The Tom Waits Project: #18. "Alice" (2002)

There are few artists who have had as enjoyably weird of a career as that of Tom Waits. With a career spanning over 45 years, he has reinvented himself countless times while providing some of rock's strangest, most eclectic tunes imaginable. Over the course of 2019, my goal with The Tom Waits Project is to explore every single one of his studio albums as well as live albums and soundtracks (no compilations) and chart the shifts in his career as well as hopefully understand what makes him so ubiquitous in pop culture. He's an artist who has always been there, making things weird, but there's a good chance you haven't truly noticed him. Here's your chance to join me every other Wednesday on a quest to find out what makes him so special.

Album: "Alice"

Release Date: May 7, 2002

Label: ANTI- Records

Certifications: 
-The Netherlands (Gold, 400,000 copies sold)

Track List:

1. "Alice"
2. "Everything You Can Think"
3. "Flower's Grave"
4. "No One Knows I'm Gone"
5. "Kmmienezuspadt"
6. "Poor Edward"
7. "Table Top Joe"
8. "Lost in the Harbour"
9. "We're All Mad Here"
10. "Watch Her Disappear"
11. "Reeperbahn"
12. "I'm Still Here"
13. "Fish & Bird"
14. "Barcarolle"
15. "Fawn"

*NOTE: Listen to it here.

Track Analysis

This section is a song by song breakdown in hopes of understanding what makes each song special in his catalog. Other things considered will include best song, most interesting standout, and other fields deemed relevant to the album.

"Alice"

After a long stretch of chaos and nihilism, it feels refreshing to hear Tom Waits return to a more stable sound. Imagine an artist 30 years later trying to recapture the magic of their early work, especially for someone as experimental as Waits. This is what this feels like. It's "Closing Time" with its optimism of sitting in a bar as blues play, a horn echoing through the air, and he's commenting on how he sees Alice sitting nearby. You can sense the loneliness in the dead air of the track. It's beautiful and simple, and a nice alternative to the "Blood Money" album that was released on the same day. It's somber but also has that lingering sense of optimism that makes Waits occasionally a sentimental artist. 

"Everything You Can Think"

And with that, the story starts kicking into gear again with the sound of a train introducing a familiar setting for Waits. He's heading out on a journey that is full of odd imagery, such as someone living in a shoe. It's the typical turning nursery rhymes on their head and making them darkly comedic. He's got the gruff voice on, detailing the story of his life as a violin plays behind him. The string feels like it bends, like a circus after several shots of vodka. It's a nice song with plenty of excellent production from Waits and crew. If anything, it makes one wonder what lies ahead for this odd little album.

"Flower's Grave"

It's another song that parallels the joy of the world with sadness through the imagery of a grave. What exactly does it take to honor a symbol of death when it manages to die? With a quiet tone, Waits contemplates how he pays tribute to a passing that symbolized this lasting hope in a dark world, remembering the showers and various other things that impacted his life. Still, when the flower dies and is buried, what is a proper way to remember it? There's a crassness to simply replacing it, leaving a conflict with no clear answer, or any at all. 

"No One Knows I'm Gone"

In a short burst of energy, Waits continues to mourn his own absence with a track about how the seasons change. The leaves will fall and the environment will accept its change. However, it will not make him any more remembered. He is gone, and there will be nobody to recognize this. There's a sadness in his voice and the instruments feel stripped down as if they too are slowly wiping him off of the track. There's a power in how subdued the track is, managing to create a bleak atmosphere without reveling in it. Waits is sad to be in this position, but he's also aware that it's the only way for him going forward.

"Kommienezuspadt"

For what it's worth, this finds Waits doing things that he hasn't really done on the record before. He's singing in a different language, creating a rickety bridge by which everything is holding together. Even the instruments sound like a conveyor belt that is barely holding together as he sings in his manic tone, capturing something mechanical within his own madness. He's taken over by power as the horn kicks in, creating one of the most alarming tracks on the album so far. If nothing else, it's fun to hear him playing with form this much and making such an odd word easy to sing along to. 

