Search - Tom Waits :: Blood Money

Murder In The Red Barn.

Jason Stein | San Diego, CA United States | 06/05/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Blood Money" or "Alice" Hmmmm. Well I liked "Blood Money" better, but if you caught me in a melancholy mood I might prefer "Alice" instead. "Blood Money" shows off Tom Waits's strengths as a writer and composer (and heck, yeah, a singer!) All I got from my girlfriend was, "You can't really listen to this and enjoy it can you?" Well certainly. If you like your music world weary and forlorn, "Blood Money" and Tom Waits are right on target. "If there's one thing you can say about mankind, there's nothing kind about man." To me, that's right on target in "Misery Is The River Of The World" and hey, why not follow it up with "Everything Goes To Hell", "God's Away On Business", "Another Man's Vine", "Knife Chase" and "Starving In The Belly Of The Whale" for added pleasure. Waits is never afraid to take a keen look into the soul of man, and here he finds deceit, dishonesty, longing, depression, jealousy, regret. Musically, "Blood Money" is a mixture of jazz/blues/ragtime--the kind of stuff you'd hear in a smokey bar after hours. I liked "Blood Money" so much, that I'd put it up there with "Bone Machine", "Swordfishtrombones", "Rain Dogs", "Frank's Wild Years", "Small Change" and "Closing Time". If you are a Waits fan, this should easily satisfy."

The un-usual cast of characters

Tom Lawrence | Cambridge, MA USA | 06/21/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Tom Waits is a man of many voices and on Blood Money he summons the un-usual cast of characters. He is typically at his tenderest in a waltz, but on this album pessimism and depression pervade. There are waltzes but he uses them in a different fashion, from the sinister carousel-from-hell interlude in the opening track to the denial of tenderness in Another Man's Vine and The Part You Throw Away. There is depth here and I find more with each listening. Here is a distillation of the songs:



Misery Is The River Of The World - After six shots of tequila, the Cookie Monster vents about 25 years with someone's hand up his a**.



Everything Goes To Hell - What a different movie Aladdin would be if Jafar sang the opening title.



Coney Island Baby - A simple love song about the girl of one's dreams... literally.



All The World Is Green - What good is all this beauty around your gravestone, dear?



God's Away On Business - Jimmy Durante as a jaded, syphilitic Pangloss.



Another Man's Vine - Scornful coveting by an embittered have-not.



Knife Chase (Instrumental) - Trapped in a house of mirrors and the lights go out... who's there?



Lullaby - One of Waits' tenderest melodies. Shut out the bleak waking world, child.



Starving In The Belly Of A Whale - It's Rawhide with a Marine drill instructor exhorting the wagon train onward with his customary compassion.



The Part You Throw Away - Life... what a waste.



Woe - At first glance this is a sweet love song about going out dancing with your girl. But, whoa, the title and the dirge-like tempo turn it into something else. Is this a bereaved old man at the open casket of his late wife?



Calliope (Instrumental) - Disturbing bed-spins between inebriation and unconsciousness.



A Good Man Is Hard To Find - If Billie Holiday were alive today she'd be 90 and croaking her way through this jaunty number."

I suppose Tom Waits fans have numerous subgroups

malaguarambler | Carlsbad, NM | 08/30/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's no secret that Tom Waits isn't just an artist that deserves his own category; indeed, he deserves about four categories. There will always be disagreements among fans as to his best period. Personally, I still cling to the Island years, but that decision was solidified only after I had listened to "Small Change" and "The Heart of Saturday Night" about 70-80 thousand times while driving though Virginia and Illinois. Recently, the early troubadour albums have been in more frequent rotation. Enough about all that. The point being, I'm sure there is room for argument as regards these two albums, but contrary to another reviewer, I would have to go with "Blood Money". Like everyone else (I would guess) I bought these two simultaneously and (now I won't suppose this is unanimous) found "Alice" with its subtlety, beauty, and arguably better lyrics to be superior. After about two listens, my mind changed... and after quite a few more, I would recommend "Blood Money" if you've just now set aside enough money to buy one CD (I can't see anyone judging a fan if it came down to this and a fifth of Ballantines.) To qualify, though, this recommendation may only apply to Island years stalwarts... but "Alice" won't remind anyone of Asylum releases. Naturally, this is only the case if a choice has to be made. Both albums are phenomenal compared to anyone else, and quite good in Waits terms. "Blood Money" though, is just so sublimely manic and murderous that I can't see anyone not loving it. Two notes of musical interest - Cut 7 "Knife Chase" is probably the nicest instrumental since the "Night on Earth" soundtrack, and if I haven't lost it, I swear that the ending to "Coney Island Baby" has about four piano chords that will remind you of the first time you heard "Frank's Wild Years.""