Tom Waits just dropped the live compilation Glitter & Doom last week, but for hardcore fans such as I, the real prize landed on the porch Tuesday with a thud. As much as I hate duplicating music formats, I could not skip this one.
And if all else fails, I can beat someone to death with the seven-disc LP version of Tom Waits' Orphans.
Luckily, it won't come to that; the release sonically improves on the CD version, albeit at a steep price tag of $150 (Amazon gave a rare LP discount and free shipping, easing the pain ... somewhat).
While having the set on wax is nice, it would not be as sweet without the seventh LP, labeled with a B word not on the original CD version - Bonus. Six songs spread across 25 minutes finish out Orphans.
So what goodies have been rescued from the back of the archive? A manic take on Fats Waller's Crazy 'Bout My Baby picks up where the rest of Orphans left off. Not an easy track to fit on a regular Waits album, it works splendidly in the Orphans context. As with the other five tracks, it's perplexing why none made the cut for the original release.
When I saw the original tracklist for Orphans, I questioned the exclusion of a studio recording of Diamond in Your Mind. Waits gave the song to Solomon Burke for his comeback record, from Waits, we had only seen a live release. This studio take reveals the piano ballad as a sister song to Down There by the Train, a Waits piece recorded for Johnny Cash's American Recordings.
Waits returns to the Weill-Brecht well for Cannon Song, from The Threepenny Opera, which is every bit as boisterous as Side 2 opener Pray, a deft blend of junkyard percussion and gospel choir harmonies. The more experimental pieces tend to shine here; the "Bastards" discs sometimes go off the rails, but mixed among the ballads and rockers, they shine anew.
Nobody Will Forgive Me is the least of the tracks, breezing by and having the misfortune to be wedged between Pray and Wait's version of Child's Ballad standard Mathe Groves. He nails it with a chaste, a capella delivery, telling the tale of a doomed tryst between a servant and his lord's wife. I knew this song from Fairport Convention's version; by skipping all accompaniment, Waits drops the ballad back into the minstrel tradition. Going it alone, his usual bellow could emanate from the Middle Ages. I didn't except excellence on this handful of extras, but somehow, it arrived.
This isn't Bob Dylan releasing a deluxe edition of outtakes with an extra disc; Orphans came out three years ago, and for the non-obsessive or record collector, it might not blip on their radars. Sure, six extra tracks on an expensive record set still marks a cash grab, no doubt but the new format made the repurchase more palatable.
Heavy-grade vinyl, six new tracks on top of the stellar odds-and-sods collection and a booklet of new photos still qualify this seven-disc monster as worthwhile. Tell me otherwise, and you just might get a painful beatdown with it.
1 comment:
On "Cannon Song", does your copy play with sharp static ticks under the lead vocals and after the intro? This static starts with the beatboxing intro on your left channel and then becomes more pronounced when the song starts. It sounds remarkably like an actual pressing flaw, but fits like a glove with the ambience of the song.
I reckon it's gotta be there on purpose as it never messes with Waits' lead. After all, the static interference does create a lineage of sorts. Should it be a pressing flaw, surely it would affect the lead vocals as well.
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