"Poor Edward"

Unlike most of his other songs, this one has an origin that's easy to place. The story focuses on the death of Edward Mordrake, whose suicide appealed to Waits for some odd reason. It could be that his fascination with nihilism and death are pretty much the center of every one of his later albums. Luckily it stands out from what's come before, as it switches to a somber homage to Poor Edward, managing to detail his life in vivid detail as he recalls what made his life so tragic. The strings alone give the song a sad, nostalgic tone that makes it hard to listen to without some emotion. There's power in every note, and even Waits' hushed tone suggests that it means a lot to him deep down to tell this story so that everyone knows Mordrake's life.

"Table Top Joe"

Through a distorted speaker, Waits now addresses the life of another colorful character named Table Top Joe. It sounds like he's singing from inside a seedy pool hall, where every voice bounces off a wall and through a window before being heard by the audience. It's a fun approach to the song, especially as the piano kicks in to add a smokey texture to the entire thing. As a whole, it's another song that highlights a life that interests Waits, making believe that he's in love with the wayward traveler, especially if they have nicknames and are as eccentric as this. 

"Lost in the Harbour"

With an accordion by his side, Waits talks about things are going on down at the harbour. He's wandering around, finding that there's a lot to look forward to down there. He's somehow capable of also adding a melancholic tone to the entire experience, finding a longing that seems evident from how much death and misery has preceded this track. He is alone, unable to find a place in life. He's lost, and what he wants is to find peace, maybe out at sea. It's hard to say, but there's a sense of excitement underneath Waits' sadness that makes the potential for rediscovery to be full of joy and meaning.

"We're All Mad Here"

For those who know the instrumentation very well, this is a song that feels like it has Waits back at sea. He's in with a colorful bunch of people who are all going crazy. With the lingering screech in the background and the percussive clang of the waves, it sounds like the unease is growing, even with his hushed tones. Maybe he's hiding from the sanity upstairs, or maybe he's just weak. There's so much that is fun in a hushed sort of way throughout this song and finds him accepting his fate as someone incapable of living a sane life on land among normal people. 

"Watch Her Disappear"

It's another monologue song. In this case, he's talking about a dream that he had where he's imagining the love of his life, Alice, filling his life with purpose and meaning. It's so beautiful and the scratchy quality surrounding his narration makes it sound like it's deeply rooted in a beautiful place, where nothing dangerous can come. It's only when he watches it disappear that things become heartbreaking, capturing the reality that lies on the other side of his eyelids. He wants this moment to last, but it doesn't. It's the saddest part in an album full of death and misery, and one can only hope he's reunited with her sometime soon.

"Reeperbahn"

Things continue to spiral into sadness as Waits wakes up from the previous song to think of where Alice has ended up. He thinks of her in lingerie and roaming around, looking for something to do to fill her life with meaning. Meanwhile, he is trapped in a miserable state, unsure of where he is, wondering where he's going. His voice sounds a bit echoed as if he's in the hull of a ship, or a prison of sorts and unable to feel any freedom or joy. He's trapped emotionally and physically, and it's starting to catch up with him, tearing his sanity in half in the process. After all, we're all mad down here. 

"I'm Still Here"

Once again, one of the shorter and more subdued songs holds a lot of deeper truths inside. It's one in which he's waking up, finding peace in his life and wondering what value he has in the world. After living in cynicism, he's finally experiencing a speck of joy in his life. There's not a lot here beyond a piano and a scraggly voice, but what works is the optimism that has finally surfaced in the song, making him wonder how he can better his life and return home to the woman he loves. There's not enough time to question it. He just needs to act upon it.

"Fish & Bird"

There's a sadness here as if the revelations of the previous track wasn't enough to keep him going. Here, he manages to look back at his love with Alice and find that while there's plenty that was positive, he's not there with her at this moment and that there's an emptiness. The grumbling voice has hit a deeper register, suggesting a sadness and melancholy that makes him worried that he'll never get his dream. His imagery is optimistic to an extent, but it feels like a foolish dream that doesn't quite get fulfilled. Instead, he's stuck in this state of being a fish looking at a bird, realizing that the only way they'll be together is if he dies in her mouth. 

