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 Tom WaitsBeautiful Maladies: The Island Years Island Records Greatest hits packages and career retrospectives are a dime a dozen these days (see Lennon: Legend). Often, they are put together by record executives long after the artist has left their label, and sometimes long after the artist's death, simply to capitalize on a buzz or create a new one where the glory is fading. That's why it's refreshing, almost startling, when a package is actually relevant and worthwhile. Leave it to Tom Waits to bust this norm. He apparently had a hand in picking the songs that make up Beautiful Maladies. None of these songs was a hit, by industry standards. In fact, the day any Tom Waits' versions of these songs hits top forty radio, the seventh seal will break and we will all drop into hell to pay for Bananaramas and Corey Harts. I have to specify Waits' versions in this because one, "Downtown Train," was a hit for Rod Stewart. Waits never cracked the charts with it, but comparing the version on this album with Stewart's is like comparing Little Richard's version of "Tutti Frutti" to Pat Boone's version. The only thing Stewart shares with the Brooklyn girls in the song is probably hair spray. Then again, from his honky-tonk and barfly crooner days to his darker, more dramatic albums, Waits has always set himself far from the mainstream. He has run quite a show from the peripheral, never disappointing those who chose to venture off into his world. Les Claypool considers Waits an idol. The Ramones recorded "I Don't Wanna Grow Up," and a bevy of alternative artists recorded his work on Step Right Up, a Tom Waits tribute album. Hell, he even hung out with Jack Nicholson in Ironweed. Not too many artists could weave in and out of these worlds comfortably. But Tom Waits never seems out of his element. Waits' work with Island was some of his most critically acclaimed and adventurous. He produced seven albums in about as many years, including Swordfishtrombones, The Black Rider, and Big Time. Big Time, and the video that accompanied it, arguable brought Waits as close to popular as he may ever get. He was in movie theatres and getting raves from people who had probably never heard him sing before. The Black Rider was an opera he actually scripted and performed in New York, a twisted German cabaret that makes Joel Grey's Emcee look like an altar boy. It's difficult to describe a compilation where every song is different, except to say that it sums up Tom Waits' time with Island perfectly. "Johnsburg, Illinois" is a love song, short and sweet, packing more story into thirteen lines than most of Waits' contemporaries could manage on a double album. Waits shows his knack for creating abstract locales on "Singapore" and "Underground." He harkens back to his jazzier days on "Frank's Wild Years," spoken more than sung. And it's nearly impossible to listen to "Strange Weather" or "Cold, Cold Ground" without bonding to their down-on-their-luck narrators in some way. True, Waits isn't for everyone. His gravely, Satchmo growl is an acquired taste, and there is a disturbing preponderance of German dwarfs populating his landscapes. That's as deep as a lot of listeners are willing to go. But if you go a little further, you'll be rewarded with the work of a wonderful poet and a gifted musician. Beautiful Maladies is a good place to start. -Nick |
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