M'Lou Elkins
Tom Waits has announced vinyl reissues of Alice and Blood Money, the two albums he recorded and released back in 2002. The 20th-anniversary versions are pressed on translucent blue and red vinyl and will be released October 7. Waits is also sharing a handful of live tracks, starting with “All the World Is Green,” from Blood Money, recorded in Milan, and a stripped-down piano version of Alice’s “Fish and Bird,” recorded in London in 2004. Watch both videos below.
The album’s original press materials quotes Waits as saying, “During the ‘70’s, too many of my songs were drowning in strings. I didn’t want to hear another blasted violin. So, we found string players who felt the same way about their instrument, formed an odd, skeletal chamber orchestra and tried to avoid all the old familiar phrases where strings love to play.”
He went on to describe Blood Money as “flesh and bone, earthbound. The songs are rooted in reality: jealousy, rage, the human meat wheel…. They are more carnal. Kathleen and I are well suited to this material. She is hilarious, blasphemous and ominous. I like a beautiful song that tells you terrible things.”
