7 keepers
keeper avg .538
Gone are the alien soundscapes of Rain Dogs or Bone Machine as nearly all the songs here are at least based on a traditional style, including even the "steampunk" album opener "Chicago"****, creating a vivid atmosphere of frantic activity. "Talking At The Same Time"**** skews to Waits's jazzy side, while superficially resembling a subtler, more atmospheric Bob Dylan's "Ballad Of A Thin Man." The similar "Face To The Highway" is even more dreary and ghostly, while "Kiss Me"**** is a loose, coffee-house jazz style, accented by prominent, sputtering stand-up bass. The over-driven traditional blues of "Satisfied"**** is also right in the Waits wheelhouse, complete with wailing organ, while in the electric Latin title song "Bad As Me"**** Waits punctuates each chorus with a goofily smarmy aside. There's also some rockabilly ("Get Lost"), Latin influenced Roy Orbison ("Back In The Crowd"), and of course several closing time ballads. The loud stomp of "Raised Right Man"**** also doesn't fit neatly into any style, but it dissonant keyboard blasts would be right at home in a David Lynch movie. And since no Tom Waits album would be complete without an unsettling monologue, there's the anti-war "Hell Broke Luce"*****, angrily chanted to an intense tribal beat.
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