Bone Machine

To the esteemed Princeton University Admissions Committee, Thank you, in advance, for taking the time to review my admissions essay. Becoming a student at Princeton would fulfill a life long dream and I am honored to be able to apply. It’s certainly uncommon for someone of my age, with an established career, to be applying for college into their 40’s, but I believe I am uniquely qualified to attend your university and after regaling you with this true story, I think you’ll agree: Several years ago, while shopping for records at the nearby Princeton Record Exchange, I was asked by a student from your University (easily identifiable because of his Princeton University hooded sweatshirt, backwards ball cap and worn out Sperry’s), if I knew “where they keep the Tom Waits records.” “I checked the ‘T’ section….nothing there,” he added. “Try the ‘W’ section,” I suggested to him. “They sort artists by last name.” “Oh, wow”, he sighed, with a sense of overwhelmed exasperation. “I wouldn’t have thought of that”, he said, making his way to the W section, where a likely treasure trove of Tom Waits on wax awaited him. As he searched through the W section and I continued my crate digging, a sense of pride washed over me: “Holy fuck,” I thought. “I could have got into Princeton.” Hence, my reasoning for writing this essay. As I wrote earlier, I think my qualification for admittance into your fine school speaks for itself. I have a solid grasp on alphabetical sorting and categorization and a keen ability to help others solve their problems in a quick and efficient manner. Plus, I’m not half-bad at math. I look forward to my inevitable acceptance to your school and hope to provide forward thinking leadership amongst the students. Thank you once again for taking the time to review my application for admission. Go Tigers!

my dude needs a throat lozenge and some bed rest.

This is my 3rd Tom waits album on this list and I have accepted by now that I will never understand it. I like a lot of music that can be dissonant, weird, borderline unprofessional, out of tune, not on beat, etc. But Tom Waits is always part mediocre folk and part garbage noises with this weird muppet sounding dude trying to sing over it, but failing because he misread the label and started swallowing chewing tobacco I can't

This album feels like a Key and Peele sketch. Tom Waits (played by Peele) walks into the recording studio and talks to the recording manager (played by Key) Manager: Come on it. Were glad to have you here. The band is all warmed up and were ready to go. Tom Waits (speaking in a normal voice): Sounds great. Let's get started. Tom begins singing like he's being tortured during the Spanish Inquisition and is quickly interrupted by the manager. Manager: Ok..... that was great, but why don't we try it again with your normal voice. Tom (normal voice): Not a problem. I love the feedback. Lets try again. Tom sings in a high falsetto this time. Manager: Stop! Let's try that again. Remember, we're paying the piano and saxophone player by the hour here. Tom (normal voice): I completely understand. Tom turns around and fires half the band leaving only the drums. Manager sighs and looks down. Tom begins singing like McGruff the Crime Dog on crack. Manager: Fuck it. We recorded the band warming up earlier. We can just fill in the rest of the album with that and some background chatter.

Tom Waits is nothing if not authentic, a veritable machine of authenticity right down to the bone. He lives, bleeds, drinks, sings, howls… and one day will die… authentically. Not necessarily pretty or polite. But bona fide. And I’ll take a real ‘sinner’ any day over an artificial ‘saint.’ Billy Joel was wrong, incidentally, about the sinners having much more fun. It’s not that they don’t sometimes experience pleasurable things (one of the reasons people self-medicate with alcohol and drugs is partly due to how good it feels, at least until it don’t no more), but the sinners that populate 'Bone Machine' (and every other Waits’ album I can think of) are more often than not wounded and suffering from life situations. Jesus tells my favorite story from his collection about two brothers, the younger of which could easily be counted among the many outcast, unclean characters Waits writes about. The older is morally perfect; except for his feeling of entitlement, as if he has earned and deserves his father’s blessing. The younger screws it all up, suffers the consequences of his actions, then becomes very self-aware and goes back home seeking forgiveness, of which his father, thankfully, is only too happy and eager to give. One of the many take-a-ways in this story is that those who pursue meritocracy in their relationship with the Creator and the Creator’s creation, sadly, may never know the joy of grace. Waits’ characters may be dissolute, but they are also in a perfect position to be the joyful, grateful recipients of grace. Would you rather be inside the house in Jesus’ story, a symbol of heaven, with all the other happy partying forgiven sinners, or outside by your own refusal because you feel as if you've earned an invitation while the rest of the losers have not? Furthermore, if you refuse to participate in heaven, standing outside, then where exactly do you find yourself? Another way to say this is to ask the question: are you giving more power to the sin that closes doors or the Father’s grace which opens them? Your free choice. I only bring the Bible into this because Waits does too. Like Dylan, his songs are infused with scripture. Real scripture, real people, real God, real songs. Very different from the Amy Grant ‘Jesus is my boyfriend’ kind of religious songs (no disrespect intended to Grant, nor am I suggesting that she’s not authentic, too.) It’s just that I much more identify with Waits’ creations- drunks and whores and people contemplating homicide or suicide. Demons, too, perhaps the devil himself. (Good Lord, didn’t the hair on my arms stand straight up when Waits sings in ‘Black Wings’ that ‘… he has risen,’ but rather than the crucified One it’s the one doing the crucifying.) Tom concludes that chilling number with, ‘One look in his eye, everyone denies ever having met him,’ and then whispers that several times to fade out. Brr… Or, the hellish ‘In the Colosseum,’ where ‘we call ‘em as we see ‘em,’ or the ‘Murder in the Red Barn,’ that goes unprosecuted, or worse, unknown at all, or the deceptively playful ‘I Don’t Wanna Grow Up,’ also covered by the playful Ramones, except when Waits sings it is loses any seeming playful innocence of youth and sounds as if the youth is a victim of abuse. I happen to find the crazy, clunky music and Waits’ gravely, booze and cigarette vocals rather enjoyable; but, then I also like that kind of stuff. I’m sure a lot more probably will argue that he makes Joe Cocker, by comparison, sound like Tony Bennett, but that’s ok. Music is pretty subjective to begin with, to a certain extent. You like what you like. I like anchovies and green olives on my pizza, so there. Waits can play a gorgeously melancholy piano, keys soaked in booze, and then turn around and strum a filthy, dirty guitar that probably sends forth a plume of dust when it’s set to rest in its case. Wonderful pedal steel from David Williams to accompany those piano songs. And wherever Keith Richards pops in (on the final song, written by Waits for him) can Waddy Wachtel be far behind? Les Claypool and Brain, from Primus, ‘nuff said. David Hildalgo from Los Lobos coaxes a coyote out of the violin on ‘Whistle Down the Wind.’ But the predominate sounds on this intrepid LP are all the percussion, many of which Waits plays, and I’m not talking about just drums, but an interesting variety of other things, including one Waits invented himself that he names the ‘conundrum,’ a metal instrument ‘with a lot of things hanging off it that I’ve found- metal objects- and I like playing it with a hammer.’ That said, the real draw on 'Bone Machine' is not the music, but the lyrics. And I’m not about to begin quoting them all. I simply can’t. There’s too much. He creates little worlds within each and every song, mini-novels. I know of almost no other artist who does this as/so well, save Bob Dylan. It’s an outstanding gift- God blessed, not earned- despite the pitiable inability, perhaps unwillingness, of the so-called morally upr(t)ight to look beyond his red-rimmed eyes and down into the man’s heart. By the by, that story I referenced before, from Jesus’ discography, was told as a direct cause of the religious professionals in his day grumbling about his keeping company with the kinds of folks Waits witnesses in his songs. Waits’ criminals and outcasts are treated by Jesus as friends. The religious professionals have rendered themselves criminals and outcasts to God, and not by God’s choice, but by their choice. While googling the lyrics to assist with my listening to 'Bone Machine' I ran across this little anecdote from a fan: ‘I saw this homeless guy singing a couple of summers ago. I told him he sounded just like Tom Waits. He said, ‘That’s because I am!’ I couldn’t argue with him about that.’ You can argue with me about the merits of this LP, but not it’s grace. You just can’t. You really can’t. Please don’t even try, for Jesus’ sake.

