Just one day after the Red Hot Chili Peppers voluntarily leaked their new album, I'm With You, via a full album listening party on their web site, Tom Waits decided that it might not be such a bad idea to do it too. To that end, a news release went out this morning stating that Waits and wife Kathleen Brennan were planning to hold a "Private Listening Party" to unveil Bad As Me – Waits' first full-length album of all-new material in seven years – via a stream on the singer's web site at seven AM PST.
As soon as the news hit, fans started to line up. This is exciting stuff. New Waits all in one shot? That's ambrosia – pure and simple.
As the appointed hour approached, excitement leapt – but it was not to be; what those who tuned in got was a colossal tease. By pre-recorded video featuring the singer sitting in front of his stereo, Waits laid out what was going on and what the trouble was in true Willie Wonka fashion. "Well, we have a situation here, I'm sorry we had to cut it," said Waits after a phone call interruption about a minute into playback. "Apparently there's no such thing as private anymore. It's an internet thing where they say it's going to go out everywhere into the blood stream.
"I thought this was a private party; like a sneak preview – for you and me – but apparently not. I'm gonna have to change everything. I'm gonna have to re-think this. It all needs to be re-thought."
There was more dialogue, but that was the gist of it; those who want to know about the new Tom Waits album are going to have to go buy a copy when it's released on October 25, 2011. What was discovered by the brief snippets of playback which could be heard before Waits' statement began is that this new album does feature some new sounds as well as some old; there's some tinkling piano reminiscent of Buddy Holly and Chubby Checker to be found in a few of the songs which will appear on Bad As Me, some surfy guitars, some raucous, roadhouse rhythm & blues and a bit of the stomp that listeners loved on Mule Variations. According the press release that went out too, Bad As Me will also be the first album to feature horns for Waits in years. Even in this wildly truncated, abbreviated and interrupted form, there's no argument that it sounds great and fans will not be let down by Bad As Me, but they're still going to have to wait – whether they like it or not.
Stay tuned, the train's a-comin'….
Artist:
www.tomwaits.com/
www.myspace.com/tomwaits
www.facebook.com/tomwaits
mobile.twitter.com//tomwaits
Watch:
Tom Waits' private listening party video.
Album:
Bad As Me is now available for pre-order here at www.tomwaits.com .
