It has been seven years since Tom Waits last released a full album of new material, with 2004’s Real Gone. But that’s not to say he hasn’t been busy. The three-disk set Orphans: Bawlers, Brawlers, and Bastards, a mix of B-sides and obscurities, went gold in the U.S. — Waits’ only album to do so. Earlier this year, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. With his latest album, Bad As Me, he reminds us why he deserved it.
The album’s thirteen songs are mostly short and sweet, a combination of the rough, raw, bluesy stompers that Waits is known for as well as the sincere love waltzes and ballads that one might not expect. “Chicago” opens the album with an infectious swagger that carries through till the final track. “Talking At The Same Time” creeps in with its eerie falsetto, containing one of the album’s few hints that it’s from 2011 — a jab at the current financial crisis, with the line “We bailed out all the billionaires, they got the fruit, we got the rind.” From there, it’s back to the carefree strut of “Get Lost,” the closest thing to a pop tune on the album with an contagious groove behind Waits’ smooth growl.
“Pay Me” and “Back In The Crowd,” a subtly dark waltz and a sweet love song respectively, highlight Waits’ songwriting. The latter in particular (which is the album’s second single, after the title track) makes one wonder who else, if anyone, still writes songs like this — that is, simple love songs that feel as if they were written and recorded decades ago. This sound shows up again on “Kiss Me,” which wouldn’t appear out of place on some of Waits’ earliest albums, such as Closing Time or Heart of Saturday Night. The instrumentation is sparse — just piano, bass and guitar — and the effect is of a spontaneous session in an empty dive bar at 3 AM recorded to vinyl, then left in an attic for thirty years. There’s a dusty hiss and crackle that, while clearly contrived, is magical if you let yourself be pulled in. After all, Mr. Waits is more myth than man, and the truth doesn’t matter as much as a good story.
“Bad As Me,” the title track, makes the idea of anyone being quite “the same kind of bad” as Waits seem ludicrous. The sax riffs, the half-shouted, half-barked lyrics over junkyard percussion, all of it is typical Waits, but manages to sound fresh and exciting regardless. Which brings us to another exciting aspect of the album: the tracks that Keith Richards guests on.
“Satisfied,” a nod to Richards and the Stones, is a bit of a goof — Waits admitted in a Pitchfork interview that the concept of the album was just him being “refuckulous.” And yet, barking, “I will have satisfaction! I will be satisfied!” like a crazed gospel preacher is, in fact, pretty satisfying to listen to (and sing along with). “Last Leaf,” on the other hand, is a quiet ballad whose conceit is rather sweet, if melancholy. Richards lends his vocals to the chorus, and these two older, badass guys singing “I’m the last leaf on the tree / the autumn took the rest / but they won’t take me” is one of the most moving moments on the album.
The final track, “New Year’s Eve,” is one of the most vivid and accurate pictures of the night I’ve ever heard. A simple, swaying waltz that incorporates a half-drunk sounding rendition of “Auld Lang Syne” as the chorus, it’s a combination of nostalgia and hope, chaos and reflection, annoying friends and spontaneous sing-a-longs. It’s everything that you remember from a good party, a good year or even a good album. This track does feel like an ending, a goodbye to these moments and characters with which we’ve spent the past hour. In that sense, it is a little sad. Good thing I can just flip the record over and listen again.