When he's good he's great but when he is bad he is fucking terrible. This album has a lot more good than bad though.

Like nothing I've heard before (only Electro-Shock Blues by Eels comes close, which I'd guess this influenced). A dark and demonic quality created by it being rhythm and percussion led, which is evocative of ungulate creatures. The latter parts of the album has more instrumentation with actual notes, which seems to imply a journey - I'm imagining someone arriving in hell and growing to accept their lot over time. I like this a lot. Dark but not depressing. Unique, evocative, interesting. 4.5/5

This is probably my favorite Tom Waits album. I don't know if I heard this or "The Black Rider" first, but I remember listening to WAIF, a sort of public access radio station at the lowest end of the FM dial, when I was about 13 or 14 years old, and recording onto cassette anything that caught my ear in the night. Tom Waits certainly did. I then tried to get my hands on an album of his and went out and got a copy of "Nighthawks At The Diner." I was sort of confused by it though. It sounded like two completely different artists. I appreciated both modes, but definitely preferred his more experimental material. Nothing sounds quite like his unique cocktail of influences once he hit his creative breakthrough in the 80s with "Swordfishtrombones." His music ages well too because he largely eschewed the recording trends of the time, and pursued something much more timeless. He never quite fit in anyways, so when he really started embracing his inner madman, he stuck out so much it was sort of astonishing. One of the most amazing mid-career reinventions since Dylan went electric. Waits is certainly a polarizing musical figure, and I understand why his sound doesn't sit well with many, if not most, but I've had nothing but admiration for him ever since he had me spellbound over the radio that night all those years ago. Above all I'm drawn to his focus on texture and atmosphere. Whether you enjoy it or not, he has one of the most instantly recognizable sounds in music. A genre of his own. It must have been a difficult road being such an iconoclast, bucking trends, and simply being himself in the face of showbiz, but I'm glad he took the journey.

For fans of: gritty seaside shanty towns, smoking two packs a day, xylophones made from bones, drinking alone, backyard percussion with rusty tools, apocalyptic gospel hymns, etc.

1 < x < 1.5, cant understand why its on the list at all

I don't wanna grow up

1/5 nope, sorry Tom, but no

First album that I'm not looking forward to hearing. I'll give it a crack. Despite knowing precisely zero about this album or Tom Waits in general, it turns out that my apprehension was entirely justified. This is a falsetto cacophony of meritless free form jazz leading to bad blues. I'm pretty sure that for "Who are you this time" he was singing with his eyes closed because the music is just so damn moving. Can this pish end soon please?

Waits starts off with the screeching and the junkyard percussion and you can’t imagine a whole album of this- but then he sings a love song of such exquisite beauty and tenderness it knocks your socks off. Nobody makes music like Tom Waits. A unique artist.

5/5. Wild how this is not only a super uncomfortable record but so strangely beautiful at the same time. Each song is so minimal in instrumentation but feels so different, less is more and Tom knows how to use each instrument to its fullest potential. I feel passion and sincerity in some songs, and then the next I am listening to a serial killer, also sincere unfortunately. Awesome album, just really unique and well-written.

Third Waits album of this gig, taking my total up to five. Might not be my favourite overall but on first blush contains his most eviscerating vocals. Sounds like he's singing half these songs after being shanked in the guts, his voice forcing its way through the blood rising in his throat. Pretty gruesome, and perfect for his grotesques, as is the lost and found instrumentation. He probably did stuff just as weird before this, but true to his reputation (with me) of getting better in his mid to late career, he's found a way to assemble his spare parts into a functioning vehicle rather than a rattling heap. Hence Bone Machine, not Heap of Bones.

There has never been a more apt album title. The music is indeed stripped down to its bones. Tom sings his existential angst over percussion that sounds like it's just Tom Waits banging on shit with whatever he can find (because it is). It's all so very Tom Waits, and so very 90s (check out that album cover, complete with font that looks like a cross between the espn2 logo and anything produced by Tim Burton), and it works. Best track: That Feel

Strange dude. It's like an album recorded in a dungeon, with the skeletons keeping rhythm and Tom is in the corner growling about craziness. Percussion stuff was interesting. Quite a singular record, though not something I'll probably listen to again.

