Tom Waits For No One

Does the deluge des disques never cease? Although his two ... yes, count 'em, two ...new albums aren't due for another week, you can hear full streaming audio of Tom Waits' Alice and Blood Money for a limited time on the Anti Records web site.

According to the official Tom Waits web site, Alice will be accessible beginning at 10am PST on April 30 to May 2, while Blood Money will be up at 10am PST from May 3-6. The albums will be available in Real Audio format in one continuous stream.

There are also a couple of mp3s you can download.

I'm listening to Alice as I type this, and it sounds like a real beaut (that's pronounced "byoot"). Mostly composed of classic late-night Waits-ian jazzy piano ballad-y stuff. Lovely. Some wonky elements here and there, and a little bit of hound dog Tom barking at the moon, but mostly the sound of his big ol' heart breaking in song. We're talking Johnsburg, Illinois territory here.

Oh lord, here's a song with a singing saw. Oh... that's so perfect... it's the closing song, called "Fawn".
Oh yes, this goes on the list.

... and I keep forgetting to pick up former Whiskeytowner Caitlan Carey's solo disc, which I took for a spin at an HMV listening post a while ago. My ears was sayin' "yes yes yes".