Is there something wrong with me? Part 1: Mule Variations

I just love the SOUND that he was going for here and on Bone Machine, so raw and clanky and greased up, it's funky as shit in its own way.

Regardless, I love love love "Big In Japan" and "Come On Up To The House".

So, um, OTM I guess.

Wasn't "Hold On" released as a single? God, that's the very worst song he's ever done!

Those songs you mentioned dog latin plus some of the ballads. EG, I think Take It With Me is a beautiful song.

I don't think I'll sleep soundly again till I find out what he's building in there.

love this album

It's certainly the creepiest of his I've heard.

What's Black Rider like?

It where Waits slipped into shtick for me. His post-Swordfish aesthetic always risks becoming self-parody, but this is where it happened. I like plenty of post-Mule tracks, but I can never hear him the same again.

Black Rider, like his other theatrical pieces is a bit fragmented, but "Russian Dance" has to be heard.

Mule Variations is like a greatest hits without the actual hits. It's a pastiche of Swordfishtrombones through Bone Machine.

as a big waits fan, black rider is where he takes the circus barker vibe to a whole new level. i dont like it at all, but i know people who love it so ?

Black Rider, like his other theatrical pieces is a bit fragmented...

It's actually more fragmented than Alice or Blood Money--a lot of instrumentals and an even wider range of instruments than usual. A number of tracks use pit orchestra members from the original German production instead of his usual crew of musicians, so you've got some violas and clarinets and such that bring something a little different to the sound.

So it doesn't hang together as an album all that well, but I still like it a lot. But I'm biased because I actually got to see the play, and it's probably the single best thing I've ever seen on stage.

LOVE LOVE LOVE the black rider. Possibly my favourite of his albums (tho I wouldn't say it's his "best"). Certainly worth a listen or six.

one of my faves too. i think it hangs together very well.

Mule Variations grows creepily on you if you're not careful.

I think exactly the opposite is true. One listen a year is about right. Then it's very good, all kinds of catchy and clever. Twice in the same week, and you'll be bored with Tom Waits for a long time after. It has some kind of dark boring magic.

I think the trouble is that it's musically all snappy and dressed up for the town, but there's not much inside. "Dirt In The Ground" or "That Feel" from Bone Machine or maybe "Hoist That Rag" from Real Gone are chilling and warming in that very special Tom Waits way, lyrically and otherwise, and there's a lot of the same sounds on Mule Variations, but none of the *content.* Content is king.

(Please don't ask me to put my finger on what this content consists of, exactly.)

(What's he building in there?)

Coincidentally, I had my yearly listen to this last night. Is it Tom Waits season or something?

I like Mule Variations and The Black Rider well enough. This guy has all sorts of great albums, though, the best of which I'd say is probably Bone Machine, my POO album if there was one.

seconded.

Had a Tom Waits epiphany tonight. I own a buncha Tom Waits CDs, and consider him a favorite, but I didn't own anything after Bone Machine, and that's the way I wanted it.

A guy I know told me I needed to hear Mule Variations. He said it was way underrated.

He was right. I see it's not popular here, but I LOVE Mule Variations. I have loved Ribot's playing since Rain Dogs, but on this record, he's bumped himself into my top five guitar players. He's so creative and loose. I keep thinking his guitar is gonna get bent outta tune but it never does. Really inspiring.

The writing is mostly great, as usual. Never really an issue with Tom.

My epiphany was this - I have always been most inspired, as both writer and listener, by Tom's piano ballad-type songs (a wide net, though, because I put stuff like "Tango Till They're Sore" in this category). "Christmas Card From A Hooker.." is one of my favorite songs of all time.

Conversely, I have always felt indifference - and occasional dislike - for his wilder, ecstatic Captain Beefheart impersonations (see "Filipino Box Spring Hog," which to me, sounds like a particularly uninspired Trout Mask Replica outtake). This has not changed and likely never will. I just don't really enjoy this aspect of his schtick. Ditto his 'spoken word' beatnik nonsense.

BUT...and here's the epiphanic part - I have always been undecided on the sort of stoned, junkyard blues he does so well. I guess I've seen so many bands try to imitate this sound and fall flat (Modest Mouse, Man Man, hundreds more), that the 'style' just seems conspicuous and annoying to me. But this album kinda opened this Tom Waits trick for me. I finally get these slow, shambolic, country blues things he does, with all the weird musique concrete-type incidental sounds and deceptively lazy guitar playing (see "Cold Water," "Get Behind The Mule," etc). Now I wanna hear more like this.

I guess what I need to know now is...how's Alice?

i love alice, but it's not much like mule variations (which I also love). alice is more ummm european, less bluesy (if it's bluesy at all). but i actually think it's one of his best overall albums, really haunting stuff. even tho you don't like the "beatnik spoken word" things, "watch her disappear" on Alice is one of the most affecting things he's done imo.

and you're otm about ribot, he is a consistently great player.