In an earlier review I wrote that if Bob Dylan could sing, he'd be Leonard Cohen. Well if Bob Dylan suffered a traumatic brain injury as a child, he'd be Tom Waits instead. I can only imagine that the editors of the 1001 albums book have some kind of inside joke about him that caused them to include multiple of this guys albums. I kind of regret listening to this because it's so bad that I don't think Tom deserves to receive any streaming revenue from it

As I've stated many times before, if an album makes it onto the list instead of one of your favorites, maybe your listening choices are shite. This is a prime example of that theory. Now I'm a Tom Waits fan, but of the 5 albums he has on the list (this is my 4th) my 2 favorite albums of his being Closing Time and The Heart of Saturday Night, are nowhere to be found. So, maybe my listening choices are shite. But anyway, I like this album because I like Tom Waits and I enjoy his schtick, though all 5 book choices come across as drunken sailor/skid row bum mumblings like Mickey Rourke in Barfly quipping things like 'I don't hate people, I just seem to feel better when they're not around', they're all still very good. But anyways again, go listen to Closing Time and join me in a rousing chorus of 'what the fuck Dimery' and wonder how did he pick this over that. Or maybe I'm just salty cause my listening choices are shite.

If Bob Dylan is the Alfred Hitchcock of American music then Tom Waits is the Tobe Hooper: rawer, scarier, less subtle, more inclined toward the use of power tools. And - equally capable, on his best days, of making something utterly compelling. I'd heard stories of how difficult a listen this would be, and it is, for some values of "difficult"; it's obviously going to sound different from both traditional folk and "traditional" industrial (is "bedpan percussion" a thing? It is now, I guess). The mix doesn't help, sometimes muddying a crucial lyric at a crucial point (the problem with recording your album in the boiler room is that it sounds like you recorded in the boiler room). But once you get on Waits's wavelength, as I did after a couple tracks, the cacophonous, abrasive stuff starts to signify, to the point that it's actually the sweeter, more traditional-sounding tracks that feel like overplays of his hand - like they're giving you a respite you haven't quite earned. And the lyrics, which seem to place our American Dante all over the American backwoods, backroads, backcountry, backstreets, etc., in search of a Beatrice who may or may not exist and may or may not have been murdered by the man now carrying her torch. It's arresting to hear an artist tackle his anxiety of influence head-on like this; Waits really does attempt to match Dylan line for line and succeeds about as well as any mere mortal can expect to. Listen carefully and you'll find at least a few lines that explain yourself back to yourself (my personal favorite, from the closer "That Feel": "You say that it's gospel but I know that it's only church"). This is still very much an acquired taste but it is absolutely worth acquiring.

Torn between 3 and 4, as there are some shit songs in there, but the good ones are so effing good...

I remember seeing the album cover back in the 90's (definitely a memorable cover) but I never listened to this. Some wild stuff in here, lots of weird noises and fun (sometimes funny, though I can't tell if that's on purpose) singing and playing, and a lot of interesting things going on. Each track seems to stand on its own stylistically. I have heard other Tom Waits music (I love the album "Closing Time") and whenever I've seen him in a movie, if a scene includes him I always know it's going to be good. I don't know much about him, and I have a feeling I should. Glad I heard this.

While listening to this today, I had a revelation. Some of these albums we must listen to are absolute dog shit so we can really appreciate good ones. This was absolute dog shit.

A 53 minute long anti-smoking ad.

1/5

It is a weird album and I did not care for it. I don't know this album is on the list or why people like Tom Waits. The album is better than a one but not really a two. A couple of songs were alright but Waits cannot sing. I am going to round down to a one but it is better than some of the other ones.

Mad as a box of frogs, and about as much fun

Tom Waits' Bone Machine is something I would never consider putting on. Every track is too bleak, morbid, and Tom's grating voice makes for a very annoying listening experience. 1/5.

