TOM WAITS – CLOSING TIME (ELEKTRA)
With this record it is stating the painfully obvious but Tom Waits really does sound young on it. Indeed of bleating with his gruff, damaged vocal chords instead he is actually belting out the songs with an impressive singing voice which would often see him being compared with Randy Newman in a very positive manner. In some ways it also sounds like late period Bruce Springsteen, the Springsteen so painfully soughting credibility in the face of years being a chest thumping shill.
In addition to the different vocal style there is also something of a country element attached to these songs, one that hints at a small-town existence where true love runs free and people exhibit integrity in the face of poverty.
As a result of all these elements, realistically this is not the best Tom Waits to search out and introduce yourself with. That’s not to say it is a bad record but certainly it is pretty far removed from his best and most inventive efforts. As say above, you just do not recognise it as the Waits the world has come to adore over the years.
Right now I am using this record as some kind of comedown soundtrack after a domestic has blown up in the apartment next door to me. The time is now 1.20AM and while there is too much furniture in my mind I am choosing this as the record to break the peace, to help re-engage with the world at a time when everyone around me represents the pit of humanity. His strains aren’t helping.
At the end of the day I just do not like or value this album. It is just too much of a departure from the Tom Waits I know and adore. Not everything it always right from the beginning.
Thesaurus moment: unfledged.
Tom Waits
Elektra
With this record it is stating the painfully obvious but Tom Waits really does sound young on it. Indeed of bleating with his gruff, damaged vocal chords instead he is actually belting out the songs with an impressive singing voice which would often see him being compared with Randy Newman in a very positive manner. In some ways it also sounds like late period Bruce Springsteen, the Springsteen so painfully soughting credibility in the face of years being a chest thumping shill.
In addition to the different vocal style there is also something of a country element attached to these songs, one that hints at a small-town existence where true love runs free and people exhibit integrity in the face of poverty.
As a result of all these elements, realistically this is not the best Tom Waits to search out and introduce yourself with. That’s not to say it is a bad record but certainly it is pretty far removed from his best and most inventive efforts. As say above, you just do not recognise it as the Waits the world has come to adore over the years.
Right now I am using this record as some kind of comedown soundtrack after a domestic has blown up in the apartment next door to me. The time is now 1.20AM and while there is too much furniture in my mind I am choosing this as the record to break the peace, to help re-engage with the world at a time when everyone around me represents the pit of humanity. His strains aren’t helping.
At the end of the day I just do not like or value this album. It is just too much of a departure from the Tom Waits I know and adore. Not everything it always right from the beginning.
Thesaurus moment: unfledged.
Tom Waits
Elektra
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