Alice --- 2002
Music from yet another play,
Alice is a slightly longer album than its co-released mate,
Blood money, but from what I remember did not impress me one bit. Still not sure why he decided (or the label decided) to release both albums simultaneously. An odd decision, I would have thought, forcing people either to pay double what they were expecting or, worse, having to choose between the two. Again, both Waits and Kathleen write all the songs, and produce the album together.
It opens on the title track, something reminiscent of his older albums, a slow, soulful number with alto sax from Colin Stetson, making this I believe the first album in some time not to feature Ralph Carney. It's a moody, morose piece that drags its feet along slowly, stretching out its last cigarette as the sodium halo from the streetlights temporarily spotlight it then vanish as it moves on down the street. A low vocal from Waits, very restrained and almost tired in nature, then the sound of a lonesome train whistle and the
chug-chug-chugging of the engine introduces a harder, rawer vocal for “Everything you can think”, with a very
Franks Wild Years feel, but again slow and meandering. I was going to say nice marimba, but I see it's actually Swiss hand bells, and there's also a wavering, twisting sort of carnival rhythm to the song.
Things stay slow for the rather nice “Flower's grave”, riding on nice cello, violin and clarinet; the general melody puts me in mind of “On the nickel”, while “No one knows I'm gone” has an interesting line when Waits sings
”Hell above and Heaven below”. Again things move slowly and stately, sort of like being in a funeral procession I feel. The music is good but it's a relief to get some uptempo finally when “Kommienezuspadt” (no, I don't know) kicks things up nicely with a manic song that just seems to be Waits enjoying himself as the band goes all New Orleans jazz. Some suitably crazy laughter from the man and we're into “Poor Edward”, where everything slows down again with a kind of waltz, driven on piano and cello, but tips up nicely for the shuffle of “Table top Joe” with a real Vegas swing.
“Lost in the harbour” has some good pump organ and again cello and violin, another slow effort but with a nice bittersweet feel, sort of reminds me of
Final cut era Floyd for some reason, and I have great hopes for a song titled “We're all mad here”. Kicks off in a “Singapore/Underground” vein; in fact it's very “Underground” now that I listen to it carefully. It's not the uptempo loonfest I had expected --- no “I'll be gone” or “Cemetery polka” here --- but at least it's a little more interesting. A dark ballad then for “Watch her disappear”, which recalls the sort of spoken vocal used on “9th and Hennepin” and driven on cello and bass, while “Reeperbanh” trips along on banjo and some fine clarinet and with a ragged vocal from Waits.
That oh-so-familiar lone piano then leads in “I'm still here”, which really sounds like something off One from the heart, a short song which then gives way the the Country-infused “Fish and bird”, remaining slow as we move towards the conclusion of the album with “Barcarolle”, and we end on the only instrumental, “Fawn”, with a distinct old Hollywood feel to it in the violin and clarinet that drive the final tune.
TRACKLISTING
1. Alice
2. Everything you can think
3. Flowers grave
4. No-one knows I'm gone
5. Kommienezuspadt
6. Poor Edward
7. Table top Joe
8. Lost in the harbour
9. We're all mad here
10. Watch her disappear
11. Reeperbahn
12. I'm still here
13. Fish and bird
14. Barcarolle
15. Fawn
Yeah, I think the main problem I have with this album (in case you didn't notice) is the slow tempo of about ninety percent of it. I'm used to Waits kicking it up a lot, throwing out odd rhythms and using strange instruments, howling like a demon one moment and whispering like a drunken angel the next, and really, nothing like that happens on this album. As I mentioned, it really is, for the most part, the musical equivalent of driving slowly along behind a funeral in a cortege, respectfully ambling along behind the hearse but in reality wishing you could floor the pedal. The pace seldom picks up, and though the songs are certainly not bad, there's a sort of miasma of self-pity and brooding hanging over them like a dark cloud.
To be perfectly honest, of the two I prefer
Blood Money: at least it had some faster and more atypical songs. Hell, at this point I'd be prepared to admit I'd prefer
The Black Rider! It may have been weird and inaccessible for the most part, but at least it kicked out the stays and had some fun. This is just for most of it dour, stolid and depressing. My least favourite Waits album may have just changed.