Halloween Special 2011 & Tom Waits Review

Tune in for Sound Opinions’ annual Halloween celebration featuring scary tunes nominated by listeners from around the country. Plus, Jim and Greg review the new release from the king of creep-rock, Tom Waits.

main image
Download Subscribe via iTunes

Scary Songs

It's everyone's favorite time of year: Halloween! This is one of our most requested shows, so Jim and Greg are back with another installment of Scary Songs for the season. Here are their 2011 picks:

Greg

  • The Cure, "Subway Song"
  • Scott Walker, "Jesse"
  • Lupe Fiasco, "Put You On Game"
  • Bruce Springsteen, "State Trooper"

Jim

  • The Specials, "Ghost Town"
  • Nina Simone, "Pirate Jenny"
  • 10CC, "I’m Not in Love"
  • Peter Gabriel, "Intruder"

Listener suggestions

  • Frank from Philadelphia: Sonic Youth, "Cotton Crown"
  • Nicole from Naperville, IL: Queen, "Death on Two Legs"
  • David from Cleveland: Skinny Puppy, "The Killing Game"
  • Stacy from Garner, N.C.: Neko Case, "Deep Red Bells"

Bad As Me Tom Waits

Bad As Me (Deluxe Version)

Whenever we solicit nominations for Halloween songs, one name comes up time and time again: Tom Waits. The boozy saloon crooner has a creepy voice, and dark, edgy narratives to match. His latest is called Bad As Me, and yes, Jim says, that about sums it up. He hasn't been a fan of Waits since his Swordfishtrombones days, calling the singer/songwriter shticky and grating. This album is no different, and he says Trash It. Greg is a little surprised, considering this is Waits' most accessible, hook-laden effort in years. What Jim calls shtick, he calls theatricality. And he admits that sometimes the theatricality obscures the plain good songwriting, rooted in old blues. Greg especially likes the collaboration with keyboardist  Augie Myers. He says Bad As Me is a Buy It.

Dear Listeners,

For more than 15 years, Sound Opinions was a production of WBEZ, Chicago's public radio station. Now that the show is independent, we're inviting you to join the band and lend a hand! We need your support more than ever because now we have to do all the behind-the-scenes work that WBEZ handled before (like buying insurance and paying for podcast hosting, ugh). Plus, we have some exciting ideas we'd like to try now that there's no one to tell us no!