- Audio CD (27 April 1999)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Label: Anti/Epitaph
- ASIN: B00000IGGA
- Other Editions: Audio CD | Audio Cassette | Vinyl | Mini-Disc | MP3 Download
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 209,160 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Seven years passed between the release of Bone Machine and Mule Variations. During that time Tom Waits eschewed cutting another "conventional" (the term used loosely here) song collection, occupying his time with acting projects, a soundtrack (Night on Earth), a stage project (The Black Rider), and sundry smaller diversions. What's surprising about Mule Variations is how little he's strayed from the old Bone yard through the years. As with his Grammy-winning 1992 outing, Waits intersperses the tough and the tender, mixing exercises in creative noisemaking with tunes that fall on just the right side of maudlin. As with Bone Machine's "The Ocean Doesn't Want Me", "What's He Building?" is an experiment in word jazz that owes a debt to its creator, Ken Nordine. Waits has again assembled a crew of attuned sidemen (including Primus and steadfast backers Ralph Carney, Larry Taylor, and Joe Gore). And, as always, Waits and his wife-co-songwriter-co-producer Kathleen Brennan exhibit an uncanny ear for the arcane. In the end, Mule Variations is the aural equivalent of a salvage shop that, while largely familiar, still has a few secluded chambers and trap doors. --Steven Stolder
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
35 years at the top of his game.
Between 1973's 'Closing Time' and the triple-whammy of 'Orphans' in 2006
Mr Waits has been resonsible for a whole lot of damned fine music
winging its' way out into this cracked and weary world of ours.
Every Waits fan will have their own favorite album.
Today mine is 'Mule Variations' (this time next year maybe it'll
be 'Small Change' again, or maybe 'Alice', or maybe....).
Released in 1999 on the Anti label this collection of sixteen
pieces seems to me to bring together everything that makes this
great maverick truly unique.
Parched, blistering rock and roll; drunken bar-room blues;
gentle heart-wringing ballads; deeply unsettling monologues.
....and stories! Always with the stories !
Painting small worlds alive with words and music has always
been his greatest gift.
Circus sideshow eccentrics; marginal paranoid loners and drifters and losers and lovers
line up to share their hopes and fears and longings.
....and stomping ! Always with the stomping !
All manner of things get thumped and slapped and crunched
( even drums sometimes ) to create the kind of rhythmic
mayhem and density of raw emotional sound which only this master
could muster. Guitarist Marc Ribot's solo on 'Cold Water' must
have stripped the paint off the ceiling.
....and suddenly it all falls away and there in the corner is
a man with a crooked hat and a broken down piano singing
a bruised and tender love song ( 'Take It With Me' ) of such hushed
intimacy that one can barely breathe until it's over.
This man and his many worlds are indivisible and precious.
Between 1973's 'Closing Time' and the triple-whammy of 'Orphans' in 2006
Mr Waits has been resonsible for a whole lot of damned fine music
winging its' way out into this cracked and weary world of ours.
Every Waits fan will have their own favorite album.
Today mine is 'Mule Variations' (this time next year maybe it'll
be 'Small Change' again, or maybe 'Alice', or maybe....).
Released in 1999 on the Anti label this collection of sixteen
pieces seems to me to bring together everything that makes this
great maverick truly unique.
Parched, blistering rock and roll; drunken bar-room blues;
gentle heart-wringing ballads; deeply unsettling monologues.
....and stories! Always with the stories !
Painting small worlds alive with words and music has always
been his greatest gift.
Circus sideshow eccentrics; marginal paranoid loners and drifters and losers and lovers
line up to share their hopes and fears and longings.
....and stomping ! Always with the stomping !
All manner of things get thumped and slapped and crunched
( even drums sometimes ) to create the kind of rhythmic
mayhem and density of raw emotional sound which only this master
could muster. Guitarist Marc Ribot's solo on 'Cold Water' must
have stripped the paint off the ceiling.
....and suddenly it all falls away and there in the corner is
a man with a crooked hat and a broken down piano singing
a bruised and tender love song ( 'Take It With Me' ) of such hushed
intimacy that one can barely breathe until it's over.
This man and his many worlds are indivisible and precious.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I have given up seeing Tom appear on stage in these parts but this will do for now. As ever, it has everything that one could expect - from the growling jazz to the type of song ("Hold On") which Bruce would have gobbled up in his heyday. Speaking of which, I doubt if Tom has had aheyday and, for me, that's a good thing. In his recent "2 Lectures" cd, Nick Cave called on Tom Waits when discussing the secret life of the love song and this is only right. Tom Waits is one of the great chroniclers of love - a particularly American kind of love at once urban and small town. There is something of the James Ellroy about Tom Waits - loose but still there. Finally, a word for the delicate and most wonderful, "Georgia Lee". This is Tom Waits at his most beautiful. A living genius when most geniuses are long gone.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I've got most of Tom Waits' albums from Closing Time to Mule Variations and I have to say this is probably his best yet. Every one of his albums has its classics but MV outdoes itself. Its worth the price just for 'Picture in a Frame' which is one the simplest and most impressive songs he's done. MV is also an incredibly varied album and shows off how well Tom can switch between radically different styles and make them all fit together. If you're new to Tom Waits, this is definitely the place to start.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Just Magical
This is the album that got Tom Waits a regular slot in my cd player.
It contains Chocolate Jesus. I really don't need to say anymore, that sums it up. Read more
It contains Chocolate Jesus. I really don't need to say anymore, that sums it up. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Mr. Tm Davies
waits going through the motions
well nobody's going to agree with this review, but i'll post it anyway. this isn't a patch on the waits of 15 years earlier. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Biffer Spice
Go Charlie
Picture in a Frame is simply one of the most beautiful songs ever put down. Damn, this is good stuff. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Doublecross
Songs to Beat the Blues
Hits the G Spot- that time which wavers between 2am-4am where the night segues into the early day where life as performed in light hours is safely tucked in bed and the denizens of... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Dr. Delvis Memphistopheles
Best of Tom Waits by far
This album has been reviewed from all angles and I can only agree with all the five stars given to Mule Variations. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Gerrida
Wonderful, just wonderful
On balance I think his best ever. A bit of soulful beauty and a bit of Tom's madness.
"Come down from your cross, we could use the wood."
"Come down from your cross, we could use the wood."
Published on 24 Dec 2008 by T. Bleazard
Variations On A Timeless Theme
Any album by Tom is worth five stars for originality alone, yet though 'Mule Variations' is a very good collection of songs, for me it has a long way to go to match his finest... Read more
Published on 18 Sep 2008 by pikeyboy
Waits and his fierce, black hounds
This is a warm, often sentimental lp with ramshackle (but not neccasarily minimal), homely production. Read more
Published on 11 July 2007 by ChinaBoatMan
Hugely influenced by Captain Beefheart
I love Tom Waits' music and poetry. Recently listened to Captain Beefheart's 'Trout Mask Replica' and I was struck by how much Tom is doing the same thing - even has the same... Read more
Published on 30 Jun 2006 by Arty
Brilliant and Bluesy
This is a great album form the start. I think this is a bit of a new style for Tom but he really gets into it. Read more
Published on 11 Feb 2005 by Mr. M. R. Pountney
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