Tom Waits | Press

Critics' Quotes, Bad As Me

“…give me satisfaction or give me death — is what it's all about. Bad as Me, his first album of new material in seven years, is a tour de force of wise ol' swagger and new-century blues.”

- Boston Phoenix

DATE

12/05/11

Critics' Quotes, Bad As Me

“Throughout the album he spits, croons, screams, laughs and whispers, moving effortlessly between genres and moods…Waits shows off the staying power of his legacy while still managing to define himself as a standout among his peers… no one is in fact as bad as him.”

- The Daily Californian

DATE

12/05/11

Critics' Quotes, Bad As Me

“Waits has become a genre unto himself…His first album of new material since 2004’s Real Gone, it’s also one of Waits’ most balanced works in recent memory.”

- Boston Globe

DATE

12/05/11

Critics' Quotes, Bad As Me

“Mad, brilliant and utterly original.”

- Evening Standard UK

DATE

12/05/11

Critics' Quotes, Bad As Me

“Waits remains the man of a thousand voices: the brute bark, the lunatic yelp, the wistful whisper, the low grumble…brims with vivid imagery.”

- Creative Loafing Tampa

DATE

12/05/11

Critics' Quotes, Bad As Me

“…as powerful as anything he's done…It doesn't get much better than this.”

- Rolling Stone

DATE

12/05/11

Critics' Quotes, Bad As Me

“The singer with the lowdown Howlin’ Wolf yowl, which is richer and more elastic than ever on Bad As Me…his first new studio album in seven years, and one of the best of his wildly fruitful creative life.”

- Los Angeles Times

DATE

12/05/11

Critics' Quotes, Bad As Me

“All Tom Waits' life is here, often in the same song…the joy in the playing is contagious…a watershed release.”

- Mojo

DATE

12/05/11

Critics' Quotes, Bad As Me

“Everyone of these songs sounds like it could be a movie.”

- Chicago Tribune

DATE

12/05/11

Critics' Quotes, Bad As Me

“…he spits straight in the eye of teen culture, trumping it in hunger and spirit…Waits’ vocals, like Captain Beefheart’s before him, take Howlin’ Wolf to the 10th power.”

- New York Daily News

DATE

12/05/11

Critics' Quotes, Bad As Me

“At 61 Mr. Waits is acclaimed as an American marvel: a songwriter who can be smart and primal, raucous and meticulous, ethereal and earthy, bleak and comical…Waits is cherished by his generation of musicians as skillful songwriter and uncompromising outsider…Now indie- rockers study him, emulating not only his rasp and growl vocals and spiky arrangements, but also his self guided career path.”

- New York Times

DATE

12/05/11

Critics' Quotes, Bad As Me

“His songs hurdle past in waves of blistering energy and imagery; his lyrics are as unpredictable and inspired as ever.”

- The Guardian UK

DATE

12/05/11