Bone Machine

With his gravelly vocals, maverick persona, and vivid lyrics, Tom Waits is impossible to replicate. While Waits' stylings appear like he has swallowed a beach's worth of sand, his work remains exceptionally melodic if one digs beneath it. It is easy to put oneself off Waits to begin with. His abrasive tones require a lot of exposure to appreciate.

A character shows itself with almost every project, something that impeccably satisfies the purpose of an album. In the era of Tick Tock and short soundbites, the term "album" no longer lives to its title. Instead, they are a randomly generated mish-mash of what sells.

Bone Machine drops the listener into a dark, crooked atmosphere with a tight lyrical cohesiveness not seen in earlier albums. It builds beautifully on what came before without becoming pastiche. As the title suggests, the percussion is at its most commanding, the industrial approach reaching the bone. It is uneasy, but that makes it all the more irresistible. The character in Bone Machine is a sinister madman whom Waits inhabits with relentless excellence.

The first track has Tom Waits professing he dreams of his lover while the Earth dies. This hyperbole is such a unique way to state love. The passion for his lover is powerful enough to remove any fear of death. This idea renders it the most potent opener in his catalogue. However, the best cuts on this album don't arrive until after the Macbre percussive chef-d'oeuvre, "In the Coliseum".

"Goin' Out West" is every gangster's rebellious dream, with moody guitar riffs and words that leave one wishing they possessed the same confidence as Waits character does. He says, "I'm gonna do want I want, and I'm gonna get paid". The assertion casts no room for scepticism. By the track's end, the listener is sure this character made it to the West.

The subsequent track, "Murder in the Red Barn", may come up weak compared with some of the other cuts on Bone Machine, but the effect of "Black Wings" would be slighter without it. While the two narratives from each track may be unrelated in a forthright manner, it is hard to disregard the seamless connection between them. As the title suggests, "Murder in the Red Barn" recounts such an event. "Black Wings" similarly vividly completes a creature capable of prison-breaking. The storytelling being as prodigious as it is in this track means it is impossible to identify anything on Bone Machine that rivals it. Without the storytelling, it would still stand high because the production is at its most developed. That demonstrates its cleverness, the ability for each compositional component to stand independently.

Overall, Bone Machine is one of the most daring works in Waits' discography. Although its faults are evident, they are dwarfed by the consistently gripping and electrifying moments of brilliance that pervade the album.