Mule Variations by Tom Waits (Album, Singer-Songwriter): Reviews, Ratings, Credits, Song list - Rate Your Music
sign in
new music genres
charts
lists
New Music Genres Charts Lists
Mule Variations
By Tom Waits
........
ArtistTom Waits
TypeAlbum
Released27 April 1999
Recorded1998
RYM Rating 3.86 / 5.00.5 from 7,887 ratings
Ranked#23 for 1999, #987 overall
Genres
Descriptors
raw, male vocalist, mysterious, poetic, melancholic, dark, atmospheric, eclectic, nocturnal, passionate, sombre, pastoral, surreal, quirky, bittersweet, ominous
Language English

Track listing

Previous
Next
Previous in discography: The Black Rider
The Black Rider
Alice
Next in discography: The Black Rider

Rate/Catalog

Saving...
0.0
Catalog
In collection
On wishlist
Used to own
(not cataloged)
Set listening
Tags
Save
Review
Track ratings
To rate, slide your finger across the stars from left to right.
Issues

11 Issues

Expand all 11 issues

11 Issues

Expand all 11 issues
Credits

Credits

127 Reviews

Page 1 2 3 4 .. 6 7 .. 9 10 .. 12 13 .. 15 >>
5.00 stars
My last encounter with Tom Waits was revelatory. Bone Machine was like a midnight stroll around the Black Museum. Nothing but shadowy torchlight to illuminate ghoulish exhibits of hangman's nooses, death masks, details of grisly murders and the weapons used to commit them. The experience was both unnerving and fascinating but, more importantly, made me realise what I'd been missing.

Unlike other artists I've become fixated with over the years, Waits is best experienced in small doses. Each album becomes a full-blown addiction necessitating a period of cold turkey in order to build up the reserves and regain the reassurance the world continues to spin on its usual axis, that neither "the moon is broken" nor "the sky is cracked". Only then do I feel ready to dive headfirst back into those murky waters... Except Mule Variations is not something I'm sure I'll ever recover from.

Grabbing the attention immediately, the warped blues of "Big In Japan" is transformed into a bizarre tribal ceremony. It comes as a surprise when checking the liner notes to discover normal instrumentation has been used. Surely then everything has been deliberately damaged? The sax and trumpet dented and bent? Guitar necks twisted and strings unravelled? The drums replaced by pots and pans? Waits chewing on a scouring pad to ensure his vocal chords are scratched and bleeding? On any other album "Big In Japan" would be a highlight. On Mule Variations it's simply a taster for the treasures to come.

After the scratchy delta blues of "Lowside Of The Road", the tender, elegaic Springsteen-like "Hold On" and the lazy swing of "Get Behind The Mule" it's evident you're in the presence of greatness. Surely it's impossible to maintain this quality throughout what is a long album? Surely not.

As always the key is Waits' voice. There will always be a vociferous crowd who staunchly believe Waits can't sing. Is on a par with those drunken old sots who spontaneously break into song after a bellyful of cheap beer and gut-rot whiskey chasers. Poor bastards. I pity them. Can't they hear the lifetime of meaning and memory in every croak? How many other vocalists are capable of scaring the shit out of you one minute and bringing you to the verge of tears the next?

When Waits sings about a "House Where Nobody Lives" it's not only easy to visualise the abandoned property, you can sense the loss, picture the loveless shell. During the disturbing narrative of "What's He Building?" Waits superbly builds an atmosphere of brooding dread. Without question something bad is happening behind closed doors but Waits allows your imagination to fill in the gaps – and the manner in which he stretches out the word "In-don-eee-sia" is pure genius. Then there's the absolutely beautiful "Take It With Me" and the universal truth that it's the small precious moments which linger longest in the memory, and then the moving spiritual "Come On Up To The House" which is the perfect closer. And all that without mention of the truly gobsmacking "Filipino Box Spring Hog" whose rambunctious madness has to be heard to be believed.

