Throwing peanuts at a gorilla

What started out as a collection of non-album tracks, compilation and tribute contributions and other odds and ends somehow turned into a three-disc set featuring 30 brand new tracks (more then half the total.) Word has it Tom Waits heard what was initially assembled for Orphans and mumbled something to the affect of "mmmm... naaahhh... I don't think so." So he got to work recording some new material, as well as rerecording many of the tracks, and then tossed them into three separate piles: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards.

Album: Tom Waits - Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards
Download: "Road to Peace" , "You Can Never Hold Back Spring"

The first disc, Brawlers, is the familiar Waits of late... shuffling rock ala Mule Variations, and serves as a fine introduction into the set. About halfway through, Waits delivers his most topical and political of his career (and of any artist this year) with the song "Road to Peace," which reads like a newspaper report on the daily skirmishes in the West Bank. In it he namechecks Kissinger, Sharon, Abbas, and Bush, which is weird coming from the man who recently said the influence of political songs was "like throwing peanuts at a gorilla." A couple songs later, Waits recasts The Ramones' "The Return of Jackie and Judy" as a junkyard plea, and then turns the classic "Sea of Love" on it's ear if only for our listening pleasure.

Disc two, Bawlers, is a collection of Waits ballads and is easily the most accessible of the discs. Of particular note is his covers of Ledbetter's "Goodnight Irene" and The Ramones "Danny Says." Bawlers serves as a fine segue to Bastards as that album is where Waits' more difficult material resides. "Heigh Ho" was his contribution to the Disney compilation Stay Awake: Music From Vintage Disney Films, and is a good example of how Waits can turn an innocous song into the stuff of nightmares. Other oddities include Waits reading the nature of "Army Ants," Bukowski's poem "Nirvana," and his beat box cover of Daniel Johnston's "King Kong."

Some truly weird, wonderful stuff to be sure.

Previously:
Quick hits before I go (Live Tom Waits tracks)

tags: music, television, tom waits, indie rock, the ramones, charles bukowski, daniel johnston, rhapsody