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Tom Waits - Bone Machine

Bone Machine

by Tom Waits

£6.37 Free Shipping

Was: £7.49. You save: £1.12 (15%)

Released
15/12/2000
Music Genre
Folk, Rock

Expected to ship within 7-10 days

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Description

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.

Product Details

Artist
Tom Waits
Year of release
1992
Label / Studio
POL
Media Content Format
Album
WOW HD Sales Rank
#2287
Media Format
Audio CD
Recording Environment
Studio
Number of Discs
1
Run Time (minutes)
130
Original year of release
1992
CD 30days Sales Rank
#1884
Cast & Crew
Tom Waits (Music Performer)
Kathleen Brennan (Producer)
Tom Waits (Producer)

Press Reviews

...the apocalyptic howl which is Waits' strongest calling card positively bowls you over... Alternative Press (12/92, p.75)

...the folk music of the post-apocalypse...his most chilling and darkly humorous album to date... Audio Magazine (1/93, p. 150)

...a musical sideshow; not one full of bogus wonders, but rather, applicable sounds and images. It doesn't have to be all popsicles and icicles, you know. And Tom Waits remains oh-so valid... Dirty Linen (Apr/May 93, p.75)

...You never know when you're going to be shocked, thrilled, or just plain unnerved by some startling image or sound...As modern songwriters go, [Waits] is one of the few who does matter..." - Rating: A+ Entertainment Weekly (9/17/92, p.65)

...Waits doesn't prettify, he just simplifies, as the best storytellers must...shows his roots in the spirituals of black American slaves, gospel, Leadbelly's blues and the Depression folk of Woody Guthrie...weird and wonderful... Melody Maker (9/12/92, p.45)

...one of the most singular-sounding albums to come along in some time...BONE MACHINE should be counted among [Waits's] best efforts--deeply weird, aggressively sardonic and, at its greasy core, painfully humane... Musician (10/92, p.99)

...his best album ever....Waits--poignant, brilliant, and original--is beyond all comparisons... Option (Nov.-Dec./92, p.151)

4 Stars - Excellent - "...a formidable talent who is surely the true heir to Captain Beefheart...in an era when even the fringes of cultural enterprise are becoming increasingly dominated by market pandering, his is the bravest of stances... Q (10/92, p.100)

3.5 Stars - Good Plus - "...It's a song older than Waits himself--older than Hank Williams, older than Robert Johnson--that Waits is chasing...Albums this rich with spiritual longing prove the validity of that effort... Rolling Stone (10/29/92, p.69)

Highly Recommended - "...Waits keeps getting weirder--and better--proving that you can live life in sinful disgrace and come out somehow purer in the end... Spin (11/92, p.115)

Ranked #13 in Spin's list of the `20 Best Albums Of The Year' - "...leaves you breathless in amazement that anyone could be this friggin' weird and cool...a shining collection of tunes... Spin (12/92, p.68)

...BONE MACHINE is minimalist music from hell, played on the bones of sinners and sung through the rusty, ravaged, and perhaps even channeled voice of the devil, who shovels coal through Waits's dreams... Stereo Review (1/93, p.88)

Ranked #9 in the Village Voice's list of the 40 Best Albums Of 1992. Village Voice (3/2/93, p.5)

Tracklisting

Disc 1:

  1. Earth Died Screaming
  2. Dirt in the Ground
  3. Such a Scream
  4. All Stripped Down
  5. Who Are You
  6. Ocean Doesn't Want Me
  7. Jesus Gonna Be Here
  8. Little Rain (For Clyde)
  9. In the Colosseum
  10. Goin' Out West
  11. Murder in the Red Barn
  12. Black Wings
  13. Whistle Down the Wind (For Tom Jans)
  14. I Don't Wanna Grow Up
  15. Let Me Get Up On It
  16. That Feel
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