# In-Depth Review: *Bone Machine* by Tom Waits (1992) ## Lyrics The lyrical universe of *Bone Machine* is a stark departure from the romanticized barflies and sentimental hookers of Waits's earlier work. Instead, we find a landscape populated by "brimstone-spewing demons, withering bluesmen, lynch mob justice, politicians gorging on blood and rapine, suicidal seafarers, and small-town murder." **Key Lyrical Approaches:** - **Biblical and Apocalyptic Imagery:** Waits drew heavily from the Bible, particularly the Book of Revelations, which his wife and collaborator Kathleen Brennan introduced to his creative process. Songs like "The Earth Died Screaming" depict literal end-times scenarios with locusts taking the sky, while "Dirt in the Ground" retells Cain and Abel's murder with the line, "Now Cain slew Abel / Killed him with a stone / The sky cracked open / And the thunder groaned." "Murder in the Red Barn" directly quotes the Ten Commandments: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house / Or covet thy neighbour's wife." - **Grotesque Romanticism:** Even love songs are filtered through death and decay. "Such a Scream," a twisted romantic ode to Brennan, features lines like "She just goes clank and boom and steam / A halo, wings, horns, and a tail / Shoveling coal inside my dreams" and "Inside the dollhouse of her skull." - **Character-Driven Narratives:** "Black Wings" presents a mythological drifter in the American Southwest who "can turn himself into a stranger," with rumors that "he killed a man with a guitar string." "A Little Rain" offers tender vignettes of a German dwarf, a fingerless guitarist, and a teenage runaway who "climbed into a van / With a vagabond / And the last thing she said / Was 'I love you, mom.'" - **Humor and Braggadocio:** "Goin' Out West" is a testosterone-fueled litany of boasts—"I know karate / Voodoo too / I got hair on my chest / I look good without a shirt"—that rivals hip-hop braggadocio while maintaining a tongue-in-cheek quality. --- ## Music & Arrangements Musically, *Bone Machine* represents the furthest extreme of Waits's "Line B" aesthetic—a term critic Luc Sante uses to describe his post-*Swordfishtrombones* experimental direction, distinct from his 1970s Tin Pan Alley-influenced "Line A." **Instrumentation & Style:** - **Percussion-First Approach:** The album is rhythm and percussion-led, with much of the percussion inspired by avant-garde composer Harry Partch. Waits used objects that are not traditional instruments—"sticks, chairs dragged across the floor, broken abandoned tools, metal machinery"—to create what one reviewer called "basement brutality." - **Genre Collage:** The record merges primitive blues with avant-garde experimentation, gospel blues, industrial noise, spaghetti-western guitar (on "Black Wings"), and Voodoo-influenced rhythms (on "Such a Scream"). Minimalistic guitar strumming alternates with "the hammering clang of trashcan drums," while "blaring saxophones trade-off with dusty piano chords." - **Vocal Range:** Waits employs multiple vocal personas—from the serrated bark of "The Earth Died Screaming" to the raspy falsetto (inspired by Prince) on "Dirt in the Ground," to the ailing old-timer delivery of "Jesus Gonna Be Here." - **Unusual Instruments:** The album features a Chamberlin (an ancestor of the synthesizer) and an instrument Waits designed himself called "the conundrum." --- ## Production The production of *Bone Machine* is integral to its atmosphere. Recorded in a studio's storage room, the album was given an intentionally claustrophobic, cavernous sound. **Production Characteristics:** - **Raw and Immediate:** Waits adopted a Luddite attitude toward "aseptic computerized recording innovations," preferring to capture sounds in their most immediate and natural forms. This rawness is epitomized by "Let Me Get Up On It," a track Waits liked so much as a home demo—featuring yelped, indecipherable lyrics over what sounds like banging pots and pans—that he released it essentially as-is. - **Intimate Atmosphere:** The recording environment creates what one critic described as the feeling of being "part of the jug band sitting on the porch of the clapboard shack" during "Jesus Gonna Be Here." The level of intimacy makes the listener feel present in the space. - **Atmospheric Cohesion:** The production unifies the album's disparate elements, giving even the quietest moments a sense of dread and the loudest moments a feeling of being trapped in a confined industrial space. --- ## Themes *Bone Machine* functions as a concept album, with death as its central, unifying meditation. Nearly all 16 tracks touch on mortality in some form. **Core Themes:** - **Death as the Great Equalizer:** From the cosmic scale ("The Earth Died Screaming") to the personal ("Dirt in the Ground"), the album insists that death is "the epitome of the profane, a reversion into nothingness" rather than a sacred passage. The refrain of "Dirt in the Ground"—"We're all gonna be dirt in the ground"—was reportedly inspired by a pickup line Waits heard from saxophonist Teddy Edwards. - **Man's Inhumanity to Man:** "In the Colosseum" compares the Senate floor to the Roman Colosseum, suggesting that humanity's bloodlust has merely been repressed rather than eliminated. The song depicts "the dog-eat-dog entropy" that follows societal collapse. - **Religion and Deception:** "Jesus Gonna Be Here" presents blind faith with both reverence and irony, while the album as a whole questions "the role of religion in deceiving followers into thinking life has an innate purpose." - **The Failed American Dream:** The album continues Waits's exploration of "a marginalized America, an underworld of outcasts, forgotten people and lowlifes." It embraces "resentment and fear" and builds stories upon the failed promise of the American Dream. - **Resilience:** "A Little Rain" offers a counterpoint to the surrounding dread, suggesting that "a little rain never hurt no one" and that one must "risk something that matters" to truly live. --- ## Influence & Legacy *Bone Machine* has proven extraordinarily influential across multiple genres and artists: - **Alternative Rock & Beyond:** Its Grammy win for Best Alternative Music Album legitimized a sound that defied easy categorization. One listener noted it sounds "like nothing I've heard before," comparing it only to Eels' *Electro-Shock Blues* as a similarly dark, percussion-led work. - **Cover Versions:** The strength of the songwriting beneath the abrasive production is evidenced by the number of covers by other artists, which often reveal melodies hidden beneath the noisy arrangements. "I Don't Wanna Grow Up" was notably covered by the Ramones. - **The "Apocalypse Trilogy":** Critics have identified *Bone Machine* as the first installment in an unofficial "apocalypse trilogy," followed by *Mule Variations* (1999) as post-apocalyptic folk and *Real Gone* (2004) as final dispatches from survivors. - **Kathleen Brennan's Role:** The album cemented Brennan's importance to Waits's creative vision. She encouraged him to lean into his artistic vision, produce his own records, and embrace an increasingly idiosyncratic aesthetic. Her co-writing contributions increased significantly here. - **Keith Richards Collaboration:** The closing track "That Feel," co-written with and featuring Keith Richards, has been praised as "the best song Keith Richards has written since 1975," with loose, drunken playing that perfectly realizes the song's themes. --- ## Pros | Strength | Details | |----------|---------| | **Uncompromising Vision** | Waits pushes his experimental aesthetic to its logical extreme without losing the thread of actual songwriting. | | **Lyrical Depth** | The biblical, apocalyptic, and grotesque imagery creates a cohesive literary world. | | **Atmospheric Production** | The storage-room recording gives the album a unique, immersive sonic identity. | | **Vocal Versatility** | Waits shifts between barks, falsettos, and spoken-word with remarkable range. | | **Thematic Cohesion** | As a concept album about death, it maintains thematic unity across 16 tracks without becoming monotonous. | | **Emotional Range** | From the terror of "Black Wings" to the heartbreaking tenderness of "A Little Rain," the album covers vast emotional territory. | | **Influence** | It opened doors for experimental, percussion-driven alternative music and influenced artists across genres. | | **"Goin' Out West"** | A career-highlight track that combines humor, groove, and menace. | --- ## Cons | Weakness | Details | |----------|---------| | **Accessibility** | The abrasive percussion, guttural vocals, and bleak subject matter make it a challenging entry point for new listeners. One critic's friend complained that Waits "stopped writing 'proper songs' and just started screaming over recordings of trash cans." | | **Homogeneity Risk** | The relentless darkness and industrial percussion can feel oppressive over a 16-track runtime; some listeners find it "hard to listen to in heavy rotation." | | **"Let Me Get Up On It"** | The inclusion of a near-indecipherable home demo, while interesting as a production choice, can feel like a throwaway track to some listeners. | | **Niche Appeal** | The album's extreme aesthetic—what one reviewer called "a trip through machinated Hell"—limits its audience to those willing to engage with its ugliness. | | **Vocals as Barrier** | Waits's gravelly delivery, while expressive, is polarizing; as one reviewer noted, "If you can live with the gravel vocals (and I can) this is an easy 5 stars," implying it's a significant hurdle for some. | --- ## Verdict *Bone Machine* is a masterpiece of artistic extremity. It is not an album that meets the listener halfway—it demands full engagement and rewards it with one of the most vividly realized sonic and lyrical worlds in modern music. Waits confronts mortality not with depression but with a grotesque, biblical theatricality that is "dangerous, addictive and sinister." While its abrasive qualities may alienate casual listeners, those who surrender to its dark logic find an album of rare depth, humor, and emotional power. It stands as both a culmination of Waits's 1980s experimental trilogy and the beginning of a new, even darker chapter in his career.

