Waits for Godot

Press, 6 February 1986, Page 14

Waits for Godot

musim

TOM WAITS “Rain Dogs” (Island L 38467)

“Swordfish Trombone,” the last album released by Tom Waits in late 1983 could rightly be regarded as the sleeper of the year. A really marvellous album that had so many stories on it that it was like taking the layers off an onion. “Rain Dogs” is similar, about 20 tracks, almost an hour long with the same enigmatic Waits style and mixture of musical styles.

“Rain Dogs has an extra zip because of the presence of a few guest artists, including Keith Richards, whose Rolling Stones guitar gives the middle of side two are real rhythm and blues feel. There are some delightful tracks on the album — “9th and Hennepin” is right out of a Raymond Chandler detective novel, the setting is right with the slow bass ryhthm and the monologue. The following track, “Gun Street Girl,” with Richards on guitar, switches to New Orleans blues.

“Singapore,” a jumpy cliche-ridden song, wins because of the delivery that Waits uses, (“In the

land of the blind/the oneeyed man is king”), but it is not as successful as “Shore Leave,” another of his sailor songs, from “Swordfish Trombone.” On the other hand “Jockey Full of Bourbon,” is superb with it swaying motion, and half-drunk delivery, equal to “16 Shells From A Thirty-Nought-Six,” off the last album.

My own feeling is that “Rain Dogs" is not quite as good as “Swordfish Trombone,” but it is still a great album. It is like theatre — the three or. four instrumentals are like interludes in between waiting for Godot for listening to Waits is like peaking through Venetian blinds, you only get glimpses of the whole scene.