Oh HA. Well I'll try not to be incidiary here but its either an undisputed masterpiece or its completely not their flavor.
You know most times, when people are tripping over themselves to sing the praises of an album, its because other people are doing it. I'll hear more about Elvis and the Beatles than actually hearing either of them.
Put simply, people havn't heard why they should like a Tom Waits album, so they don't have much to say. I've seen one article published on the reasoning for liking the man, and since it wasn't album specific, no one can talk about Rain Dogs.
Even for critics, he's someone they know they ought to really love, but rarely is it the case that they ever say why they love him. When you love Waits, you have to understand he came to be a critical darling under the radar. One day he was a more accomplished James Taylor and the next you woke up and you couldn't even form words to describe him.And so, having no one to tell you anything in one direction or another, you have to come to your own conclusions. I've read less than 10 reviews by the man since I first discovered him in 2003, and I promise I've looked.
Waits is, and always will be a bond between two people. If you love him, then its an understood relationship. If you don't well you can't explain it, and for all I've chastised them for not writing, maybe its just that having listened to his works you don't want to. Maybe listening is enough, and one finds themselves contented with knowing that what they've heard is good.
Maybe after listening to someone confident enough in themselves to sing "dirt in the ground", we become a little more secure in ourselves, and in our own taste. Maybe we don't need to justify our love with Waits because we know from the outset that its real, and theres no infirmity or questions about it.
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