Perhaps Tom Waits' most cohesive album, Bone Machine is a morbid, sinister nightmare, one that applied the quirks of his experimental '80s classics to stunningly evocative -- and often harrowing -- effect. In keeping with the title's grotesque image of the human body, Bone Machine is obsessed with decay and mortality, the ease with which earthly existence can be destroyed. The arrangements are accordingly stripped of all excess flesh; the very few, often non-traditional instruments float in distinct separation over the clanking junkyard percussion that dominates the record. It's a chilling, primal sound made all the more otherworldly (or, perhaps, underworldly) by Waits' raspy falsetto and often-distorted roars and growls. Matching that evocative power is Waits' songwriting, which is arguably the most consistently focused it's ever been. Rich in strange and extraordinarily vivid imagery, many of Waits' tales and musings are spun against an imposing backdrop of apocalyptic natural fury, underlining the insignificance of his subjects and their universally impending doom. Death is seen as freedom for the spirit, an escape from the dread and suffering of life in this world -- which he paints as hellishly bleak, full of murder, suicide, and corruption. The chugging, oddly bouncy beats of the more uptempo numbers make them even more disturbing -- there's a detached nonchalance beneath the horrific visions. Even the narrator of the catchy, playful "I Don't Wanna Grow Up" seems hopeless in this context, but that song paves the way for the closer "That Feel," an ode to the endurance of the human soul (with ultimate survivor Keith Richards on harmony vocals). The more upbeat ending hardly dispels the cloud of doom hanging over the rest of Bone Machine, but it does give the listener a gentler escape from that terrifying sonic world. All of it adds up to Waits' most affecting and powerful recording, even if it isn't his most accessible.
Saw a blurb on Yahoo music about this, but after further investigation, I had to forward this to MOG. The link is to Anti- records.I've been reading with envy the stories of this last sequence of Waits shows, so apparently it was a prep for this album.Also, there's a complete tracklisting at the site.enjoy:from Anti- site:Label: ANTI-(http://www.anti.com/catalog.php?id=69)Catalog Number: 86677...
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Tom Waits is going on tour and has a must-see video press conference all about it. Tour Dates06/17 - Phoenix, AZ - Orpheum06/18 - Phoenix, AZ - Orpheum06/20 - El Paso, TX - Plaza Theatre06/22 - Houston, TX - Jones Hall06/23 - Dallas, TX - Palladium06/26 - St. Louis, IL - Fox Theatre06/28 - Columbus, OH - Ohio Theatre06/29 - Knoxville, TN - Civic Theatre07/01 - Jacksonville, FL - Moran Theatre07...
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There was a guy that worked at the gallery that reped me in LA back in the early 90's that turned me on to this. It was the sound track to my painting for a month straight after that. If you want the energy I felt while getting into the "Dark Works" this is one CD that says it for me. It has remained true.
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Bone Machine by tom waits has been an album ive been listening to for more than two years, and i still manage to discover new things to this day buried beneath it. look no further than the sinister/insane tones of "going out west" and the sheer, cool weirdness of "such a scream" this music may strike some people as "weird" but give it a chance.Bone Machine is a morbid, sinister nightmare. In ke...
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 "Bone Machine")
