Tom Waits deluxe vinyl release of ‘Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards’

Tom Waits will release a deluxe vinyl version of 'Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards' through Anti on 7th December. Originally released in 2006 and available as a triple CD collection, this limited edition vinyl set features 62 songs (including 6 previously unavailable tracks) across 7 LPs and a deluxe 12" booklet. (In the original CD collection, the package contained 30 new recordings, which have now been upped to 32 with two newly recorded tracks as part of the bonus 6 on the vinyl set.) 



Among the bonus tracks exclusive to this vinyl collectors' edition are a whimsical take on Fats Waller's 'Crazy 'Bout My Baby' and 'Diamond In Your Mind', a Waits/Brennan song first available on Solomon Burke's Grammy Award-winning album 'Don't Give Up On Me'. Others include 'Pray', Kurt Weill & Bertolt Brecht's 'Canon Song', 'No One Can Forgive Me' and 'Mathie Grove'.

An assemblage of rare, new and mostly unheard tracks, 'Orphans' includes irreverent--or, rather, remarkably relevant-covers of songs by artists as disparate as the Ramones and Leadbelly, along with Waits' compositions originally recorded by other artists. Waits' selections dazzle as sonic experiments and twisted tales. Tom says, "Orphans are rough and tender tunes. Rhumbas about mermaids, shuffles about train wrecks, tarantellas about insects, madrigrals about drowning. Scared, mean, orphaned songs of rapture and melancholy. Songs that grew up hard. Songs of dubious origin rescued from cruel fate and now left wanting only to be cared for. Show that you are not afraid and take them home. They don't bite, they just need attention." 


The songs are separately grouped and sub-titled - "Brawlers," "Bawlers" and "Bastards" - to capture the full spectrum of Waits' ranging and roving musical styles. "Brawlers" is chock full of raucous blues and full-throated juke joint stomp, "Bawlers" contains Celtic and country ballads, waltzes, lullabies, piano and classic lyrical Waits songs, while "Bastards" is filled with experimental music and strange tales.
Termed a "Boundlessly fascinating treasure trove " by Uncut, the original CD release of 'Orphans' was among the fastest-selling offering of Waits' career and a hit with critics. ""Waits has made brilliant art by inhabiting an arcane world of his own imagination"," noted The Times. Muses MOJO, "Masterpiece isn't the right word for such a profusion of delights ...he is the Rembrandt of modern music"



For more on Tom Waits and 'Orphans' check out the newly launched www.tomwaits.com