waits, thank you!
Tracklist:
01. – Chicago
02. – Raised Right Men
03. – Talking At the Same Time
04. – Get Lost
05. – Face to the Highway
06. – Pay Me
07. – Back In the Crowd
08. – Bad As Me
09. – Kiss Me
10. – Satisfied
11. – Last Leaf
12. – Hell Broke Luce
13. – New Year’s Eve
“You’re the head on the spear
You’re the nail on the cross
You’re the fly in my beer
You’re the key that got lost
You’re the letter from Jesus on the bathroom wall
You’re mother superior in only a bra
You’re the same kind of bad as me”
Tom Waits – Official Site
Bad As Me – Official Site
Anti.com
Tom Waits @ MySpace
Tom Waits @ Facebook