After immersing myself in the glorious muddiness of Mule Variations I can genuinely say I've been converted. Every Waits studio album released has now found a place on my wishlist. However, I still stand by the assertion his work should be consumed in small doses. No way do I intend embarking on a Waits binge. As Mule Variations amply proves Waits' music needs time and effort to digest. I just really, really wish I'd begun gorging myself when these albums were originally released.
Published
6547-2 CD (1999)
ADVERTISEMENT
 4.00 stars
I'm going to take advantage of my bourbon-soaked, cigarette-stinking, slightly sad and disturbed state of mind and write this review in what I like to imagine is the same perspective Waits had when he made this. My goal, riding on more than a sliver of luck, is to explain why this is Waits best album and one of the greatest things I've laid ears upon. Opting for the track-by-track rather than taking the high road here...

"Big in Japan" is a strange way to start this release I think considering what follows, but it does an amusing job at pointing out where he's at career-wise. It bleeds of Waits' usual witticisms which is, after all, one of the main reasons people enjoy his music (or maybe more his persona I suppose). It also lays down a pretty wretched voice which isn't surprising, but it establishes the image of him as both a crazy old wino and a simultaneously booming success. Amusing opener, but hardly indicative of the greatness to come.

"Lowside of the Road" is less spectacular, mostly insignificant. He's just bringing to mind the down-and-out character he's built his image around; a generally dispisable character that possesses some curiously beatnikish quality that appeals to those of us who find ourselves sighing at the usual marshmallowiness of mainstream music and dull, complacency of society. Again, sort of setting a scenery for the album, but not an all-together noteworthy track.

"Hold On" comes from a different angle. It's not about Waits the wino, it's a sort of sullen pick-me-up that could only be delivered by the man himself. In a way, it reminds me of "Hang Down Your Head" and could serve as some sort of sequel to that great song. It brings a little variety to Mule Variations, cleaning it up not for commercial appeal but just to remind his audience that he's not just some meandering goofball. The best song on the album so far, and pretty much the closest thing he's ever written to a lullaby.

"Get Behind the Mule" is a track that I have a hard time taking seriously to be honest, mostly because I think of the VH1 Storytellers version where he tries to downplay any significance to the track, albeit with that implicit wink that's become his trademark. I find it strange that he would try to use "the mule" as the theme that's supposed to bring some cohesion to this release (or maybe he's not doing that at all... I don't know). Either way, if this is some sort of substitute for a title track, it's somewhat weak. Not very catchy, not very emotional, and more than a minute longer than anything else on the album. It's interesting to see that it's placed right after "Hold On", which is a very sincere and sympathetic song, while the message here is more along the lines of "suck it up, bucko".

"House Where Nobody Lives" seems extremely melancholic, even compared to the string of downcast songs preceding it, but again, it feels genuine. The vocal delivery here is beautiful by any standards. It's unforgettable, borderline heartbreaking. It's not the first time he's made a beautiful track, but it's the first I can think of where he does it with a lower-class, suburban American sound. Him and his sounds... that's what this album's all about. He takes influences that everyone has long-forgotten but these same influences of his are timeless. More on that later.

"Cold Water" has the wino punch to it. I don't know what it's about but it makes me laugh anyway. It's got a weird tempo, combined with his use of repetition, that only brings to mind drunkenness. Not that dark, gloomy, alcoholic-sucking-listerine-on-the-street drunkenness and not that frat-boy bar scene drunkenness either, but a real Tom Waits drunkenness of a strange loneliness somehow removed from any sense of sickness or introspection. It's just his comic appeal at work.

If one wanted to label Waits a beatnik, and many an unoriginal music critic opts to do this, "Pony" would be the first track they'd point at (or that song of Orphans about hopping trains at 13-years-old). This one is fucking sad, lonely. Simply enough, it's about homesickness. That harmonica... it brings to mind the emptiness of day-to-day life that beatniks of 60 years ago struggled with. It's phenomenal, and marks the turning point of the album. Mule Variations isn't bad up to this point, but as another reviewer noted, it hasn't exactly built momentum.

