For me, this album highlighted the weakness of Tom Waits as a vocalist. He's doing his usual subpar Louis Armstrong vocal impersonation combined with a Bukowski/Kerouac type image, topped off with a fedora. It just sounds like too much contrived shtick to my ears. Paired with a top-notch vocalist like Crystal Gayle, he's outclassed by a country mile. It's like pairing a $2 bottle of rotgut bum wine with a $200 bottle of single malt scotch.
The following quotes from MicShazam and TechnicLePanther, pretty much sum up the rest of my reactions to this album...
Quote:
Originally Posted by MicShazam
It's not quite horribly dull, but I'm not exactly riveted by it either. It's very mannered, very controlled, very carefully manicured to sound in a very particular way. One From The Heart really threatens to put me to sleep. Aside from a few scattered moments, the music is pretty much just... there. I'm just bored out of my mind long before the 42 minute mark, where the album bows out.
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by TechnicLePanther
The female vocals are good, Tom Waits grates on me as usual but whatever, it can't really be helped. Some of the compositions are interesting or slightly entertaining but most of them are too melodramatic and gaudy to really enjoy that much.
|
I actually listened to this album 4 times just to make sure I wasn't missing something but I think that was probably 3 times too many. My reaction to this album didn't change after the first listen. I thought the songs featuring Crystal Gayle singing solo were the only ones that really impressed me and that had more to do with her stellar vocals than the material she had to work with.
Not an awful album but (except for Crystal Gayle's vocals) unremarkable.
5.5/10
Linear Mode
