Mule Variations

by

Tom Waits

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"Mule Variations" is, simply, the most solid piece of work Tom Waits has released since "Rain Dogs". That's not to say I didn't enjoy "Frank's Wild Years" and "Bone Machine"; they both, however, only serve as sketches of the fleshed-out world Waits presents us with here.

From the opening track 'Big in Japan' (a track quite reminiscent of "Bone Machine's" 'Goin' Out West')to the closing 'Come On Up to the House,' Waits is in rare form lyrically and vocally. And he's even added a new twist to his repetoire on this album: a DJ scratching in the background on several tracks, most notably the beefed-up and funkified remix of 'Filipino Boxspring Hog.'

Waits covers all of the various styles and influences that inform his music with deftness on this album. He moves from the guitar-driven ballad ('Hold On') through Blues-based quirkiness ('Cold Water' and 'Chocolate Jesus') to quiet (?) piano crooning ('Picture in a Frame' and 'Take it with me when I go')and never misses a beat or sings a line that seems untrue to what we've come to love about Waits's gruff persona over the years.

His unique view of the world and relationships is intact, and rings as true as ever on this album. These lines, from 'Black Market Baby,' pretty much sum it all up: "My eyes say their prayers to her, sailors ring her bell / Like a moth mistakes a lightbulb for the moon and goes to hell. . ."

This album is a "must-buy" for any Waits fan, and would make an excellent introduction to his music for anybody still on your shopping list.

Owning every Tom Waits album,I really wanted to like this one, but I didn't. It just falls flat. Of course there are a couple of good ones (it IS Mr. Waits after all). But on the whole, it's not a must have. Get Swordfishtrombones if your searching for a begining in his hobo-tramp years, or The Heart of a Saturday Night for his beatnik-piano-man years.

I hate to let one song ruin an album for me, but "what's he building in there?" does just that. The song reminds me simultaneously of this old Saturday Night Live skit where Steve Martin repeated asks "what the hell is that?" and Bone Machine's "the ocean doesn't want me." Both these skits worked the first time, but to re-hash them goes about as far as Weekend at Bernies II.