8 / 10
Junkyard blues noise crooner Tom Waits
does not do things by half. He follows the soulful, twisted invention of 1999's 'Mule Variations' with two albums of startling brilliance. The first is 'Alice'. Close to 'Mule Variations' in its generous scope and its musing on love and death, it is also a companion piece to 1978's 'Blue Valentine', full of Sinatra-like phrasing and bar-room, late-night philosophising. As always withTom Waits, it is dripping with wit. 'Everything You Can Think Of' sees him opening those distinctive tonsils and mugging it up like Oscar from 'Sesame Street'.
Written entirely by Tom Waits
and his wife (and longtime collaborator) Kathleen Brennan, it’s a shimmering, mournful gem.
Paul McNamee
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