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Mule Variations

Tom Waits - Mule Variations Audio CD

A fair review of the Tom Waits "Mule Variations" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Tom Waits reviews here, or go back to the Tom Waits tabs.

Band: Tom Waits
Title: Mule Variations
Rating:

Release Date: 1999-04-27
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Big in Japan 2: Low Side of the Road 3: Hold On 4: Get Behind the Mule 5: House Where Nobody Lives 6: Cold Water 7: Pony 8: What's He Building? 9: Black Market Baby 10: Eyeball Kid 11: Picture in a Frame 12: Chocolate Jesus 13: Georgia Lee 14: Filipino Box Spring Hog 15: Take It With Me 16: Come on Up to the House

Green Andy Reviews: Tom Waits - Mule Variations
Certainly his early albums have more of a mainstream appeal, but this is his first album (at least since his noisy makeover with 1983's SWORDFISHTROMBONES) where the focus is primarily on concise song structure, and not an overarching theme or pure sound. This is Tom Waits' poppiest album to date. As such, even though it contains the same amount of crazed ranting and backwoods blues as regular Waits albums, it's the easiest listening that the man has offered up since he used to confine himself to barroom piano ballads.

In a way, Mule Variations feels like The Best Of Tom Waits, as the songs touch on just about every phase of his career. "Big in Japan" opens the disc with a noisy but lively BONE MACHINE-style rhythm, followed the close-mic'd, percussion-heavy sound of SWORDFISHTROMBONES with "Lowside of the Road", then by classic sentimental Waits on "Hold On". The slick "Get Behind the Mule" could be a holdover from FRANKS WILD YEARS or RAIN DOGS, and the sparse "House Where Nobody Lives" takes us back to Waits' very first album. I could play this game all day, but it would make for a dull review, and I don't want to suggest that these songs are mere rehashes of work he's already done. "Cold Water" is an exuberant backwoods shuffle that lights up the first half of the album, and "Chocolate Jesus" is a more subdued minimalist blues piece that similarly is the highpoint of the album's second half. In fact, just about every song here is a winner, but since they don't have any overarching theme or consistent sound, you might not notice their charms at first. Mule Variations is definitely an album that needs to sit in your collection for a while to make all its attractions apparent.

This is the first record that Waits recorded for the independent label Anti, and it seems like it was either a palette-cleanser or a consolidation of his skills, because it's a far cry from the densely unified records that preceded it (BONE MACHINE and THE BLACK RIDER) and the ambitious albums that followed it (ALICE and BLOOD MONEY). Despite seeming like a very laid back guy, there aren't many moments on record when Tom Waits just kicks back and belts out a few good songs in no particular order, so this album is a rare opportunity to hear him at what appears to be his most casual. It's nice to know that he still strikes gold, even when he's not reaching for the stars.

Dissappointed

I didn't like a lot of this record, and thought that songs like 'Hold On' and 'The House. Tom Waits' ouvre seems to be sectioned into different styles/eras, so first let me tell you which TW I like best: Closing Time, Foreign Affairs, and Nighthawks at the Diner. . . ' were bland, without any personality whatsoever. I routinely skip several songs on this album, compared to Closing Time, on which I feel cheated if I miss a single cut.

There were some treats on here for me, including 'Box Spring Hog' and 'What's He Building?' I'm glad I picked it up for those two alone, and who knows, maybe the rest will grow on me if I stop skipping it. And maybe those songs I don't like are just a part of a different Waits epoch, one that I have yet to get into.

Buy Mule Variations!
This is the kind of music I think you need to just sit down and listen to. This album is worth buying just for House Where Nobody Lives. Don't do anything else - just put on some good headphones or settle down in front of the stereo and enjoy Waits' songwriting.

Mule Variations
I say this because I don't feel that since Rain Dogs has he covered as much ground as he did with Mule Variations to this level of quality. Tom Waits-Mule Variations *****

Mule Variations just might be Waits' all time best album, it certainly is his best since Rain Dogs. This is both a very dark and hallow album, and yet a sort of positive and up-lifting album all at the same time. The lyrical content is amazing, both Waits and his wife Kathryn have done a fabulous job here. The musicianship, though mostly from the guys in Primus is remarkably fresh, considering the odd instrumentation.

Songs like the albums opener, 'Big In Japan' show the hilarity in Waits' music that fans have come to know over the years, while the minimalistic 'Lowside Of The Road' and 'Get Behind The Mule' show his stories of the downtrodden will always have a place in his heart of hearts. The Spoken jazz of 'Whats He Building?' is classic, while for me personally, 'Eyeball Kid' marks new ground for Waits.

Whats especially notable about Mule Variations is Waits' vocals. Still as raspy as ever, his method of recording on this album is astounding, I'm not sure as to how it did it but he sounds as though he is singing with his head in a plastic bucket, and it adds to the overall feel of the album.

Mule Variations is like a crop maze, in that every time you enter, no matter what route you take you end up in a different place each time, no matter if you take the same route over, and over. This is a refreshing album even a near ten years after it's original release in 1999. Which by the way, Mule Variations easily has my vote for the best album of the 1990's.

The dice is laughin at the man that he throwed
Halfway through he tells his band to smoke a cigarette, switches off all the lights and stands there all alone with this electric miner's lamp up against his face. Been listening to Tom Waits on and off since I saw him one time in the Olympia Theatre in Dublin in the 80s, doing his Franks Wild Years routine. Smokes a cigarette himself, right there on stage. He goes on to belt out in his unbelievable voice a couple of songs that just about tore down the whole damn house--looked like some sort of crazy-haired Dean Stockwell in Blue Velvet so he did. Said a funny thing too about New York, said it's a great town for shoes! Been thinking about Mister Waits again coz I've been listening to Mule Variations all morning, mostly that song Cold Water which I can't honestly get enough of or over even. Talk about yer doghouse blues! The sure touch of Sam Beckett in this number is echoed in the great photo of Tom on the back of the album, the one with him in the long black overcoat holding the umbrella. Begob but this felly is just the dead spit of how I've always pictured Mercier! Not that it makes a blind bit of difference mind you but I like to think so. Mule Variations plays very well with Bone Machine and both beef up right brawny like when hammered out at high volume. .

You can see a complete list of all Tom Waits discography, or go back to the Tom Waits tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.