Track Listing

1. Top Of The Hill
2. Hoist That Rag
3. Sins Of My Father
4. Shake It
5. Don't Go Into That Barn
6. How's It Gonna End
7. Metropolitan Glide
8. Dead And Lovely
9. Circus
10. Trampled Rose
11. Green Grass
12. Baby Gonna Leave Me
13. Clang Boom Steam
14. Make It Rain
15. Day After Tomorrow

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6059 in Music
• Released on: 2004-10-05
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
Tom Waits is one of the most influential musicians in the world today, an artist who never rests on his laurels. He continues to re-invent music, push boundaries and create new sounds. On Real Gone, the up tempo tracks are some of the rawest and most kinetic he's ever laid down...He's never sounded like he's had this much fun...while the ballads are among his most beautiful and even chilling at times. Real Gone also contains his first overtly political song, "The Day After Tomorrow", a plaintive letter home from a young soldier in the middle of a war. Taken as a whole, the experience is breathtaking.

Amazon.com
There's little risk of confusing Tom Waits with the gentle pop folk who have covered his songs--Rod Stewart, Sarah McLachlan, Everything But the Girl, just to name a few. That's because even though the eccentric songwriter is capable of summoning the most tender sentiments, his preferred method of delivery is through carnival melodies, crackpot instruments, and a bourbon-soaked bark. Real Gone continues the dark experimental streak of not just its predecessors like Alice and Blood Money, but the past 30 years. Yes, the percussion is sharper, the arrangements stranger, and the voice more ghost-like than ever, but at the center of all the chaos remains an uncanny storyteller--capable of ripping down governments ("Sins of My Father") and building up tears ("Day After Tomorrow"). --Aidin Vaziri

Customer Reviews

Conjuring up spirits?
Real Gone is definitely a layered, challenging listen.
In many songs Tom's voice was mixed a little too low for my tastes.
Tom is all about the songwriting...so not hearing the words defeats the purpose!
My favorite tune is "Make it Rain" - a straight ahead blues, with vocals clear and strong. "Don't Go into that Barn" sounds like Tom is taken over by the spirit of Howling Wolf. Another strong cut is the Latin tinged "Hoist That Rag."
The North Mississippi hypnotic style grooves ( R.L. Burnside) seem to be a strong influence (or maybe coincidence) in my opinion.
If you're a Tom fan, this is a "must own."

Blues From An Alternate Universe
If you want to check out Tom Waits, and you're looking for a representative first album to listen to.....look elsewhere, unless you have a taste for the edgy and offbeat. In that case, look here.

I've often heard Tom Waits music before, and it sounded OK, but I never felt inspired to check out his music much. Then I heard this album in a coffee shop, and it blew me away.

What is it with Tom Waits? Instead of mellowing, he seems to get weirder as he gets older. This album has clear echoes of experimental music. There is very little drumming per se, or at least use of drums. Mostly the credits list "percussion," which often consists of unidentified objects being struck rhythmically. In that sense it's reminiscent at times of early Sonic Youth, with the percussion instruments sounding like sheet metal or wood cabinets--the difference is that here they are played with an excellent sense of rhythm. Other squawky moments remind me of Sun Ra. The production is sometimes blurry, clearly by design.

All this is done within a pretty normal song structure, so while it's experimental, it's also familiar. The combination works beautifully, with Waits growling along, nearly incomprehensible throughout (don't worry, the liner notes include lyrics).

Lots of people have tried to make records like this in the last 20 years or so, and most of them are awful. This one is brilliant, and that's down to the quality of the musician.

One of his weakest efforts
I love most of what Tom Waits puts out but this one I wasn't impressed by. The songs sound rehashed or overdone or pushed too far into obscurity. I do love some songs on this but overall I would choose to listen to most of his other albums over this one.