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| Track list: 1. Chicago 2. Raised Right Men 3. Talking At The Same Time 4. Get Lost 5. Face To The Highway 6. Pay Me 7. Back In The Crowd 8. Bad As Me 9. Kiss Me 10. Satisfied 11. Last Leaf 12. Hell Broke Luce 13. New Year's Eve Running time: 44 minutes Released: 2011 |
Waits' most recent, and I would guess last (but who knows?), album. I am missing the three "bonus tracks" listed on his website. Ah well. I do not recall getting on with this much and can only hear one of the songs in my head as I look at the track list, which is a sign of unfamiliarity. I wonder whether this will change that?
It has a high strung start. Punchy repeated notes at high tempo and growled vocal. There is none of the delicateness of Alice here. I cannot say I like Chicago much, but it has an energy about it. Repetition seems to be a feature. A similar recurring note is used in Raised Right Men. This appears to be all about Waits' voice, no bad thing, as there is virtually no composition (I almost prejudicially left "music" here, but that would be too hyperbolic and "grumpy old man" of me). It is more rhythm and a background noise to frame the vocal against. So far it does not work for me, not even a little. Perhaps that is why I have a lack of familiarity. The third track softens the impact a little, there is more musicianship and more of a tune to the backing here. We still have a strong repetition to advance that theme (not a single note this time though) but it is muted, reduced and blue rather than insistent, front and centre and demanding. It is a better track for it, though the breathless singing Waits effects here is not him at his best.
Get Lost sounds like a 60s tune revived and twisted, I can almost see people in black and white doing cheesy dance crazes to the ridiculously quick limited tone pattern except for the darkness of the atmosphere it generates. So far I have not liked anything on this disc, but I am finally hearing promise, a step back from the repetitive, a simpler sound, more space. Face to the Highway may overuse the song title in the lyrics but its construction is much more to my taste. As it goes on, the repetition is there, a march-like beat, but it is mostly a very soft but layered backing and a less forced-sounding Waits in a more familiar delivery. Better. Much better. Pay Me does hark back to Alice a bit, lyrically and thematically it would fit there, even if the music is less atmospheric than those pieces. It still touches on vaudeville, conjures an image of steam organs and mechanical dancing puppets and un-tuned pianos - charming in a shabby kind of way.
Phew, the album has picked up a bit. The start was really harsh, offensive to my ears, but now it seems to have mellowed and settled into a more relaxed mode - strumming, gentle tinkling, and carefree crooning. I get a weird Buena Vista Social Club type air from Back in the Crowd, despite it not being particularly Latin in influence - I think it is the slightly tumbledown impression, with an effect that sounds a little like rain dripping through an incomplete roof. It is a charming track.
I spoke too soon. I am not really surprised when the title track heads back to the style that set me on edge earlier - the title dares it to really. It is not so loud though, and less obviously repetitive. Lyrically more interesting and delivered with an urgency that is much more interesting, but ultimately - and it may be my mood as much as anything - it does not excite me. Kiss Me is classic Waits, rambling with very little to distract from his voice and the pleading story he has to tell. The sparse instrumentation works well for him, especially when it is soft and receding into the background too. We seem to be in a more bluesy mood all of a sudden. The change of style is welcome to a point, but ultimately I am not satisfied with Satisfied - on the one hand I like the bluesy edge, but on the other it remains too samey and the levels of discordance and punchiness somehow just nail a frequency that sets my teeth on edge. The mood and structure of the song I like, but the execution left my ears wanting to shut down.
Last quarter now, and it is an odd duck. The repeated note (pair) theme is gone and dead long ago, but the songs weave from stridency and noise to stripped back lament (to be fair, this is not odd for Waits) in a way that does not feel coherent. One moment you are listening to a pleasant song, well crafted, the next a noisy mess that challenges you. I must admit, I am not up to much of this particular challenge, at least not this evening.
