About this product

Product Identifiers

Record LabelEpitaph

EAN8714092654721

eBay Product ID (ePID)10052261429

Product Key Features

LanguageEnglish

Era1990s

FormatCD

Release Year1999

FeaturesStudio Recording

GenrePop, Alternative, Rock

StyleExperimental Rock

TypeAlbum

ArtistTom Waits

Release TitleMule Variations

Additional Product Features

Number of Discs1

DistributionAda/Cinram Logistics

Number of Tracks16

ReviewsIncluded in Wire Magazine's "50 Records of the Year '99", "...the album restores the wizened humanity--and a more traditional sense of songcraft--to his music....At a time when rhythmic soundscapes have become as important in pop as melody, MULE VARIATIONS presents Waits as the biggest freak of all: the last of the classic American tunesmiths." - Rating: B+, Ranked #1 in Mojo Magazine's "Best of 1999in, "...Waits has written and sung about the weird, sweet, tortured lives of real people. MULE VARIATIONS is more of the queer, wonderful same...", 4 1/2 stars (out of 5) - "...True to form, MULE VARIATIONS clanks, rattles, hammers, squawks, crackles and frequently swoons throughits generous 70 minutes. Nobody else makes music quite like this...", Included in Q Magazine's "50 Best Albums of 1999.", Ranked #21 in Mojo's "100 Modern Classics" -- "It's a veritable Jimmy Stewart of an album -- by turns irascible, sentimental and life-affirming.", 5 (out of 5) - "...His marvelously expressive voice sounds richer than ever....And as always, his instrumental foundation is impeccable - spare, understated and true. But Waits' greatest strength is in his interpretive skills. He simply writes great lyrics...", 4 Stars (out of 5) - "...the warmth and humor of MULE VARIATIONS' songs are allowed to shine through their lo-fi, bucolic blues skeletons. It's varied fare, the mood swinging beatifully between the charmingly cranky and clattering...and the lusciously sentimental...", "...MULE VARIATIONS is named for a hybrid animal--the offspring of a male ass and a female horse. It's a pretty good description of Waits's aesthetic: Always messing with at least two genres per song, he sticks things together and makes them breed...", 7 (out of 10) - "...quite batty, often fabulously so....mutating jazz, blues, parade music, show tunes, fairground banter, immigrant songs and beatnik spiel into a classy vernacular...", 3 Stars (out of 5) - "If you're a fan...you'll get your long-awaited fix....Continuing BONE MACHINE's experiments in artfully scuffed sound...with scratches, hisses and gabbling field recordings...", Ranked #1 in Cmj's "Top 30 Editorial Picks for 1999.", "...One of His Finest Efforts Yet....Tom Refuses to Soften with Age...", "...Each song simmers with in a carefully constructed atmosphere, like a dark goulash concocted with patience but no recipie book. The soundscapes are extraordinary, as is the tension between precisely judged production and passionately spontaneous performance..."