"What's He Building?" is the question you'll find yourself asking after the CD's finished spinning and you're trying to figure out whether or not you liked this release. This spoken-word track blows my mind. When you think about it, really try to connect these images he creates, it doesn't even amount to any single character, but rather some sort of amalgamation of every dispicable character out there. Not the unshaven boozehound with holes in his shoes, but really dispicable characters. I thought it sounded like a kidnapping, serial killer, communist, alien... such a weird combination of images that it just makes you ever more curious, making this track a huge success.

"Black Market Baby" is like a love song written for a prostitute, with all the beauty and vermin appropriate for such a serenade. The sax, that strange distinct percussion Waits has used more and more on recent albums, it all comes together perfectly and sort of makes you wonder why it took him so long to make this song in the first place. This song is, I feel, out of place on the album, but undeniably a gem nevertheless. Listen to this song and then next time you're on a citybus and you see that frail, down-and-out 30-year old woman with such sunken-in eyes she looks at least 50, eyes that have seen violence and withdrawal symptoms and have definitely turned a trick or too... next time you see this character, if the words "she's a diamond that wants to stay cold" don't run through your mind, I will buy you a cookie. Only Tom Waits has the magical touch that can make you fall in love with everything that has been forgotten or shat upon.

"Eyeball Kid" is one of a half-dozen standout tracks on this album, but one of the more original and upbeat ones. It combines ugliness with comic relief, all the while creating yet another character that's looked down upon by a heartless world, much like our "Black Market Baby" or, more accurately, like the "Table Top Joe" that would appear on 2002's Alice. Very much like Joe in fact. The sound to this track, however, is difficult to characterize and is what I was sort of alluding to earlier when saying his influences still seem familiar, however implaceable they are.

"Picture in a Frame" disappoints. Big time. Not because it's a lovey-dovey track, the type of softheartedness that people accuse Waits of developing after his marriage. It's just the repetition here is so simple, the lyrics so plain, that it wouldn't be out of place on a children's album. The message is sweet in a way, hell, it's beautiful. But he one-ups himself enormously very soon.

"Chocolate Jesus" is great. It's lighthearted, only sad if you consider it somehow blasphemous. Pretty much a simple song, but it's fun how he delivers it in a way that makes it seem like chocolate is some kind of a vice for him. Mr. Waits, you slay me.

"Georgia Lee" is a song I'm indifferent about. Again, it feels genuine, but it's a bit harder to connect with anyway. That's all the bourbon and I really want to say about that... the good stuff's coming up.

"Filipino Box Spring Hog", much like "Eyeball Kid", has a sort of badass playfulness associated with it, or playful badassery maybe. I like to think of it as a sort of redneck barbecue with the craziest Hunter S Thompson working the grill. The whole thing sounds like it could fall apart at any moment if it weren't Waits at the reigns. Just a riot. It's not the first track to evoke a laugh out of the listener (though it is the last), and it doesn't even do the best job... I'd say "Chocolate Jesus" is the real comic relief of this thing. But it has an unfamiliar craziness that attracts you, not without a healthy dose of skepticism/hesitation, like a drunken fight breaking out between two fat, topless men outside of a jazz festival in downtown London Ontario... or something of that nature, you understand.

"Take It With Me" is why this album is a five star release. This is the track that I feel more than makes up for whatever might be considered an early shortcoming. This is the type of song that makes me fall in love with every woman I meet, the type of song I sing to myself while mopping up at work when there's no customers/co-workers to chat with, the type of song that wraps my soul in a blanket before throwing it onto a big fucking bonfire like a log filled with worms and ants and those bubbly segmented bugs that don't do anything but walk around and hang out on or in logs that get thrown on fires. It's just gorgeous. I don't know how he came up with this one, but it evokes the most intense faux-nostalgia of pretty much any song I've heard. It's his best song to date. Probably. No, yes. It is.