Bone Machine culminates nearly two decades of Waits discovery of sound. An album somewhat discordant and jangly as it's composer, Bone Machine delivers on the promises Waits made in earlier albums like "The Heart of Saturday Night", "Swordfish Trombones" and "Rain Dogs". Songs like "A Little Rain" and "Whistle Down the Wind" showcase Waits' talent to make mournful and beautiful piano ballads, while "In The Colosseum" highlights the experimental sounds harkening back to songs like "Singapore". And then there are entirely new types of songs for Waits like "Goin' Out West" with its big fuzzy bass line. All in all, a fantastic album full of gems, and an amalgam of sounds unlike anything you were likely to hear in its era, proving again Waits' singular voice.

One of the best from a man who has arguably never put out a bad album in 40+ year career. This album is one of his darkest, with musings on life and death. But there are glimmers of beauty and hope throughout. The Earth Died Screaming is one of the all time great openers.

I was obsessed with Bone Machine from the first time I heard it. It's strange and funny and scary and atmospheric and noisy and surprising and moving and unique. It was marketed (and won a Grammy) as an alternative album, which kind of worked because what other pigeonhole would you put it in? It's an extension of his 80s work, but taken to quite an extreme. My mate Peter bemoans that Tom Waits stopped writing 'proper songs' and just started screaming over recordings of trash cans ceasing around. A fair critique, but I believe that there are real songs in here, underneath the kitchen sink percussion (which is, admittedly, pretty full on). You can tell by the number of covers by other artists, where the melodies often reveal themselves from behind the noisy production. Some favourite moments: - Going Out West is just funny. - the last verse of A Little Rain ("she was 15 years old and had never seen the ocean...") is possibly the most heartbreaking stanza ever written. I have to fight back tears every time I heard it - Black Wings is terrifying. There is also this bit in Joe Gore's beautifully melodic guitar lead at about 2:38 where a descending run starts to rattle the grill on the front of the guitar amp that sends a chill down my spine everytime I hear it. "They say he killed a man with a guitar string" - "there's always some killing to do around the farm" - That Feel is the best song Keith Richards has written since 1975. The loose playing and vocal harmonisation (they were all drunk, I presume) is a perfect realisation of what the song is about. "It's harder to get rid of than tattoos" It's a strange beast, this record, full of apocalyptic stories and frightening characters, but it is engrossing and vivid. Most valuable player has to go to Kathleen Brennan, Tom Waits' wife and collaborator. Across the 80s she had encouraged him to lean into his artistic vision, to produce his own records, to embrace his own aesthetic, which you have to admit,has become less fashionable and more idiosyncratic. Her co-writing has increased significantly on this album, but she is so central to the "Tom Waits oeuvre" that I can't detect the seams. His name is on the album, but this is a powerful collaboration. Honorable mention to Tchad Blake's mixing, which is spacious and organic. His name turns up on a lot of 90s album credits, and his work always sounds amazing. I'm sure this album was a particular challenge, due to Mr Waits' interesting recording techniques. I can see that this record is not to everyone's taste. It is not a sugar-coated record, there is not much to sweeten the medicine. But there is so much richness there. I've been listening to this album for 30 years now, and it still surprises me. I searched for many years for a copy on vinyl. I eventually paid too much money for what I suspect is a bootleg pressing of uncertain origins. But that feels strangely appropriate, like a shady character of dubious integrity from a Tom Waits song.

p694. 1992. 5 stars. American companion piece to Nick Cave's "Murder Ballads". Sharp lyrics mixed with rage, longing, anger and melancholy. If you can live with the gravel vocals (and I can) this is an easy 5 stars.

Im a Tom Waits listener but not a fan. Growing up this was featured on a shelf in my local music shops. I remember giving it a listen on the headphones at a Sam Goody and being turned off at the time. Listening to it again as a part of this project has me hooked. I paused the release for a few days so I could immerse myself in this album. It’s raw, dark, and beautiful. I can’t get enough. Maybe I just hadn’t experienced enough hardship and trauma in my teens to truly understand this masterpiece.

Had this album on tape when it got released before buying a cd copy at some point. One of these albums that is hard to listen to in heavy rotation, but obviously very high quality and very listenable. Not the same impact as Franks Wild Years but clearly 5*.

I don't listen to this one as often as other Waits albums, parts of it are a challenging listen for sure and it requires your full attention. That being said, the percussive nature of the more challenging tracks pull me in, Goin' Out West is a monster groove. And songs like Who Are You and Jesus Gonna Be Here keep me coming back. 5/5

This sound is what I think of when I think of this artist. Just a death rattle to start off the album, followed by clanking and growling. He certainly has a specific sound.

