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Tom Waits
Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards
(Anti-/Epitaph)
Tom Waits is not normal. He doesn't have a normal voice. He doesn't write normal songs. He doesn't make normal albums. So it should be no surprise that his three-disc compilation Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards is anything but a normal anthology.
On the one hand, it's a rarities set that rescues 26 odds and sods-- tunes from soundtracks, stage shows, tribute albums and charity discs -- that have been in musical hock for years. On the other hand, it's a new release, with 30 -- count 'em, 30! -- recent recordings. Then, just to make things even more confusing, it's also a trio of concept albums.
The instant-classic Brawlers disc has 16 nasty slices of Tom's swampy hoodoo voodoo and juke-joint madness, jerry-rigged from from the usual spare parts:
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The shambling grooves and carnival melodies, the Salvation Army band arrangements and clanking junkyard percussion, the rusty Beefheart grumbling and skronky horns, the field-holler yelps and poetic lyrics about fish in the jailhouse and a moon the colour of a carpet stain.
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The moodier 20-track Bawlers disc concentrates on Tom's bleakly beautiful, desperately romantic piano ballads and country-folk laments. And the oddball Bastards disc introduces 18 red-headed stepchildren, misguided souls and musical misfits: Spoken-word cuts, twisted bedtime stories, field recordings, nature lectures and tunes set to the words of Jack Kerouac and Charles Bukowski.
Each disc is packed willy-nilly like a surprise package from a pawn shop jumble sale, with remarkable originals (like the pointedly political and topical Road to Peace) sitting side by side with weirdly wonderful covers (like the gritty reworkings of Sea of Love, Daniel Johnston's King Kong, The Seven Dwarves' Heigh-Ho! and The Ramones' Return of Jackie and Judy) and unearthed treasures (like Rains on Me from an old fundraiser disc).
And in this carny game, everyone's a winner. The completists who already have the rarities can soak up the new stuff. The casual fans can catch up on what they've missed. And Waits' orphans can finally find a home, if not a normal life.
Track Listing:
Disc 1:
1. Lie to Me
2. LowDown
3. 2:19
4. Fish in the Jailhouse
5. Bottom of the World
6. Lucinda
7. Ain't Goin' Down to the Well
8. Lord I've Been Changed
9. Puttin' on the Dog
10. Road to Peace
11. All the Time
12. The Return of Jackie and Judy
13. Walk Away
14. Sea of Love
15. Buzz Fledderjohn
16. Rains on Me
Disc 2:
1. Bend Down the Branches
2. You Can Never Hold Back Spring
3. Long Way Home
4. Widow's Grace
5. Little Drop of Poison
6. Shiny Things
7. World Keeps Turning
8. Tell It to Me
9. Never Let Go
10. Fannin Street
11. Little Man
12. It's Over
13. If I Have to Go
14. Goodnight Irene
15. The Fall of Troy
16. Take Care of All My Children
17. Down There by the Train
18. Danny Says
19. Jayne's Blue Wish
20. Young At Heart
Disc 3:
1. What Keeps Mankind Alive
2. Children's Story
3. Heigh Ho
4. Army Ants
5. Books of Moses
6. Bone Chain
7. Two Sisters
8. First Kiss
9. Dog Door
10. Redrum
11. Nirvana
12. Home I'll Never Be
13. Poor Little Lamb
14. Altar Boy
15. The Pontiac
16. Spidey's Wild Ride
17. King Kong
18. On the Road