Tom Waits’ Mule Variations is a backwoods country Delta Blues album masquerading as an art piece, encapsulating much of what has made Waits such an iconic American songwriter for over 50 years. It’s utterly otherworldly in one moment, sounding as if it was recorded after a week-long bender in a humid water-logged shed on the Mississippi River (“Lowside Of The Road”), and in the next moment it is filled with harmonious clarity, dissipating like a headache on Sunday morning as you head into Church to sing worship songs with other believers (“Hold On”). That dichotomy, while intensely jarring (purposefully so considering Waits’ historical artistic vision), also lends itself to a sense of self-reflection. Mule Variations playfully bends common musical conventions of American blues music, twisting those tropes into knots until they resemble a disfigured version that is both immediately recognizable and also brand-new at the same time.
Amidst the endless repetitive grooves that borrow percussive elements from household items or sounds from long-forgotten cassette tapes (the opener to “Big In Japan” features Tom Waits banging on a chest of drawers in a hotel room in Mexico trying to sound like a full band) exists wonderful vignettes of storytelling that capture the essence of the human experience. Waits ability to personify inanimate objects (“House Where Nobody Lives”), lay bare the perils of consumerism and nosy neighbors (“What’s He Building?”), or simply tell a touching love story (“Hold On”) is a hallmark of his output. There’s simply few better than Waits at encapsulating the totality of life, in all its oddity and quirks, and Mule Variations is the sound of a man operating at the top of his craft.
Standout Songs: “Big In Japan”, “Get Behind The Mule”, “Hold On”, “Chocolate Jesus”, “Georgia Lee”, “Filipino Box Spring Hog”, “Come On Up To The House”
