First off, apologies for not coming through with a post-Thanksgiving Sunday Morning Session as promised.  It was ready, and I was ready.  And it is a good one.  But, I was sidetracked.  Such is life with a newborn.  For the half dozen of you who tune in, I will make it up to you.    

Release Date: October 24, 2011
Label: Anti-

Tom Waits can be intimidating.  I mean, his shit is dense.  Sometimes listening to a Waits album is like reading a confusing but satisfying book.  You don't fully understand the message, but it's been intentionally left open so you can form your own individual impressions.  Art that's meant to allow for participation from the observer.  

Bad As Me is no exception and it continues Waits' explorations of the bitter and the sweet, though rarely at the same time.  The angry turns range from the sad and matter-of-fact in "Face to the Highway" to the jittery accusations in the title track "Bad as Me".  "Talking at the Same Time" has the feeling of creepy paranoia that's tough to describe (Waitsian?).  "Kiss Me" is the great smoky noirish piano bar tune that Waits can drop on you at any time.  On the sunnier side of the street, "Back in the Crowd" is the best Roy Orbison cover you'll hear this year.  "Satisfied" is an aggressive declaration of Wait's pre-death intentions.  Or maybe it's just a tongue-in-cheek rocker.  

Look, I'm not going to pretend to understand the exact message that Waits is trying to convey with Bad As Me, but I don't think that's the idea with this record or TW in general.  Again, we'll leave that to dickheads like Rob Sheffield, who are too caught up in themselves to admit that maybe something isn't meant to be perfectly understood.  

I will say that Waits has been consistently interesting for over 30 years and shows no signs of slowing down.  Really the only person you can compare him to is Bob Dylan.  And you probably won't hear any greater compliment in this humble column.