In fact, Tom Waits is a genre in its own right: he has been creating his unique mixture of blues, jazz, rock and vaudeville for forty years. With age, the grooves in his vocal cords and weathered face only deepen. That only benefits the music, because the 62-year-old Waits sounds particularly inspired on Bad As Me. If he wasn't really looking forward to it himself, it could also be that he was driven
… by a few famous guest musicians. It's a nice list: blues legend Charlie Musselwhite on harmonica, guitarists Marc Ribot and David Hidalgo (Los Lobos) and on two songs even Flea (Chili Peppers) and good old Keith Richards participate. A true star cast, and Waits has also looked for the right songs. Take the beautiful Talking At The Same Time in which Waits exchanges his fierce primal roar for a kind of falsetto. To hear is to believe. In any case, Bad As Me is a highlight within the self-created music style 'Tom Waits'. (PdK)more
