Maps of Music

Real Gone (2004)

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

Tom Waits's sixteenth studio album is the first of his records made with no piano at all, and its most explicit political song is one he called an elliptical protest against the Iraq War.

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Album story

Overview

• Real Gone is the sixteenth studio album by Tom Waits
• Released October 4, 2004 in Europe and October 5, 2004 in the United States
• Released on the ANTI- label
• Written and produced by Tom Waits and his wife and long-time collaborator Kathleen Brennan
• ANTI- describes 15 tracks; the track listing adds a short hidden track at the end
• A remixed, remastered version was released by ANTI- on November 22, 2017

Background

• ANTI- describes the album as funk, Jamaican rock-steady, urban and rural blues, and Latin and African rhythms
• ANTI- says it is the first time Waits made an album with no piano
• The album features some of the few political songs Waits has written
• “Day After Tomorrow” is the most explicit of these, which Waits described as an elliptical protest against the Iraq War
• The Real Gone Tour played sold-out locations in North America and Europe in October and November 2004

Recording

• Credited as recorded and mixed by Mark Howard
• Waits beatboxes on tracks such as “Top of the Hill” and “Metropolitan Glide”
• Marc Ribot plays in a Cuban style on “Hoist That Rag”
• The 2017 remix was made with the remastering personally overseen by Waits and Kathleen Brennan

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

• Critical reception was generally positive
• A review in Paste found the album interesting but criticised the excessive length of various songs, and one track in particular, “Circus”, bordering on self-parody
• Pitchfork praised the lyrics and the singing, saying Waits was beating out his peers in both absurdity and grace

Reappraisal

• A retrospective review on Elsewhere said the album might first have sounded disappointing next to Waits's earlier works
• Further listens brought out nuances and specific qualities, according to Elsewhere
• Elsewhere said the album's noir-blues atmosphere and folk narratives gave it a haunting beauty
• Barney Hoskyns, the author of a Waits biography, said he was somewhat disappointed by the album

Records

• Harp Magazine's editors chose Real Gone as the best album of 2004
• “Metropolitan Glide” was nominated for a Grammy for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance in 2005
• Credited on the release as recorded and mixed by Mark Howard

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

Trivia

• The track listing includes a short untitled hidden track at the end of the album
• The album was issued in an 8-panel digipak with embossed cover art
• “Don't Go into That Barn” was based on a New York Times story about a slave jail in Kentucky
• Marc Ribot plays in a Cuban style on “Hoist That Rag”, as he had on The Prosthetic Cubans
• Les Claypool of Primus played on the tracks Hoist That Rag, Shake It and Baby Gonna Leave Me
• Waits picked up the beatboxing technique from his interest in hip-hop

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

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