Tom Waits

Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers, and Bastards, CD available November 21
This is what we want for Christmas, even if the leathery, Beetlegeuse-ish Waits is more a Halloween kind of guy, and even if we probably can’t wait that long. A career retrospective (not a greatest-hits collection), this three-disc set compiles twenty-four rarities and thirty new songs by an artist absolutely without peer. In other words, Orphans offers a treasure trove for longtime fans and a splendid introduction for new converts. Many of the tunes from Waits’ catalog of spooky, minstrelesque ballads—concerning such subjects as love, death, dogs, and booze—would sound like sweet little carnival gems if they weren’t sung in the gravelly croak of a well-marinated carny. And plenty manage to be beautiful all the same, wrecked pipes be damned. Then there’s Waits’ version of bonus tracks: his bizarre interpretations of songs by folks like the Ramones, Daniel Johnston, and Leadbelly.