Alice

Spin - 7 out of 10 - "...Worth its weight almost solely for 'I'm Still Here', one of those unbearably tender moments that Waits seems to pull out of his greasy head like a tick..." Magnet - "...Hovering around slower tempos...the weary pump organ and piano limp along while Waits' voice takes on the obsessive growl of a neurotic, jilted loser..." Q - 4 out of 5 stars - "...ALICE is described by Waits as an album of 'opiate songs'...oddly sideways lyrics and [an] often meditative vibe make it a strangely gorgeous and graceful work..." Alternative Press - 9 out of 10 - "...[ALICE] has gained a reputation as Waits' "lost masterpiece." That claim proves well deserved..." Rolling Stone - 4 out of 5 stars - "...[Waits'] throatis...pure theater, a wapon of pictorial emphasis and raw honesty....ALICE is...macabre in its details of destructive lust. But there are flickers of hope, too..." Mojo - "...Unhealthy obsession has rarely been this beautiful....skewed and drowsy, with wonky percussion and soft, smudged, narcotic strings...vaporous, layered, beautifully evocative..." CMJ - "...Brooding and jazzy..." NME - 8 out of 10 - "...A shimmering, mournful gem..." Rolling Stone (5/23/02, p.78) - 4 out of 5 stars - "...[Waits'] throatis...pure theater, a wapon of pictorial emphasis and raw honesty....ALICE is...macabre in its details of destructive lust. But there are flickers of hope, too..." Spin (6/02, p.109) - 7 out of 10 - "...Worth its weight almost solely for 'I'm Still Here', one of those unbearably tender moments that Waits seems to pull out of his greasy head like a tick..." Q (May 2002, p.114) - 4 out of 5 stars - "...ALICE is described by Waits as an album of 'opiate songs'...oddly sideways lyrics and [an] often meditative vibe make it a strangely gorgeous and graceful work..." Mojo (5/02, p.94) - "...Unhealthy obsession has rarely been this beautiful....skewed and drowsy, with wonky percussion and soft, smudged, narcotic strings...vaporous, layered, beautifully evocative..." Alternative Press (7/02, p.96) - 9 out of 10 - "...[ALICE] has gained a reputation as Waits' "lost masterpiece." That claim proves well deserved..." Magnet (6-7/02, p.111) - "...Hovering around slower tempos...the weary pump organ and piano limp along while Waits' voice takes on the obsessive growl of a neurotic, jilted loser..." NME (5/18/02, p.35) - 8 out of 10 - "...A shimmering, mournful gem..." CMJ (5/20/02, p.6) - "...Brooding and jazzy..."

'Alice' is the eighteenth studio album from Tom Waits, and follows on from 1999's 'Mule Variations'. Originally written in 1992 for an opera which was based loosely on Lewis Carroll's obsession with the girl who inspired 'Alice In Wonderland'. Working with long term collaborator Kathleen Brennan, it fuses the familiar sound of Tom Waits, melancholic jazz and piano bar blues, with an avant-garde orchestra, which sets this album apart from his previous work.|