He uses the first track to trick you into thinking the album's just a continuation of Rain Dogs and then he spends the rest of the album upping the insanity level. Along with some ballads. He's pretty cool

the side eye from our 13-yr-old when we started playing this before school is unrivaled and will go down in history as one of the loudest non-verbal comments ever made

Over the course of this album, I've come to realize that if there's anything I truly do appreciate about Tom Waits, it's his overwhelming sense of . . . honesty. Like, he's never bullshitting me. Whenever he performs, he's always striving to just be himself, as much as he can. And . . . yeah, I'unno, I just really appreciate it. I mean, there are a lot of bands that do weird music, right? Tom Waits isn't alone in that front. Just on this list alone, my group's come across a lot of people making strange, unusual sounds on record. And as well they should! After all, music would be **real** boring if it were just the shit you heard on the radio, eh? But then, at the same time, I've long felt like I've had this hidden third ear where I listen to this material, and, well, I don't find myself terribly impressed. I feel like I can hear through all of the layers of weirdness to understand what they're doing underneath, and oftentimes I'm just like "Yeah . . . and?" Like, weirdness for weirdness' sake is entirely valid, but I'm not gonna give you a standing ovation **just** because you're weird. This is where I've come to realize Tom Waits is different. And I don't wanna accuse any of these artists of **not** having this kind of stuff in their music, but at the core of Tom's music I often find such heart and honesty. And it really carries me through where a lot of other "weird music" just wouldn't be able to. Like, the music sounds like **this** and Tom is singing like **that**, and yet I felt myself tearing up hearing "Who Are You" and "A Little Rain" for the first time. They got to me! For real! Jus', I'unno, the emotion he was putting into the "gawd, eat a **lozenge**" way he was singing . . . it just hit me in the right spot. And lemme tell you, on an album as much about death and the way people deal with it, I wouldn't want any less than heart and honesty. Of course, let's keep things a little grounded: there **are** a few picklings here and there. For as much as I talk about heart, for one, let's not act like every song on here is "A Little Rain" — "All Stripped Down" and "Goin' Out West" exist, after all. And besides that, well, the mixing overall is a little . . . different. Not to even mention the instrumentation choices, too. It's by far the most "out there" Tom Waits album I've heard so far. I mean, on something like 'Swordfishtrombones', I could easily imagine him as someone singing in a little bar to the patrons — a real "manna da people." Meanwhile, there are times on this album where he honestly sounds like a gremlin in an alleyway banging on some trash cans. And this gremlin does a good job bangin' 'em, but honestly now. Plus, 53 minutes — I could hear it being a **little** shorter. I gotta admit, when this album popped up I was surprised to find out that Tom Waits had **another** album on this list — and two more after this! I mean, as much as I liked 'Swordfishtrombones' and 'Rain Dogs', I couldn't imagine what I'd get from three more albums from him. And yet, after this, I can safely say I'm very much looking forward to them. While I may not rank this album as highly as the first two my group got, I can still say it's the one that officially turned me into a Tom Waits fan. I jus' really dig the shit he does, y'know? And once again, it's proof of the 'Shrek 2' soundtrack seal of approval. I haven't listened to any other Dashboard Confessional song yet, so it ain't failed me this far!

This is Tom Waits' third album in this project. The sound is - once again - very unusual. But I like it. I like Tom Wait's smoky, raspy voice. The music and sound aren't very catchy, but I like them. The album won't be in my daily stream, but it's quite possible that I'll listen to it from time to time. 4/5

Did not know tis one that well. but thoroughly enjoyed it, Black as the night,, music and lyrics. My favourite song is Black Wings". Give me lyrics like "I can't stay here and I'm scared to leave." and I'm happy. 4 stars only because compared to albums I know better, Swordfishtrombone, Raindogs and Franks Wild Years music was bit less varied.

No, Tom's voice isn't pretty, but it works okay, and he's a good singer. If his voice was what people considered traditionally pretty, some (most? all?) of these songs wouldn't work as well. I feel like this is one of many 3.5 star albums, but Tom is a 4 star artist, and this is one of his best albums, so I'll round up.

The sounds of a nightmare. The songs here have been stripped down to their bare bones leaving only gristle left. You'll either love or hate this. I personally love it. Best Tracks: Goin' Out West; Murder in the Red Barn; I Don't Want to Grow Up

Wow I did not expect that. As an avid fan of horror movies, I suppose this is pretty close to the music equivalent? The gravelly voice with eerie lyrics and uncomfortable sounds in the background. I found some enjoyment in this, with a few brilliant tracks in there but 53 minutes was a stretch too long for my liking. It's quite a demanding listen so I won't be revisiting this anytime soon, but I appreciate it's uniqueness and style nonetheless. Favourites: All Stripped Down Who Are You Whistle Down The Wind

I need to use this review to remind me to never look at the damn reviews before listening to an album yourself; they're some complete tools on this site leaving reviews that just say the rudest things about the artists and I can't stand it. ******************************************************************************* Right from the start, the album doesn't disappoint with an album title like "Bone Machine" to playing with what sounds literally like bones, though the jury is still out on whether I liked it or not. "Dirt in the Ground" is a depressing jazz backed track that Waits' gravelly vocals fits perfectly. Again, I'm not entirely sure if I enjoyed it, but I appreciate that he trying to musically represent that nihilistic feeling. If there were any tracks I genuinely did enjoy even a bit, they were: "Who Are You This Time", "Jesus Gonna Be Here", "Goin' Out West", "Black Wings", "Whistle Down The Wind" and "That Feel"... the theme here seems to be when he's doing something more traditionally true of music than the experimental stuff. ...Although it might be premature to make a conclusion by "Such a Scream" coming in at track 3, but this album is giving me the same feeling as Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds' album did: pure frustration, as it is 'almost there' for something for me to enjoy. That being said, it's weird experimental nature and Waits' voice makes me think he is like a 'David Lynch of music', not always understood, but true to doing something different to broaden the horizons of what music can be as an art form.

