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The Glitter and Doom preview is free to download from Tom Waits' website, for anyone that's happy to sign up to his mailing list. It includes the first eight tracks from the forthcoming album Air Force 1 High, recording during the recent Glitter and Doom tour. The audio quality is excellent, as one would expect from an official release. But more importantly, listening to it feels like attending a Tom Waits concert.
The live album traditionally suffers from the struggle to justify itself. They are often inessential releases in an artist's catalogue. But because Glitter and Doom is so geared toward Tom Waits' performance, these recordings of old songs differ greatly from their studio versions. Speaking generally, it's as if Tom Waits here implores the listener to join him in the crazed worlds he describes. The Glitter and Doom Album Preview The full version of Glitter and Doom is due for release on the 24th of November. It features an additional eight tracks and an entire second disk dedicated to Tom Waits' stage banter. Earlier release Orphans featured something similar and Air Force 1 Low, as most fans would surely agree, was very entertaining. Given that the Glitter and Doom sample is free then, it would be lunatic to miss this preview. For example, the re-recording of "Singapore" on Glitter and Doom differs dramatically from the original. On the 1985 version featured on Rain Dogs, Tom Waits sings confidentially of the impending move to Singapore. But on the Glitter and Doom version, he's imploring the entire audience to join him. And with the charisma with which his singing is charged, he's difficult to refuse. The glitter part of the live album preview derives from Tom Waits' obvious showmanship. His performance should be monstrous, given the uncanny nature of his vocal style. But really, it captures something primal that appeals to the listener. There might be some technically better singers, but few are able to exhilarate the listener like Tom Waits. Glitter and Doom is actually thrilling. Glitter and Doom: The Full Live Album The first track of the Glitter and Doom preview is "Lucinda." Within moments Tom Waits is coughing into the mic like a human beatbox. His vocal style resembles less a person than an erupting volcano. It's easy to imagine this wasn't recorded in a theatre, but in a dank cave underground. If Glitter and Doom describes the twin sides of Waits' performance, his singing captures doom perfectly. Read on Funniest MST3K Skits from the Sci-Fi Years Tom Waits Nike Air Force Ones Shoes, Jazz Pianist A Rare Performance by Tom Waits Tom Waits: Singapore Glitter and Doom captures a side of Tom Waits' artistic persona that is rarely visible. Though in interviews he presents himself as a consummate showman, his albums resemble more special insights into an enigma. Listening to records like Rain Dogs is like entering someone's private world. Glitter and Doom is therefore unique because it reconciles these aspects of Tom Waits' personality. |