Mule Variations

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Total Tracks: 16   Total Length: 70:30

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Richard Jones (Sterophonics)

eMusic Contributor

04.22.11
A troubadour returns to the Bone Machine for another go-round
1999 | Label: Anti Records / Epitaph

This was the album that got me into Tom Waits. Kelly, Stereophonics 'vocalist, listens to quite a lot of Tom Waits, and when this album came out he said to me "You've got to hear this." When I first put it on, I thought it was really, really strange, but it really grew on me over time. The deepness of his voice just made me turn my head. This album reminds me that, as a musician, you can go off on any tangent you want. Tom Waits has done that brilliantly throughout his career. Since buying this album, I've gone out and got his entire back catalogue. I had a Tom Waits Day about four or five days ago. I went for a walk for about three hours and just listened to nothing but Tom Waits on my iPod.

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128 kbps?

keiththeowl

Even iTunes have ditched 128k, terrible quality, had I know it was 128, I would not have downloaded this album. eMusic you should remove or replace this fine album with the quality bit rate it deserves.

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Why is this still only 128k?

lordbuckley

Not really a review as such, more a question. Why is this album (which has appeared as NEW on my eMusic) still only in 128k MP3 format? Come on eMusic. Let's have a higher quality version.

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Tom Waits grew steadily less prolific after redefining himself as a junkyard noise poet with Swordfishtrombones, but the five-year wait between The Black Rider and 1999′s Mule Variations was the longest yet. Given the fact that Waits decided to abandon major labels for the California indie Epitaph, Mule Variations would seem like a golden opportunity to redefine himself and begin a new phase of his career. However, it plays like a revue of highlights from every album he’s made since Swordfishtrombones. Of course, that’s hardly a criticism; the album uses the ragged cacophony of Bone Machine as a starting point, and proceeds to bring in the songwriterly aspects of Rain Dogs, along with its affection for backstreet and backwoods blues, plus a hint of the beatnik qualities of Swordfish. So Mule Variations delivers what fans want, in terms of both songs and sonics. But that also explains why it sounds terrific on initial spins, only to reveal itself as slightly dissatisfying with subsequent plays. All of Waits’ Island records felt like fully conceived albums with genuine themes. Mule Variations, in contrast, is a collection of moments, and while each of those moments is very good (some even bordering on excellent), ultimately the whole doesn’t equal the sum of its parts. While that may seem like nitpicking, some may have wanted a masterpiece after five years, and Mule Variations falls short of that mark. Nevertheless, this is a hell of a record by any other standard. Waits is still writing terrific songs and matching them with wildly evocative productions; furthermore, it’s his lightest record in years — it’s actually fun to listen to, even with a murder ballad here and a psycho blues there. In that sense, it’s a unique item in his post-Swordfish catalog, and that may make up for it not being the masterpiece it seemed like it could have been. – Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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