Tom Waits has announced 20th anniversary vinyl reissues of his albums Alice and Blood Money. Both were originally released on May 7, 2002, and the reissues will arrive on October 7 via ANTI-. Preorder Alice on gold vinyl and Blood Money on silver vinyl.
Both albums were inspired by literary works of years past. Alice was inspired by Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, and the girl that author Lewis Carroll fixated on before writing the book. It features bass saxophones, vibraphone, pump organ, French horns, bass, violin, and cello--although Waits was highly interested in shaking up his orchestral sound:
During the ‘70’s, too many of my songs were drowning in strings. I didn’t want to hear another blasted violin. So, we found string players who felt the same way about their instrument, formed an odd, skeletal chamber orchestra and tried to avoid all the old familiar phrases where strings love to play.
Meanwhile, Blood Money takes inspiration from a German sociopolitical play called "Woyzeck," written by poet Georg Buchner in 1837 and based on "the true story of a German soldier who was driven mad by bizarre army medical experiments and infidelity, which led him to murder his lover," per press release. Of the album, Waits says:
Blood Money is flesh and bone, earthbound. The songs are rooted in reality: jealousy, rage, the human meat wheel…They are more carnal. Kathleen and I are well suited to this material. She is hilarious, blasphemous and ominous. I like a beautiful song that tells you terrible things.
Both Alice and Blood Money were created in collaboration with his wife Kathleen Brennan and Robert Wilson. Coinciding with the announcement, Tom has shared previously unreleased live versions of "All the World is Green" from Blood Money (recorded in Milan) and "Fish and Bird" from Alice (recorded on solo piano at his major return to London in 2004). Listen to both below.
You can pre-order Alice on gold vinyl and Blood Money on silver vinyl and other classic Tom Waits albums on vinyl.
