TOM WAITS Real Gone LP Vinyl NEW 2009

TRACKLISTING

LP 1
Top Of The Hill
Hoist That Rag
Sins Of The Father

Shake It
Don't Go Into That Barn
How's It Gonna End
Metropolitan Glide

LP 2
Dead And Lovely
Circus
Trampled Rose
Green Grass

Baby Gonna Leave Me
Clang Boom Steam
Make It Rain
Day After Tomorrow
Untitled

On Real Gone, Tom Waits and his band present a bold musical statement that is equally in tune with modern and traditional values. Blues standards are revisited, and reinvented; atypical blues instrumentation--turntables courtesy of Waits's son, Casey, and banjos--transform and refresh the design of Waits's deeply American sound.

Throughout much of Real Gone, Waits sings of desperate situations in his trademark gravelly howl, conjuring images of emotionally haunted spaces that you would not wish to inhabit but may well be familiar with. "Sins of My Father" is one such lifesong, offering a glimpse into Waits's own world of imperfection. "How's It Gonna End" offers a sepia-stained cinematic take on the theme of departure, peaking with gospel backing vocals, but Waits brings it all back down to ground level with a heartfelt repetition of the song's (mark-less) question title. These are very real songs, honestly presented and without over-elaboration.

Low down and gritty stompers provide what amounts to light relief from Real Gone's more emotionally demanding tracks. Opener "Top Of The Hill" is a raucous, bass-heavy blues number which finds Waits in exuberant form. "Hoist That Rag" follows, providing the album's catchiest hook and most formidable vocal take. Fittingly, though, as the subjects of Waits's roots and his country's changing times are woven through Real Gone's emotive songs, the album ends on a note of Dylan-esque reflection with the beautiful acoustic lake of "Day After Tomorrow". Tom Waits has rarely been a versatile as he is on Real Gone, and the record is all the better for it. --Jonti Davies