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Album Details

• Artist: Tom Waits
• Album: Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards
• Label: Anti
• Year of Release: 2006
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: dscanland on 2006-12-05

Media

56 Songs, 30 New Recordings, 94 Page Book, 3 discs, this is the ultimate Christmas Present for any Tom Waits fan but you better be quick about it because Anti has decided that this collection is going to be limited edition. The collection is separated into the three discs: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards with the them running the length of each disc.

Brawlers

This disc is the most rocking of the three. There is a ton of the Waits style blues going on here. "Fish In The Jailhouse" stands out as one of my favorites from this massive collection. There is a huge political track called "Road To Peace" that has a great message underlying about the US messing in other country's business. A great line in it: The US doesn't have friends, they only have interests. This song doesn't really do it for me but it's worth hearing to get the message through. "All The Time" has that beatbox feel that Real Gone had. A lot of the songs on Brawlers are like that. Tom covers the classic "Sea Of Love" and does a fantastic job on this one.

Bawlers

Bawlers = Ballads, in the classic Tom Waits style. "Lonesome ballads about the sadness at the end of the raod are framed by tender songs of innocence and green hope." While the Brawler collection is the rocking Tom, this disc is about the sensitive Tom. I like the rocking Tom a little more but this disc has it's place as well. These are the songs that the Rod Stewart's of the world will be clambering to cover. I could see a crooner going after songs like "Little Man" or "Widow's Grove". There are many great ballads on this disc. One of my faves is "Danny Says".

Bastards

Well, Bastards are songs that don't really fit into the previous two categories. The more experimental songs and the narrative ones. There are some gems on this disc. This is where a lot of people find the charm of Waits. His spoken word stuff, like "Dog Treat", shows the man has an amazing sense of humor, as well as showing he's a little twisted too. So if you liked tracks such as "What's He Building In There" then Bastards is the disc for you. Really, there's nobody I would rather listen ramble than Tom. Overall, this is a huge undertaking for the uninitiated but I've already turned one music fan onto Tom Waits with this collection so it's not unheard of. I tend to prefer a mix of all three discs so I mixed them up in iTunes.

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