Jazz for people who feel threatened by the freedom that defines jazz worth listening to. I love Tom Waits' later material and think that anyone who can listen to Real Gone without becoming a fan should reconsider their lives, but I've never been into the earlier, schmaltzy fart in a smoke filled lounge, side of Waits (yes, that includes Closing Time). Crystal Gale adds nothing to this record, as she takes a very safe approach to complement the dullness of this record. If I had to say anything positive about her performance, I'd say that Old Boyfriends doesn't fail in terms of melody. Instrumental Montage had cool sax, Little Boy Blue had a nice outro, and You Can't Unring a Bell had great percussion. Then there are the rest of the tracks that are ridiculously corny. It makes me sad that there are people out there who can listen to a song like Take Me Home and be touched.
There was no need to make this record. It's competent enough to abide by well-established rules, but it clings to them so firmly that it gives us nothing to look for. I only listened to this once because I've already heard this album 1000 times from other artists and I'm not exactly excited to return to them either. I was disappointed and honestly thought that your last pick was better. 2/10
I'm going to listen to Bad As Me to wash this album out of my ears.
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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.
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