"Come on Up to the House" is a sort of gospel track. It's fun to picture this very song being sung in a penecostal church by an energetic crowd on a Sunday morning. Waits knew what he was doing here. For all its power though, it's just a denouement because he couldn't possibly end the album with "Take It With Me".

Tom Waits is a man who's not known for making really cohesive concept albums. The exception that comes to mind would be Alice and Blood Money, but then he released those simultaneously so that was a bit of a cheat, plus the concept for Alice had been established long before he made the album. So with Mule Variations, can we fault him for his creative playfulness? I wouldn't. Anyone who's really listened to Rain Dogs - which appears to be only about half the people who make that claim - would tell you that even his masterpiece there isn't what you'd call a cohesive release. You could argue that there's filler on Mule Variations whereas Rain Dogs just keeps rolling, but that's not the case either. It's just less catchy, and far more real than he's allowed himself to be in the past. He uses the Waits' persona here, but what's really impressive is the rare glimpses into his personal life that he very seldom let's people see, in his music or otherwise.


AMENDMENT (10/13/17): It's seven and a half years later. Tom Waits remains my favourite musician, yet I'm a much different person, and I would challenge nearly half of this review. So much so that I feel the need to correct a few details here, rather than write over the time capsule above.

1. In "Black Market Baby", the line is, "she's a diamond that wants to stay coal". The interpretation of the song doesn't necessarily need to change, but the line works better with this metaphor.

2. "Georgia Lee" is not a forgettable track. If I had paid closer attention to the lyrics, maybe looked into the backstory, I would have realised much sooner that "Georgia Lee" is the saddest song he's ever made, and it's an absolute stunner.

3. This is not a 5 star album, and this is not Tom Waits' best album. I wouldn't withdraw any of the praise I've lent the stronger tracks ("Take it With Me", "Chocolate Jesus", "What's He Building?", "Georgia Lee"), but that front half is a bit weak, even in the review above. Waits' has made more fully consistent albums with Frank's Wild Years, Alice, and arguably Orphans.
Published
ADVERTISEMENT
 4.00 stars
Blues has always been an element of Waits' music; you can hear it on every album he's made, even under the accordions and found percussion of Black Rider. Here, though, is where it steps to the fore. Mule Variations is Waits as blues singer, pure and simple. (And by blues, I mean, pre-war blues -- Son House, Blind Blake, Charley Patton and the like.) A lot of the more avant-garde sounds of Bone Machine and Black Rider have been swept away (a lot, but not all), and the music is simpler, purer and more upfront. Which doesn't (shouldn't) mean straightforward ...

In a strange kind of way, Mule Variations is a grand summing-up of Waits' entire career, a reapproachment between the balladeering bum of the Asylum years and the more absurdist and adventurous Waits of the Island years. Certainly there are some of the greatest ballads the man's written in years -- "Hold On" is a beautiful description of a growing love and a solid marriage (and hopefully autobiographical), while "Take It With Me" confronts death fearlessly, and "House Where Nobody Lives" is an absolute heartbreaker. Those who love the sarcastic side of Waits get the hilarious paranoia of "What's He Building?" And both sides come together on "The Eyeball Kid", a withering take on celebrity in the form of a circus freak that's also in the end a real weepie. The album's closer, "Come On Up to the House", is Waits' most overt excursion into gospel music, a rambuctious, gleeful celebration of friendship.

