The lost son returns

Over the years Tom Waits have written and discarded a number of songs as he didn't see them fit for inclusion on albums he worked on at the time. Until this year, that is.

With his triple-CD release, "Orphans: Brawlers, bawlers and bastards", Waits have taken the concept of rarities-albums to a new level. This isn't merely a collection of rare or unreleased material but actually one of his strongest albums to date where each of the CDs have their own musical theme.

1. Brawlers: Mostly rock'n'roll.
   
2. Bawlers: Ballads and more quiet songs.
   
3. Bastards: His impossible-to-classify material.
   

The first CD, "Brawlers", is probably the most accessible for new listeners. It displays Waits in a fine rock form, with energetic drumming and guitar playing on tracks such as "Lie to me", "2:19" and "Fish in the Jailhouse". One of the best reflections of the year on the Crisis in the Middle East is given by Waits on the track "Road to peace", while on "The return of Jackie and Judie" he gives new life to the 30 year old Ramones song. A personal favorite on this disc is the wonderful version of Phil Phillips "Sea of love" from 1959, possibly the best cover on the entire album!

Once Kissinger said "we have no friends, America only has interests"
Now our president wants to be seen as a hero and he's hungry for re-election
But Bush is reluctant to risk his future in the fear of his political failures
So he plays chess at his desk and poses for the press 10,000 miles from the road to peace.

The fundamentalist killing on both sides is standing in the path of peace
But tell me why are we arming the Israeli army with guns and tanks and bullets?
And if God is great and God is good why can't he change the hearts of men?

Well maybe God himself is lost and needs help
Maybe God himself he needs all of our help
And he's lost upon the road to peace
And he's lost upon the road to peace
Out upon the road to peace.

On the second CD, "Bawlers", we find Waits in a calmer mood, mixing traditional country and nightclub jazz on what can best be called ballads. His own composition "Long Way Home" may very well end up as a hit among country-fans in both Norway and the US, it's one of the smoother and more pop oriented pieces I've ever heard by Waits. "Widow's grove" could very well have been the movie score for "How the west was won", here Waits dives into the heart of American folk music treating us to real fiddle and accordion music. But on "Little drop of poison" he's back were we're used to have him, in the dirty bar of a saloon with a piano and that distinct Whisky-voice. A great tune with wonderful lyrics. Other interesting tracks include "Goodnight Irene", where Waits have made a modern lullaby of Leadbelly's old blues song, and the timeless "Young at heart" - covered by a multitude of artists earlier, from Bing Crosby to Bananarama, but noone quite like this.

On the last CD Waits have collected the songs that didn't fit in on the first two but he felt were too good to leave out of this compilation. Thus the name "Bastards". The CD opens with a wonderful version of Kurt Weill and Berthold Brechts grand finale from "The Treepenny Opera" (1928), "What keeps mankind alive". Then follows a roundtrip in Waits' Wonderful World, with a mixture of spoken word - such as on "The pontiac" where Waits sounds a bit like Denis Leary and on "Nirvana" where he recites Charles Bukowski - and jazzy soundscapes that would have fit perfectly into a David Lynch movie. One of the hilights from this CD is the track "Dog Door", which sounds like Butthole Surfers trying to do a Ween-cover. Gorgeous!

All in all a very varied collection of new and old material where most of it is of the highest quality. This album already belongs to the rich Waits canon. A treat and a masterpiece!