It was fine, I probably wont listen to any of it ever again though

I'm happy to be forced by this project to listen to Tom Waits, as I know the guy but not really his music. It's interesting, very raw and down to the bone. There are some really good pieces in this. But if I can recognize his talent, I find his voice irritating in the long run. I'm looking for listening to other albums from him to grasp better his universe.

This one is a difficult one to rate, because it feels intuitively like a 4, but it reminded me a lot of My Aim is True by Elvis Costello, to which I gave a 3. In the end, I decided that while I prefer it over Elvis Costello, it's still a high 3. Favorite Track: In The Colosseum

That was……really strange. But plus 1 because it didn’t make me angry (like so much of this list does).

I imagine if Roz from Monsters Inc. was the lead singer of a band this is what their music would sound like. Such a Scream and Goin’ Out West are jams. The Ocean Doesn’t Want Me is creepy. I wouldn’t mind having a couple songs from this album come up on a shuffle of my entire library but I won’t be seeking out this album on its own. That being said, it still wasn’t a struggle to get through it.

(1/7) sounds like RFK did the vocals on every track

It's good when music evokes feelings—positive or negative—but when it makes you want to turn it off, what's the point of listening? That's basically this album in a nutshell for me. I kind of understand what the artist was going for there, but I could not get past those awful vocals. Whenever I was beginning to enjoy the melody or instrumentation, he opened his mouth and ruined it. It's a pity too, 'cause I really liked most of the songwriting on this album. The ideas were great, but the execution... not so much. I'm sorry, but I'd never willingly put myself through listening to this man's voice ever again. I get it, it's art, blah blah blah... but I'm listening to music for fun too, and where was the fun in this sh*t? I want to be objective and base my rating on every aspect of this album, but when the singing ruins everything else, what should my score be?

Ah man, yet another entry in the weird, wild catalog of Tom Waits. Why does this guy get this much shine? Obviously he's unique, but he's the kind of unique you understand in one album, not five. Again, just...decidedly not for me. Waits is really quirky, and while I respect that, it's a flavor of quirk that I'm just not into. I hope this is the last we get from him, it's getting tiresome. Favorite tracks: In the Colosseum. Album art: Really cool cover, a shot of Tom screaming to oblivion with devil horns and glowing eyes. This is how Alex and I look when we wake up to find another Tom Waits album on the list. 1.5/5

First and last Waits album I'll ever listen to. God awful.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm

So very, very 90s. A man screeching over a drum.

Bone Machine is a beautiful album. I like everything about it.

Probably one of Tom Wait's darkest, most visceral work, going further than ever before into experimental territory. Mixing hallucinated percussions with soulful Delta blues arrangements, it's both raw and sophisticated, ominous and beautiful. It's also incredibly rich, with such a variety of moods and rythms that it never feels repetitive. I love every minute of it, even though I understand it's not for everyone - it does sound like it's been made by drunk hoboes in a junkyard. It really doesn't deserve such a low rating though, and I wish more listeners would be open to new and chaotic experiences. This is a tortured album that absolutely WANTS you to feel uncomfortable, musically and thematically. You have to embrace the unease to appreciate it, just like you have to embrace the horror of life to fully enjoy it. As such, one could say it's the ultimate embodiment of the spirit of blues - suffering sublimated into exhilarating music. It's been part of my rotation for years, and I never get tired of Tom Wait's silly broken voice. 9/10

Love this album. I am a big fan of his “Early Years” albums, but this one is part of his more experimental forays. As always, his voice adds a gravitas to the songs, but the percussion is what makes this album. “I don’t wanna grow up” is among his best compositions and I loved the bluesy “Jesus gonna be here”. It’s all very funereal and just a great trip

There’re is nothing Tom does that I don’t love …. but Bone machine is near the top of my personal faves.

Not even my favorite Tom Waits album, but an automatic 5 for me. Gritty and beautiful.

Crazy how divisive Tom Waits is on here. This is so good, at times dark and dreary, at times funny. "Goin Out West" and "I Don't Wanna Grow Up" are the standouts here for me, but I also enjoyed "The Earth Died Screaming" "Dirt In The Ground" and "Jesus Gonna Be Here"

Go on gravel mouth

If ever there was a "not for everyone" warning needed, it would be for this. By this stage of Waits Career he was doing exactly whatever he wanted to do. Coming on like a Gospel preacher, sideshow Carney, shouting about Tony Franciosa dating his ma, singing something as delicate as "Who are you" or howling that the Earth died or whispering about a man who can kill with a guitar stringg The instrumentation is heavy on percussion- or at least, things being hit - and the instruments are banjos, Salvation Army brass and lap steel guitars. When someone does play a regular guitar it doesn't sound the way it should. "I don't want to be a little Boy Scout," he sings. There's no chance of that. Exactly what he is, other than just Tom Waits, is a bit hard to describe. But we're blessed to have him.

Exceptional. Slow and powerful

This is like the first time you feel cool as a teenager. Maybe it is the leather jacket or combat boots, regardless, it’s infectious, showing up as pure swagger. It goes deep inside and radiates outward. Pure energy.

I knew nothing about Tom Waits’ music going in to this and was completely sucked in by the album. The world he built here is so complete. The storytelling, the sound engineering, the clanging drums, his vocal stylings - it all took me to post-apocalyptic New Orleans. It’s so deeply strange and macabre but was made with too much intentionality to ever verge into childish trauma porn. Then, between all the doom and gloom, he sneaks in moments of tenderness and vulnerability like in Who Are You, A Little Rain and That Feel. I can confidently say I’ve never heard anything like this before.

I’ve heard this before and I own it. It’s been a year or two since I’ve listened to Tom Waits. This album and a lot of Tom Waits albums can best be described as alternating between Cookie Monster singing circus music and Rowlf the Dog playing a soulful piano ballad about circus people. I mean that as a compliment, though some folks will find that unappealing. Even a hauntingly beautiful song like A Little Rain includes a line about german dwarves, which is expected and would not be welcome from any other singer. Also I Don’t Want To Grow Up sounds like it was written to be covered by the Ramones, which they did (though this version is better). The haunting ballads are spaced out perfectly with the yammering hobo songs and it ends on a beautiful note.

