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by Todd Jordan Despite being 23 years old, come Christmas morning I was eagerly scampering down the stairs to see if Father Christmas had visited in the night. And by golly he had! There many wonderful presents under the tree this year, including a book of Tom Waits’ collected interviews, a bottle of whiskey, and…and, wait a minute! Where was my third Waits-themed gift? The one I put at the top of my wish list and posted to every single person I know? Where the hell was my copy of Orphans??!?! Fortunately a temper tantrum was avoided when my misplaced present was found to have fallen behind a chest-of-drawers. And, to put it politely, THANK FUCK. I couldn’t have done without this album for one single day longer. I’d be tempted to call it perfect if it wasn’t for the small smattering of tunes across its sprawling 3 CDs that I don’t especially rate (“Fish in the Jailhouse” springs to mind.) Never-the-less there is still a phenomenal amount of gold on offer here: over 50 tracks, most of which are previously unreleased, and the rest are as rare as all damn hell. My personal favourite is “Down there by the Train” which was originally written by Waits to be performed by Johnny Cash, and when listening to Tom’s original home demo version here, I defy you to not feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. It’s like falling in love with music all over again. As a collection of tracks from the cutting-room floor, Orphans proves that even the songs this man throws away are better than most musicians will ever write in their lifetime. Tom
Waits saved my Christmas. |
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SJ Esau - Wrong Faced Cat Food Collapse The Hold Steady – Boys and Girls in America Isis – In The Absence of Truth
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TOM
WAITS - ORPHANS (Anti)