Blood Money
Artist: Tom Waits
Label: Anti
Genre: Jazz, Theatre
Rating: **** (4 out of 4)
Availability: Widely Available / eMusic Download
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Released concurrently with the superb Alice, Blood Money is the music for another Robert Wilson work of avant-garde musical theatre, this time based on Woyczek.
It may seem strange for an artist to release two albums at the same time, but in a way Alice and Blood Money make for an ideal two-CD set. Together, they run the gamut of Waits’ musical style – which is no small task.
While Alice dealt primarily with Waits’ earlier, more jazz standard sound, Blood Money is its snarling cousin. It’s much more brutal, much more earthy, and with a lot more dirt to the sound. From the opening of the first track, “Misery is the River of the World,” Waits lets you know that you’re in for quite a ride.
This is not to say that Blood Money isn’t without its understated, slower pieces – “The Part You Throw Away,” “Coney Island Baby” – but overall the album drives forward with a wild intensity. With Blood Money, Waits has composed an album that is a caged animal. It is wild yet restrained, but you know that to release that restraint would mean your death.
Tom Waits has said that he likes to write music that tells awful stories in a pretty way. Blood Money is an album of such material, and it’s a true joy to listen to.