I prefer Waits in thematic mood, tumbledown and touching; dreaming of despair. Less so in aggressive dissonance. I wonder if this album was one hurrah too many, whether my ambivalence to listening tonight sours me, and any number of other thoughts as to why Bad As Me just does not cut it for me. I cannot really say. There are some very nice songs here, but there are also ones that made me want to shut down and walk away. Now that the disc has finished, I have the luxury of doing that.
It has a high strung start. Punchy repeated notes at high tempo and growled vocal. There is none of the delicateness of Alice here. I cannot say I like Chicago much, but it has an energy about it. Repetition seems to be a feature. A similar recurring note is used in Raised Right Men. This appears to be all about Waits' voice, no bad thing, as there is virtually no composition (I almost prejudicially left "music" here, but that would be too hyperbolic and "grumpy old man" of me). It is more rhythm and a background noise to frame the vocal against. So far it does not work for me, not even a little. Perhaps that is why I have a lack of familiarity. The third track softens the impact a little, there is more musicianship and more of a tune to the backing here. We still have a strong repetition to advance that theme (not a single note this time though) but it is muted, reduced and blue rather than insistent, front and centre and demanding. It is a better track for it, though the breathless singing Waits effects here is not him at his best.
Get Lost sounds like a 60s tune revived and twisted, I can almost see people in black and white doing cheesy dance crazes to the ridiculously quick limited tone pattern except for the darkness of the atmosphere it generates. So far I have not liked anything on this disc, but I am finally hearing promise, a step back from the repetitive, a simpler sound, more space. Face to the Highway may overuse the song title in the lyrics but its construction is much more to my taste. As it goes on, the repetition is there, a march-like beat, but it is mostly a very soft but layered backing and a less forced-sounding Waits in a more familiar delivery. Better. Much better. Pay Me does hark back to Alice a bit, lyrically and thematically it would fit there, even if the music is less atmospheric than those pieces. It still touches on vaudeville, conjures an image of steam organs and mechanical dancing puppets and un-tuned pianos - charming in a shabby kind of way.
Phew, the album has picked up a bit. The start was really harsh, offensive to my ears, but now it seems to have mellowed and settled into a more relaxed mode - strumming, gentle tinkling, and carefree crooning. I get a weird Buena Vista Social Club type air from Back in the Crowd, despite it not being particularly Latin in influence - I think it is the slightly tumbledown impression, with an effect that sounds a little like rain dripping through an incomplete roof. It is a charming track.
I spoke too soon. I am not really surprised when the title track heads back to the style that set me on edge earlier - the title dares it to really. It is not so loud though, and less obviously repetitive. Lyrically more interesting and delivered with an urgency that is much more interesting, but ultimately - and it may be my mood as much as anything - it does not excite me. Kiss Me is classic Waits, rambling with very little to distract from his voice and the pleading story he has to tell. The sparse instrumentation works well for him, especially when it is soft and receding into the background too. We seem to be in a more bluesy mood all of a sudden. The change of style is welcome to a point, but ultimately I am not satisfied with Satisfied - on the one hand I like the bluesy edge, but on the other it remains too samey and the levels of discordance and punchiness somehow just nail a frequency that sets my teeth on edge. The mood and structure of the song I like, but the execution left my ears wanting to shut down.
Last quarter now, and it is an odd duck. The repeated note (pair) theme is gone and dead long ago, but the songs weave from stridency and noise to stripped back lament (to be fair, this is not odd for Waits) in a way that does not feel coherent. One moment you are listening to a pleasant song, well crafted, the next a noisy mess that challenges you. I must admit, I am not up to much of this particular challenge, at least not this evening.
I prefer Waits in thematic mood, tumbledown and touching; dreaming of despair. Less so in aggressive dissonance. I wonder if this album was one hurrah too many, whether my ambivalence to listening tonight sours me, and any number of other thoughts as to why Bad As Me just does not cut it for me. I cannot really say. There are some very nice songs here, but there are also ones that made me want to shut down and walk away. Now that the disc has finished, I have the luxury of doing that.
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