You know those times when some rock star way over the hill is putting out a new album and it’s disappointing and mediocre, but you kind of have to congratulate them on not sucking as much as they could have? You give them a little gold star and an ‘A for effort’, and quietly go back to listening to their early stuff. Yeah, that happens a lot. Elder statesmen put out records that are alright, but you never listen to them more than once. It’s pretty rare when someone comes out with a record thirtysome years into their career and suddenly it’s your new favorite. There you have Tom Waits. He’s never been bad or boring, but it did seem he’d kind of settled into his niche and wasn’t going anywhere. So it was a little surprising when Bad As Me - his record from last year - hit the nail on the head so hard. Not only did it hit it for me, it hit with a lot of people. He’d never sold more records. Maybe it’s serendipity, or maybe it’s the times and folks are in the mood for some hard luck stories. Tom Waits hasn’t exactly been associated with political relevance in the past, but listen to this. He rants about the waste of war – this war, that war, our war, any war – with a rage peaceniks half his age can’t muster. You’ll remember it as one of the all time classic anti-war songs.
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