release date: Oct. 5, 2004
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,78]
producer: Tom Waits & Kathleen Brennan
label: ANTI- - nationality: USA
Track highlights: 2. "Hoist That Rag" (4,5 / 5) (live) - 3. "Sins of the Father" - 4. "Shake It" - 5. "Don't Go Into That Barn" - 9. "Circus" - 10. "Trampled Rose" (live) - 12. "Baby Gonna Leave Me" - 14. "Make It Rain" (live on Letterman) - 15. "Day After Tomorrow" (live)
16th studio album by Tom Waits - his fourth after changing to ANTI- - following 2½ years after the double release Blood Money and Alice (May 2002).
Real Gone brings to mind Bone Machine (1992) and The Black Rider (1993) in the way that it's about experimental rock but also in a theatrical blues rock style, which partly distances the album from the fine Mule Variations (1999) and at the same time, it also appears as something new with a different rhythm section - as Waits' own "Clang-Boom-Steam" [also the title of track #13] vocal beatbox as background instrumentation - that mix modern styles with an echo of hip-hop and alt. rock.
The Kurt Weil influence from his 2002 releases is somewhat more absent here, whereas you sense a reference to Don Van Vliet. Waits and Brennan's oldest son, Casey Waits is as alt. metal drummer Brain [aka Brian Kei Mantia] both credited drums and percussion on several tracks. Waits' two other children, the eldest, Kellesimone, and the youngest, Sullivan, are also credited as 'production crew' and for 'grub and lug' [food etc.]. A newer element is the clearer use of electric guitar - played by Marc Ribbot (of Lounge Lizards) - on most tracks, which also helps to create a tinge of experimental blues.
The Kurt Weil influence from his 2002 releases is somewhat more absent here, whereas you sense a reference to Don Van Vliet. Waits and Brennan's oldest son, Casey Waits is as alt. metal drummer Brain [aka Brian Kei Mantia] both credited drums and percussion on several tracks. Waits' two other children, the eldest, Kellesimone, and the youngest, Sullivan, are also credited as 'production crew' and for 'grub and lug' [food etc.]. A newer element is the clearer use of electric guitar - played by Marc Ribbot (of Lounge Lizards) - on most tracks, which also helps to create a tinge of experimental blues.
The album even overtook the chart success of Mule Variations and peaked at number #28, the highest for a Waits album on the US Billboard 200, and landed as number #16 in the UK, number #2 in Norway, in addition to several top-10 positions around the world.
My first impression of the album was not positive, but over time I have found it quite a lot better and overall I think it's a significantly better album than Blood Money / Alice and The Black Rider.
[ allmusic.com, NME 3,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 3 / 5, Mojo, The Guardian 4 / 5 stars ]
