Maps of Music

Alice (2002)

Where the lyrics of Alice take you, and where it was really made.

Songs written for a stage opera in 1992 became a studio album ten years later, released the same day as a second album of songs from another Wilson stage work.

Key places

Recorded and mixed at In The Pocket Studio (2002)

Recording site In The Pocket Studio — Alice was recorded and mixed at In The Pocket Studio in Forestville, California, according to the release notes. The studio is the recording place credited for the album. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Alice is the fourteenth studio album by Tom Waits, released in 2002 on Epitaph Records under the Anti- sub-label
• The songs were written by Waits and Kathleen Brennan for the opera Alice about ten years before release
• Co-released the same time as Blood Money, which holds songs Waits wrote for Robert Wilson's Woyzeck
• Credited producers are Kathleen Brennan and Tom Waits
• Ballads, torch songs and waltzes make up the record

Background

• Most of the songs written for the opera are gathered here
• The opera was directed by Robert Wilson at the Thalia Theatre in Hamburg in 1992
• The story concerns Lewis Carroll's obsession with Alice Liddell
• Waits and Wilson had worked together earlier on The Black Rider
• Waits's interest in circus performers shapes the songs
• Poor Edward is about Edward Mordake, and Table Top Joe is about Johnny Eck
• Waits described the album as adult songs for children, or children's songs for adults

Recording

• Recorded and mixed at In The Pocket Studio in Forestville, California
• Mastered at The Mastering Lab in Hollywood, California
• The Stroh violin, a violin with a horn attached to the bridge, is used on several tracks
• Eclectic orchestration, a trait of Waits's albums since Swordfishtrombones

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Career

• Tom Waits, born Thomas Alan Waits on 7 December 1949 in Pomona, California, is an American singer-songwriter, musician, music director and actor.
• Known for his gravelly voice, cynical texts and theatrical stage presence, he blends blues, jazz, bluegrass, vaudeville and country with rock.
• His lyrics portray the bizarre and overlooked people and places, while his work also shows romanticism and humour.
• Debuted in Los Angeles in 1971 after signing with manager Herb Cohen; the album Closing Time (1973) received good reviews, and the Eagles' cover of Ol' 55 brought success in 1974.
• Mid-1980s albums Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs and Frank's Wild Years featured eclectic instrumentation, marking a less conventional period after leaving Asylum for Island Records.
• Worked with his wife Kathleen Brennan on musicals such as The Black Rider with William S. Burroughs, and moved toward theatre alongside a parallel acting career.
• Acted in films by Francis Ford Coppola, Jim Jarmusch, Robert Altman and Terry Gilliam; composed the score for Coppola's Coup de cœur.
• Won Grammy Awards for Bone Machine (1993) and Mule Variations (2000); inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.
• Has consistently refused to license his music for advertising and won lawsuits against several companies that ignored this.

Sources: fr.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Maddy Costa writes that Alice and Blood Money highlight the consistency of Waits's songwriting
• Costa notes that Kathleen Brennan, co-writer of every song, shares Waits's vision
• Costa says Waits has kept a distinct musical voice since the experiments that began with Swordfishtrombones in 1983
• Costa says the ballads on Alice seem haunted by the ghosts of earlier albums
• Costa says Waits and Brennan share with Lewis Carroll a delight in linguistic playfulness and warped juxtapositions
• Alice ranked number 2 in Metacritic's Top 30 albums of 2002

Records

• As of 2003, Alice had sold 140,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen Soundscan
• In 2006, it received a diamond certification from the Independent Music Companies Association
• The diamond certification indicated sales of at least 250,000 copies throughout Europe

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The songs had been released as a bootleg in several versions called The Alice Demos many years before the official album.
• The bootleg source is believed to be studio recordings taken when Waits's car was broken into in late 1992.
• Altar Boy appears in Wilson's Alice but not on this album; it was later released on Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards in 2006.
• Waits bought the bootleg to recall the songs, because a long gap had passed since writing them for the stage version.
• The album was released alongside Blood Money in the same year.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · ja.wikipedia.org

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