Real Gone - Tom Waits
Real Gone Image
Metascore
78 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 32 Critics What's this?

User Score
9.4 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 24 Ratings

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  • Summary: Fans of his acclaimed 2002 pair of discs will have to settle for just one album this time out, co-produced by Waits with Kathleen Brennan. Marc Ribot and Les Claypool guest.

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 28 out of 32
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 32
  3. Negative: 0 out of 32
  1. Playlouder
    100
    In ‘Real Gone’s fearsome complexity of rhythm, lyric and device, Tom Waits appropriates like a shoplifter without much time, and creates something entirely his own. A new music.
  2. Pitchfork
    80
    It lurches along like a junk-heap jalopy, unsteady and unsafe, bits flying off in every direction, stopping, starting, and bouncing in pain.
  3. Dot Music
    80
    Reliably odd, then, but unexpectedly moving, too: the best Tom Waits album, all told, since 1992’s “Bone Machine”.
  4. Uncut
    60
    Waits is still taking more risks than most US 'singer-songwriters' of his generation, and parts of this album rock righteously. It's just that some of Waits' musical modes... have been done before, and much better. By him. [Nov 2004, p.110]
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See all 32 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 15
  3. Negative: 0 out of 15
  1. Hein
    10
    Forget all your fucked up 80s revival bands. This is the real sugar!!!
  2. PaulS
    10
    I'm always saddened by the fact that so many people feel a need to define and/or review an album based on previous releases. Comments like; "well, it's similar to Bone Machine, but..." or "Different from Alice and Blood Money, but..." I think this is because professional reviewers are somewhat unimaginative and it's easier to define by comparison than actually review the album on its own merit. Real Gone is a great album, truly one of the most unique listening experiences in years. Tom Waits maintains his title as "king-of-the-risk takers" by throwing everything up against the side of the barn and seeing what sticks. In this case, most of it does, in a beautiful, tragic and more than a little funny, way. This is a "screaming in the car" album if ever there was one. Enjoy it.… Expand
  3. FatherSCSI
    8
    Waits has created yet another timeless treck through creativity and tomfoolery. This album is an extension in to the broad scope of Waits9; diversity and inginuity.… Expand
  4. BenjaminS
    6
    Tom's strengths are in lyrics, songwriting, characterful singing and other forms of vocalizing, and aural atmospheres created in his music. On this album the lyrics are strong, the songwriting is more blues lines and gospel lines than melodic songs with a few exceptions, the characterful singing isn't close to the range of characters explored in previous recordings, and the aural atmospheres lack the surprises and depth of other releases. For the most part, this feels like Tom jamming rather than carefully crafting his music. Not his best effort, nowhere close to Alice, his most musically complex CD, or even in his Gospel/Folk/Coutry Blues does it range as far as Bone Machine or Mule Variations. Also, Circus doesn't belong on this recording. Just OK.… Expand

See all 15 User Reviews

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