Tom Waits – Bone Machine (2023 Remaster) (1992/2023) [FLAC 24bit/192kHz]

Tom Waits – Bone Machine (2023 Remaster) (1992/2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 53:36 minutes | 2,11 GB | Genre: Progressive Rock, Blues Rock, Jazz Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Island Records (The Island Def Jam Music Group / Universal Music)

The abnormal has become the norm for Tom Waits, so, once again, Bone Machine is laden with odd timbres, archaic acoustics, and raw vocals. This time, however, Waits has built his songs around a Harry Partch-inspired fascination with primitive percussion. With a crew of Northern California musicians along to add spare adornments, Waits fashions pretty, sentimental tunes (“A Little Rain,” Whistle Down the Wind”) and hellish stampedes of clanging metal and hoarse shouting (“Earth Died Screaming,” “Let Me Get Up on It,” the latter the 53-second distillation of Bone Machine quintessence-just Waits distorted bellowing and banging. Bone Machine is both appalling and appealing. There are elements to this album that seem designed to drive away the faint of heart, and then there are melodies that melt in your hand. –Steve StolderPerhaps Tom Waits’ most cohesive album, Bone Machine is a morbid, sinister nightmare, one that applied the quirks of his experimental ’80s classics to stunningly evocative — and often harrowing — effect. In keeping with the title’s grotesque image of the human body, Bone Machine is obsessed with decay and mortality, the ease with which earthly existence can be destroyed. The arrangements are accordingly stripped of all excess flesh; the very few, often non-traditional instruments float in distinct separation over the clanking junkyard percussion that dominates the record. It’s a chilling, primal sound made all the more otherworldly (or, perhaps, underworldly) by Waits’ raspy falsetto and often-distorted roars and growls. Matching that evocative power is Waits’ songwriting, which is arguably the most consistently focused it’s ever been. Rich in strange and extraordinarily vivid imagery, many of Waits’ tales and musings are spun against an imposing backdrop of apocalyptic natural fury, underlining the insignificance of his subjects and their universally impending doom. Death is seen as freedom for the spirit, an escape from the dread and suffering of life in this world — which he paints as hellishly bleak, full of murder, suicide, and corruption. The chugging, oddly bouncy beats of the more uptempo numbers make them even more disturbing — there’s a detached nonchalance beneath the horrific visions. Even the narrator of the catchy, playful “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up” seems hopeless in this context, but that song paves the way for the closer “That Feel,” an ode to the endurance of the human soul (with ultimate survivor Keith Richards on harmony vocals). The more upbeat ending hardly dispels the cloud of doom hanging over the rest of Bone Machine, but it does give the listener a gentler escape from that terrifying sonic world. All of it adds up to Waits’ most affecting and powerful recording, even if it isn’t his most accessible. – Steve Huey

Tracklist:

1-1. Tom Waits – The Earth Died Screaming (2023 Remaster) (03:37)
1-2. Tom Waits – Dirt In The Ground (2023 Remaster) (04:07)
1-3. Tom Waits – Such A Scream (2023 Remaster) (02:08)
1-4. Tom Waits – All Stripped Down (2023 Remaster) (03:02)
1-5. Tom Waits – Who Are You (2023 Remaster) (03:56)
1-6. Tom Waits – The Ocean Doesn’t Want Me (2023 Remaster) (01:50)
1-7. Tom Waits – Jesus Gonna Be Here (2023 Remaster) (03:21)
1-8. Tom Waits – A Little Rain (2023 Remaster) (02:59)
1-9. Tom Waits – In The Colosseum (2023 Remaster) (04:50)
1-10. Tom Waits – Goin’ Out West (2023 Remaster) (03:19)
1-11. Tom Waits – Murder In The Red Barn (2023 Remaster) (04:28)
1-12. Tom Waits – Black Wings (2023 Remaster) (04:37)
1-13. Tom Waits – Whistle Down The Wind (2023 Remaster) (04:35)
1-14. Tom Waits – I Don’t Wanna Grow Up (2023 Remaster) (02:31)
1-15. Tom Waits – Let Me Get Up On It (2023 Remaster) (00:55)
1-16. Tom Waits – That Feel (2023 Remaster) (03:13)

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