Customer Reviews

Mule Variations

5 star:		(160)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

After reading multiple reviews on this site, most of the reviewers have it right, 4 or 5 stars. What is interesting is that people get hung up on having their favorite artists do things only one way.

For instance, those that may have started with Waits during his younger years, may only appreciate his talking, rambling, discovered stories. Others that jumped on midway may only appreciate his "found" experimental sounds (Bone Machine anyone?). However, this is yet another rung in the Tom Waits evolution.

Those that dismissed this disc must be very narrow in their likes. Only country, only rap, etc. To pigeonhole Mr. Waits into only one type of music that he is "good" at is very disappointing. For those calling this his "swan song" or recommending to "skip it", you are really missing out. What a great combination of lyrics, vocals, and sounds. It works. It must to have been nominated and won the (grammy?) for best folk record that year.

Hey, skip it if you don't want to hear something good. Sure, you need to pick up Nighthawk's at the Diner, Bone Machine, and many of the others as well. This is well worth the $$$. Go for the import if you want the complete disc, or download the free MP3's off of amazon to complete it (Buzz Fledderjohn and Big Face Money).

If you have never heard Tom Waits before, pick up this album!! Amazing! So excited I finally own it!

This record will give you shivers every 10 seconds. Tom Waits has such an amazing, beautiful voice and his music is so incredible...I don't know how anyone could live without this album!

I've been listening to Tom Waits for over 20 years and he is one of my favorite artists, through all his reincarnations. While there are some really fun songs on this album (Big In Japan, Chocolate Jesus), on the whole the "shtick" is just too transparent here. Waits has always played "characters"; but usually the songs are so strong that he pulls them off beautifully. Here they aren't. They're OK, but not as good as his past (or future - Alice, Blood Money) efforts. Might be better than 3 stars for most, but not for Waits.

This is one of my favorite albums period. I love the fact that Tom isen't obssessed with death and terrible sounding music quality he was into for his previous release, "Bone Machine". There are many interesting stories here, "Eyeball Kid", "Chocolate Jesus", "What's He Building?", "Filipino Box Spring Hog" and "Georgia Lee". These are mostly true stories Tom reads about in the paper and it is just so interesting. There is also beautiful ballads like "Take It With Me" (possibly his best piano ballad ever". There is still some grittines leftover here from "Bone Machine" but it seems to work better here. Simply contains 3 career best hits "Get Behind the Mule", "Take It With Me", "Come On Up To The House".

This is not an album that lets you in the first time you listen to it, or even the second, or the third. This isn't pop music. If you listen closely, though, you can hear just about every face that Tom Waits has ever showed the world, which is appropriate considering that this was his swan song (say it ain't so!). There are some songs that would be right at home on Closing Time; others seem to be tracks that were left off of Bone Machine.

If you keep at it, one day it'll go 'pop'. Suddenly you'll hear the subtle and not-so-subtle twists and turns and variations in the music and the words. You'll find the improbable links between the likes of What's He Building and Hold On. You'll wander through a maze of carnival characters and whimsical malcontents, not to mention the occassional wack-o.

Waits manages to give his characters depth and nuance; he makes them empathetic and sometimes outright pathetic, all in the space of five or six minutes. Each one takes the stage, does a dance, and then retires back into the smokey backlight to make room for the next.

To be sure, your ear will take some time adjusting to the likes of Big in Japan or Cold Water. Believe it or not, though, one day you'll find yourself humming the improbable opening to the album and getting puzzled looks from passers-by.

I can only suggest that you buy this album, and if it doesn't grab you right away give it some time - I was turned off the first time I bought it and actually returned it. That was three years ago, and I regret the time not spent getting acquainted with some of Waits' finest!

This great album opens with Big In Japan, a humorous number in bluesy style with brilliant guitar and innovative arrangement, which is followed by the slow, eerie Lowside Of The Road, a real hangover song with striking imagery.

Hold On is a typical sad Waits ballad, which means it's beautiful, tuneful and moving. It has an unusually light rhythm and melody though, unlike some of his other masterpiece ballads like for example In The Neighbourhood or Saving All My Love For You. House Where Nobody Lives is unique too, another gripping ballad with moving words and images. It makes me think of both Mansion On The Hill by Springsteen and the old classic Satisfied Mind.

All Waits' styles are in glorious display including the talking blues of Get Behind The Mule and the deep bluesrock of ballads like Come On Up To The House and Cold Water. For someone who prefers his ballads and his singing voice, I find both quite appealing. The next track, Pony, is another one of my favorite slow melodic numbers embellished with exquisite pump organ, dobro and harp.

This album certainly lives up to its name with its astonishing variety, like the spooky spoken track What's He Building and the story songs Black Market Baby and Eyeball Kid with its innovative samples and percussion. Waits even explores his Beefheartian side on Filipino Box Spring Hog. There's also the gentle love song Picture In A Frame with its elegant piano and the sorrowful country song Georgia Lee.

Mule Variations is a masterpiece of an album that contains impressive, timeless songs of great lyrical depth, melodic beauty and stylistic variety. Whether you like Waits as a phenomenon by himself or whether you like only certain of his styles, this album will not disappoint as it offers enough brilliance for everybody.

A great CD!!!. I do not know if there are any words to describe the greatness of Waits music and Lyrics. Mule Variations delivers!! A great disc and a must have for anyone who appreciates music of any kind!!!

This disturbing and sensational album from artist Tom Waits is pure spellbinding fun! The lyrics are something else and so is the otherworldy music. Something about Tom Waits has me always listening to the entire disc without stopping. He has a refreshing and original taste in design and style. My family always gets a hoot listening to Waits go through different mood swings on his album. The way he depicts sorrow and being alone is so eerie and true to life. Beautiful listening.

These are songs full of such depth and feeling. Tom Waits is an extraordinary talent who takes snapshots of life at times disturbing and at times beautiful, but always moving. One grows to understand amusing facets of life and new twists on old emotions. Just when the listener is taken to the edges of despair and sorrow, she is lifted to heights beyond expectations.
I hear sounds that I didn't know existed when I listen to Waits.

Perhaps that is what I love best in the wonderful music of Waits. The music mirrors life with all its ups and downs. Somehow within it all one sees or feels the richness and variety and discovers profundity in it.

Waits is a highly enjoyable talent constantly breaking boundaries, ultimately to the listener's delight. Buying this album is no waste.