"Barcarolle"

It's another somber song in the penultimate track on the album. As he stares up at clouds, he's finding himself at peace with the world again. He's mellowed out, his voice gaining a stability once again as he wonders what the future holds for him. It's a decent little song that feels like the latest in a string of mood swings for Waits on this album. It's got plenty of excellent imagery and reflects his gifts for being unpredictable in interesting ways.

"Fawn"

In keeping with his old approach to albums, the final track is one of somber as done entirely on strings. Everything is finally at peace after an album of death and misery flowing through the veins of Waits' odd song choices. It's a nice little song and captures a cry on a violin that pops with subdued life. It's a decent enough track and one that ends this chaotic journey on a peaceful note that suggests even if things don't go exactly the right way, they'll at least end with some sense of peace and closure.

Closing Remarks

Unfortunately, "Blood Money" and "Alice" together feel a bit like lulls for Waits after a storied career in the 20th century. "Alice" in particular was based on a musical he did for the stage and while there's plenty that works as standalone songs, it's less clear of what makes them special like "The Dark Rider" did earlier. It's a bunch of songs sporadically put together presenting a story that may make sense visually, but audibly come across as more b-sides for an artist who has done nothing but pushed boundaries. This isn't to say it's a bad album. If anyone else released it without a bigger career, it might be a promising uptick in their career. It's just that Waits has done too much to have an album of this caliber stand out as exceptional. It's merely another collection of fun songs, though not nearly as cohesive this time around.

Coming Up Next: "Real Gone" (2004)

Album Rankings

This section is dedicated to ranking the albums from best to worst in hopes of finding which Tom Waits album is the best.

1. "Rain Dogs" (1985)
2. "Blue Valentine" (1978)
3. "Swordfishtrombones" (1983)
4. "Mule Variations" (1999)
5. "Small Change" (1976)
6. "Frank's Wild Years" (1987)
7. "Heartattack and Vine" (1980)
8. "Bone Machine" (1992)
9. "The Heart of Saturday Night" (1974)
10. "Nighthawks at the Diner" (1975)
11. "Blood Money" (2002)
12. "Foreign Affairs" (1977)
13. "Closing Time" (1973)
14. "The Black Rider" (1993)
15. "Alice" (2002)
16. "Night on Earth" (1992)
17. "Big Time" (1988)
18. "One From the Heart" (1982)

Song Rankings

This section is dedicated to finding the best songs from each album and comparing them to each other in hopes of finding which one is Tom Waits' best song.

1. "Hang Down Your Head" from "Rain Dogs" (1985)
2. "Filipino Box Spring Hog" from "Mule Variations" (1999)
3. "I Don't Wanna Grow Up" from "Bone Machine" (1992)
4. "Whistlin' Past the Graveyard" from "Blue Valentine" (1978)
5. "I Wish I Was in New Orleans" from "Small Change" (1976)
6. "Way Down in the Hole" from "Frank's Wild Years" (1987)
7. "Way Down in the Hole" from "Big Time" (1988)
8. "Martha" from "Closing Time" (1973)
9. "Jersey Girl" from "Heartattack and Vine" (1980)
10. "Shore Leave" from "Swordfishtrombones" (1983)
11. "God's Away on Business" from "Blood Money" (2002)
12. "Potters Field" from "Foreign Affairs" (1977)
13. "Eggs and Sausage" from "Nighthawks at the Diner" (1975)
14. "Watch Her Disappear" from "Alice" (2002)
15. "Los Angeles Mood (Another Private Dick)" from "Night on Earth" (1992)
16. "Please Call Me Baby" from "The Heart of Saturday Night" (1974)
17. "Just the Right Bullets" from "The Black Rider" (1993)
18. "Picking Up After You" from "One From the Heart" (1982)