Those songs are so good that I'd love to give the record five stars. Unfortunately, at 16 tracks there's a number of weaker setpieces, such as "Big in Japan" -- funny but obvious -- and "Filipino Box Spring Hog" that let the side down. Trimmed down to, say, 11 songs this may have been the best Tom Waits album ever. As it is, it's still pretty damn fine.
Published
2.50 stars
I've always admired Tom Waits work, but it wasn't until recently that I delved into his wider discography, and started listening to records outside of my comfort-zone triptych of Alice, Swordfishtrombones, and Bone Machine. I can't explain why, but for a long time, those were the only Waits' records with which I was intimately familiar. Given Mule Variation's reputation of greatness, and my uniform satisfaction with every post-Swordfish Wait's album I've heard, it never even occurred to me that I might dislike Mule Variations. I even hoped I might be able to call it my favorite Tom Wait's album, a title that currently lurches uncertainly between Rain Dogs and Bone Machine, depending on whether I'm in the mood for jazz or blues.

Sad to say, this was not to be. It seems like one of the most oft-repeated criticisms of Waits' work is that since his reinvention, he's been repeating the same basic song structures ad nauseam, with only the slightest of modifications. While it's easy enough to dismiss this claim on his more accomplished records, it becomes much harder to do so with such a painfully dull record as this one. Listening to Mule Variations inspires a strong sense of déjà vu, not unlike hearing a greatest hits album. This would make for a reasonably enjoyable release, if only the "hits" weren't replaced by pale, boring imitations of themselves. The similarities between some of the songs here, and those that they're so clearly emulating, are so striking, that you can't help but wonder how they escaped Waits' notice. Just listen to "What's He Building", then "The Ocean Doesn't Want Me Today", and you'll see what I mean.

Thankfully, the record is salvaged to some extent by the fact that the songs being rehashed are so intrinsically good, that they can't help but retain a certain amount of charm even in their most uninspired renditions. It's a small consolation, but it's probably enough to ensure that most Waits fans will find Mule Variations at least mildly enjoyable. Unfortunately, that's the best compliment I can offer it. While it's easy enough to imagine someone entirely new to Waits falling in love with this record, I just can't say the same for longtime fans. If someone like me, who's only been listening to Waits for a few years, can't help but find Mule Variations disappointing, I can't imagine how someone who was actually alive when Swordfishtrombones was released must feel.
Published
2.00 stars
I continue to find very little good in this wildly celebrated release from Waits. He just feels like a caricature of his former self and everything here is just his old stuff redone with half the heart and mood. He feels like he should be singing a Randy Newman tune to Toy Story 3: The Toys of the Demon Sphere.
Published
4.00 stars
For my story with this great man, this Tom Waits album is a novelty. Its Tom’s first album I’m going to rate below 9/10. I loved all of his work so far admittedly I haven’t heard even 1/3 of his work since his full output is immense. His 80’s and 00’s work is all near perfect and especially his latest magnum opus Orphans is among the best music ever put on record but with Mule Variations Tom didn’t reached levels that are found on the former or albums like Alice and Rain Dogs. The main thing that is bugging me is its length which is too long for it’s own good. Sure Orphans is an enormous 56 songs 3 hour album but it’s divided into 3 plus the songs are simply better there. I usually don’t mind 70 minute album at all but they have to stay interesting the whole way trough and that is where Mule Variations fails. Of course it doesn’t fail miserably but it still does fail since the songs are simply too long. A song like “get behind the mule” is almost 7 minutes and the tune isn’t interesting enough to last for so long. A lot of the songs are pretty slow as well what sort of seem to drag. A song like “Hold on” is a good example for it. It’s a good song with a lot of emotion behind it but it doesn’t keep my attention at all. But enough talking about the bad sides since this is still a very good album. Songs like “House Where Nobody Lives, Chocolate Jesus en what’s he building” are particularly good and the album can be put on any time since the music isn’t annoying and of high standards. There is a lot of emotion is Tom’s voice although it’s never really powerful which I find a shame. It’s a good album but for me this isn’t a very good Tom Waits album, it’s mostly too tame perhaps.

Edit: 4 years later. Amazing stuff, 4,5 stars.
Published
4.00 stars
Too bad 'Big In Japan' wasn't the single for this LP.
Published
4.50 stars
A comprehensive and expansive journey...
For anyone out there who has not yet discovered the delights of Tom Waits, and if you are feeling very brave indeed, 'Mule Variations' might just be a great place to start.