This is the sound of someone reading the Bible but only the parts about sin, death, and the darkness. I like it. To appreciate it, I encourage giving your soul some space to take it in and paying attention to the lyrics. Enter its world. It’s like great literature.

First, it was Rain Dogs. I thought, nothing could touch Swordfish Trombone. Rain Dogs proved to be every bit as compelling. Now Bone Machine comes along, and I am even more intrigued. Tom is easy to chalk up as a genius because of all the good press, but his albums support it. Bone Machine is no different. Every songs feels like a tensely structured dramatic film that demands your attention but you're afraid to keep watching. Glad I did. This is excellent craftsmanship and storytelling.

Cool album! Amazing voice, lyrics, music!

I fully acknowledge that Waits is a marmite artist but I love marmite!

His music is so different and his voice so unique along with a random style which you cant tell what it is. Amazing

Junkyard Symphony

Remek djelo mogu ga još stotine puta čut

A bit nutty, just like Tom himself. Love it

I forgot how good this album is...

naprosto divno. i eto, još jedan glazbenik kojeg mi je v. entuzijastično hvalila, a ja nikako da ga na svoju ruku poslušam... (čak sam jednom prilikom i zaboravio ko je on ono). i sad je prekasno. nakon prvog slušanja mislio sam čak dati četvorku jer nije sasvim dosljedan (u smislu da nisu sve pjesme izvrsne), ali sam odmah nakon toga puštao još neke pjesme i shvatio da ne mogu dati ništa što nije pet. i nakon toga sam krenuo slušati opet. jednostavno nisam htio ne slušati. od prve pjesme krene udarati u zlatni živac i ne prestaje. od laganijih do žešćih momenata, od urednijih do raskalašenijih stvari. moram spomenuti pjesme "who are you", "a little rain" i "that feel", koje mi rastavljaju dušu na proste faktore. i neka

vilken känsla, mästerligt! lite vibe av timon som sjunger när han är fängslad av scar men helt ärligt förhöjer det min upplevelse. eller är det hyenornas/scars sång i grottan jag tänker på kanske

That cover of I don't wanna grow up (swoon)

I know this is an album that won't be for everyone, but I adore this record. I love how stripped back and haunted it feels. If you told me that Tom Waits had recorded it in the post apocalypse I'd believe you.

A delightfully challenging listen, clanking , propulsive drums/percussion, weird noises and raspy mutterings.

One of the best Island Year Waits albums. Dark, weird, and glorious. His songwriting is amazing, like no other. Earth Died Screaming. Is a crazy way to start an album, but a great introduction to what’s coming.

a classic

I am in love with everything this man does

Its a unique and singular sound - even for Tom Waits. I love the idea of him just finding this basement room in a studio, liking the echo/sound, and saying "yeah lets record my album here". Thematically and sonically really cohesive, and has some great examples of Tom Waits songwriting chops. I love "Dirt in the Ground" and "I don't Want to Grow Up".

Probably my favourite Tom Waits album, above even Raindogs. It is typically eclectic and I love the way he orchestrates such a wide variety of sounds (including whatever a chamberlin is). The tone here is more percussive with lots of banging, clanking noises, which I very much approve of. You can hear the sinews creaking as he groans about mortality. Love it.

Fucking awesome love the weird noises n shit his voice is incredible lyrics are amazing feels like death the album. Takes a few listens to hit but once it does it’s crazy

Look I love Tom Waits. His music is weird in such a perfect way. It sounds like something a carny would sing after selling their soul to a huckster, which coincidentally sounds like the subject matter of a Tom Waits song. It sounds very abrasive but there is a heart and soul in there. I get why most people wouldn’t get into his music, but I think it’s pretty damn amazing

Love it. In this life you're either a Tom Waits fan or a Tom Waits hater. I'm the former.

I don't want to grow up...

It's hard to say now that things have changed so much what a radical album this was when it was released. With his usual all star lineup of collaborators, Tom created a masterpiece. Featuring found sounds and lo-fi production there isn't a bad song on the album. The atonal jarring sounds were so different from anything anyone else was doing. This is one of my favorite of his albums (though it's tough to choose from such a varied and fantastic catalog). When the music history is written in 30 or 40 years (assuming we're all still around) Tom Waits will be recognized as one of the giants of popular music from the 20th and early 21st centuries.

Might be his best, he has such a unique style that noone else has been alle to replicate, so rough and raw. So many crazy songs, but in between the chaos there are some of the most soft and beautiful songs you will ever hear. It's sometimes almost unthinkable you are listening to the same person. I love Tom Waits.

Can't believe I slept on Tom Waits all these years. The voice that once put me off is so perfect for these songs. My second Waits album, and my second 5. Much less weird than Rain Dogs (not sure if that's a good or a bad thing) but no less essential.

Very experimental, very cool. 5 stars

I'm a big fan of music that combines ugliness with beauty, and in a lot of ways, this is sort of the granddaddy of that. Waits crafts an album about death, violence, and old age, but also manages to throw in some genuinely beautiful and hopeful moments. This record sounds amazing -- the guitar and percussion tones are all terrific and Waits has neve been better with the wide array of vocal stylings he uses here. He's joined by Waits' album regulars Larry Taylor and Ralph Carney, but there's also a great, eclectic cast of guests including Les Claypool, Brain, Los Lobos' David Hildago, Waddy Wachtel, and the man himself, Keith Richards. There's tons of highlights here including "Earth Died Screaming", "Dirt in the Ground", "Jesus Gonna Be Here", "Black Wings", "I Don't Wanna Grow Up", "That Feel", and "Who Are You", which is likely my favorite of Tom's tender ballads. "I fell in love with your sailor's mouth and your wounded eyes" is the most badass thing to say about the woman you love. Some days, this is my favorite Tom Waits album. High 5 stars.

This is one of my favorite albums and my favorite Tom Waits album.

I can understand why this has a low score, but I really enjoyed it, Tom is one of the most unique songwriters, it's quirky, certainly not commercial, but it's interesting and different to any other artist.