Day 0723 - Bone Machine

Tom Waits "Bone Machine" (1992)

This was Waits' first album in 5 years - though the gap had been filled by a live album and a Jim Jarmusch soundtrack.

Waits had been moving away from his jazzy lounge piano tunes and drunken balladeer persona and into more avant territory.  Here he takes that evolution one step further, with a sound that I would class as "demented T-Bone Burnett". 

Waits recorded the album in space in the basement of the recording studio with concrete floors and a hot water heater.  He liked the echo of the room, and used this to best suit the songs.  They were essentially stripped down blues tracks, but with the vibe created by the room the sound feels much denser than it actually is.

The album is light on piano, with Waits' sound moving more towards the guitar and interesting percussion tracks.

Probably not my favourite Waits album, but you can hear him starting to get his 90s-Waits sound going and getting comfortable in that skin.

Day 0255 - Will the Circle be Unbroken

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band "Will the Circle be Unbroken" (1972)

This is a phenomenal album for any fan of country, country-rock and bluegrass... but a 38 song double album with a running time of near enough to two hours is a bit much.  Even if this was a live concert setlist, it would be getting into Bruce Springsteen or Pearl Jam territory!

The band put their spin on a number of country standards. The album has a relaxed atmosphere with a range of guest stars and a lot of studio dialogue in between tracks.

For me the rambling lengthiness of the album lets it down somewhat, especially with some tracks being fairly similar sounding little banjo jams.  It's one of those cases where a decent double album could have been whittled down to a stellar single album.  However, if you want a one-stop country album that you're able to listen to in increments, this is pretty damned good (and I imagine that true country aficionados would happily listen through the whole thing in one sitting, as I would for my few favoured double albums.)