Tom Waits - Mule Variations
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CD Details
Artist: Tom WaitsBrand: Tom
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1999-04-27
Music Label: Anti
Soundtracks:
- Big in Japan
- Low Side of the Road
- Hold On
- Get Behind the Mule
- House Where Nobody Lives
- Cold Water
- Pony
- What's He Building?
- Black Market Baby
- Eyeball Kid
- Picture in a Frame
- Chocolate Jesus
- Georgia Lee
- Filipino Box Spring Hog
- Take It With Me
- Come on Up to the House
Music reviews of Mule Variations
Music Review: Green Andy Reviews: Tom Waits - Mule Variations
Rating: 4 Stars
This is Tom Waits' poppiest album to date. Certainly his early albums have more of a mainstream appeal, but this is his first album (at least since his noisy makeover with 1983's SWORDFISHTROMBONES) where the focus is primarily on concise song structure, and not an overarching theme or pure sound. As such, even though it contains the same amount of crazed ranting and backwoods blues as regular Waits albums, it's the easiest listening that the man has offered up since he used to confine himself to barroom piano ballads.
In a way, Mule Variations feels like The Best Of Tom Waits, as the songs touch on just about every phase of his career. "Big in Japan" opens the disc with a noisy but lively BONE MACHINE-style rhythm, followed the close-mic'd, percussion-heavy sound of SWORDFISHTROMBONES with "Lowside of the Road", then by classic sentimental Waits on "Hold On". The slick "Get Behind the Mule" could be a holdover from FRANKS WILD YEARS or RAIN DOGS, and the sparse "House Where Nobody Lives" takes us back to Waits' very first album. I could play this game all day, but it would make for a dull review, and I don't want to suggest that these songs are mere rehashes of work he's already done. "Cold Water" is an exuberant backwoods shuffle that lights up the first half of the album, and "Chocolate Jesus" is a more subdued minimalist blues piece that similarly is the highpoint of the album's second half. In fact, just about every song here is a winner, but since they don't have any overarching theme or consistent sound, you might not notice their charms at first. Mule Variations is definitely an album that needs to sit in your collection for a while to make all its attractions apparent.
This is the first record that Waits recorded for the independent label Anti, and it seems like it was either a palette-cleanser or a consolidation of his skills, because it's a far cry from the densely unified records that preceded it (BONE MACHINE and THE BLACK RIDER) and the ambitious albums that followed it (ALICE and BLOOD MONEY). Despite seeming like a very laid back guy, there aren't many moments on record when Tom Waits just kicks back and belts out a few good songs in no particular order, so this album is a rare opportunity to hear him at what appears to be his most casual. It's nice to know that he still strikes gold, even when he's not reaching for the stars.
Description of Mule Variations
After Tom Waits's six-year stint indulging in other artistic endeavors, hearing his familiar growl is like revving up a beloved old motorcycle after driving around in an SUV. The hard-earned wisdom and arcane sensibilities of this set make it one of strongest releases of his entire eclectic catalog. --Matthew CookeSeven years passed between the release of Bone Machine and Mule Variations. During that time Tom Waits eschewed cutting another "conventional" (the term used loosely here) song collection, occupying his time with acting projects, a soundtrack (Night on Earth), a stage project (The Black Rider), and sundry smaller diversions. What's surprising about Mule Variations is how little he's strayed from the old Bone yard through the years. As with his Grammy-winning 1992 outing, Waits intersperses the tough and the tender, mixing exercises in creative noisemaking with tunes that fall on just the right side of maudlin. As with Bone Machine's "The Ocean Doesn't Want Me," "What's He Building?" is an experiment in word jazz that owes a debt to its creator, Ken Nordine. Waits has again assembled a crew of attuned sidemen (including Primus and steadfast backers Ralph Carney, Larry Taylor, and Joe Gore). And, as always, Waits and his wife-cosongwriter-coproducer Kathleen Brennan exhibit an uncanny ear for the arcane. In the end, Mule Variations is the aural equivalent of a salvage shop that, while largely familiar, still has a few secluded chambers and trap doors. --Steven Stolder
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