In many ways 'Mule Variations' is one of Tom Waits least accessible long players, so why is it a "great place to start"? Well I just believe this rather lengthy set showcases the great man from many many points of view. It's a long album however, and if you really do start here, it will be very much a case of 'in at the deep end'!

The album starts with 'Big in Japan' which offers a very groovy start, and this kind of sound is repeated later in the track 'Filipino Box Spring Hog'. Tom Waits at his theatrical best, I would love to see these kind of tracks live.

The album also features some of Tom Waits more tender tracks such as 'Georgia Lee', 'Hold On' and 'Take It With Me'. We also have the great man at his eccentric best, check out for example 'Eyeball Kid' and the quite amazing and very dark 'What's He Building?'.

So all in all 'Mule Variations' is possibly the finest album to listen to, if you want a very comprehensive and expansive listen to the vast talent of Tom Waits.

Key Track: What's He Building?
Published
Page 1 2 3 4 .. 6 7 .. 9 10 .. 12 13 .. 15 >>
Votes are used to help determine the most interesting content on RYM.

Vote up content that is on-topic, within the rules/guidelines, and will likely stay relevant long-term.
Vote down content which breaks the rules.

Catalog

Ratings: 7,887
Cataloged: 4,888
Track rating sets:Track ratings: 492
Rating distribution
Rating trend
Page 1 2 .. 52 .. 105 .. 157 .. 210 .. 263 .. 315 .. 368 .. 420 .. 473 .. 526 >>
8 May 2024
wheredidyougetthoseshoes  4.00 stars
8 May 2024
silversoot  4.50 stars Nearly perfect
7 May 2024
thomasjw26  3.50 stars Great
6 May 2024
VABIRRTPAB  4.00 stars
6 May 2024
Like_A_Plastic_Bag  4.00 stars
6 May 2024
ParahyaenaBrunnea  3.00 stars
6 May 2024
asimpkins78  3.00 stars
5 May 2024
boden_  3.50 stars
5 May 2024
Molecules  3.50 stars Kyoto
5 May 2024
Sysnomid  4.50 stars A
5 May 2024
EversinceSound  4.00 stars
4 May 2024
mrkr  4.00 stars
4 May 2024
DavidWasHere CD4.00 stars
4 May 2024
Sleuthing  ▼3.50 stars Not bad
  • 5.00 stars 1 Big in Japan
  • 4.50 stars 2 Lowside of the Road
  • 4.00 stars 3 Hold On
  • 3.50 stars 4 Get Behind the Mule
  • 4.00 stars 5 House Where Nobody Lives
  • 4.50 stars 6 Cold Water
  • 4.00 stars 7 Pony
  • 4.00 stars 8 What's He Building?
  • 3.50 stars 9 Black Market Baby
  • 3.50 stars 10 Eyeball Kid
  • 4.00 stars 11 Picture in a Frame
  • 4.00 stars 12 Chocolate Jesus
  • 3.50 stars 13 Georgia Lee
  • 5.00 stars 14 Filipino Box Spring Hog
  • 3.50 stars 15 Take It With Me
  • 3.00 stars 16 Come On Up to the House
3 May 2024
savealekos  4.00 stars
Cover art for Mule Variations by Tom Waits
........
Previous
Next
Previous in discography: The Black Rider
The Black Rider
Alice
Next in discography: The Black Rider
ADVERTISEMENT

Track listing

Credits

867 Lists

Video

ADVERTISEMENT

Contributions

Contributors to this release: darcnessity, monocle, jkra3168, afasia, Teapot, Trentskers, feastofnoise, moleintheground, StudioMONDO, finnaboing, tvdv234, [deleted], coolidge, SITF21, tSdDiGiTaL
Log in to submit a correction or upload art for this release
........