Real Gone
Studio album by
Tom Waits
ReleasedOctober 4, 2004 (2004-10-04)
GenreExperimental rock Alternative hip hop
Length71:52
LabelANTI-
ProducerKathleen Brennan, Tom Waits
Tom Waits chronology
Blood Money
(2002) 		Real Gone
(2004) 		Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards
(2006)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic78/100[1]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Blender[3]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[4]
The Guardian[5]
Mojo[6]
NME7/10[7]
Pitchfork8.0/10[8]
Q[9]
Rolling Stone[10]
SpinA−[11]

Real Gone is the sixteenth studio album by Tom Waits, released October 4, 2004 in Europe, and October 5 in United States on the ANTI- label. The album was supported by the Real Gone Tour, playing sold out locations in North America and Europe in October and November 2004.

The album features some of the few political songs Waits has written, the most explicit being "Day After Tomorrow", a song Waits has described as an "elliptical" protest against the Iraq War.

It was chosen by the editors of Harp Magazine as the best album of 2004.[citation needed]

A remixed, remastered version of the album was released by ANTI- on November 22, 2017, with the remastering process personally overseen by Waits and Kathleen Brennan.


Background

Per ANTI-,

Written and produced by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan, his wife and long-time collaborator, Real Gone features 15 tracks of funk, Jamaican rock-steady, blues both urban and rural, rhythms and melodies both Latin and African and, for the first time, no piano. The crash and collide of rhythms and genres within a song creates a hybrid unlike any music he has and the sonic mayhem and nonsense rhyme ride to "Top of the Hill" are both punctuated by a live band and turntable playing along to Waits' home recorded voice percussion.[12]

The album features Waits beatboxing on tracks like "Top of the Hill" and "Metropolitan Glide". He had picked up the technique from his interest in hip hop. Waits's longtime guitarist Marc Ribot plays in a Cuban style on "Hoist That Rag", as he had on The Prosthetic Cubans.

The album features references to real people and events. "Don't Go Into That Barn" was based on a New York Times story about a slave jail in Kentucky. The article quotes Isaac Lang, Jr.: "Dad told us never to go in there...He said, 'Boys, I'm going to tell you the truth. It's all right to play around that barn, but don't go inside.' He said it just wasn't right. That it was pitiful. He never did tell us why." The article quotes Carl Westmoreland: "It was a slave ship turned upside down," a line echoed by Waits.[13][14]

Track listing

  1. "Top of the Hill" – 4:55
  2. "Hoist That Rag" – 4:20
  3. "Sins of My Father" – 10:36
  4. "Shake It" – 3:52
  5. "Don't Go into That Barn" – 5:22
  6. "How's It Gonna End" – 4:51
  7. "Metropolitan Glide" – 4:13
  8. "Dead and Lovely" – 5:40
  9. "Circus" – 3:56
  10. "Trampled Rose" – 3:58
  11. "Green Grass" – 3:13
  12. "Baby Gonna Leave Me" – 4:29
  13. "Clang Boom Steam" – 0:46
  14. "Make It Rain" – 3:39
  15. "Day After Tomorrow" – 6:56
  16. "Chick a Boom" – 1:17 (hidden track)

Personnel

Chart positions

Chart (2004) Peak
position
Australian ARIA Albums Chart[15] 27
Austrian Top 40[16] 11
Belgian Albums Chart (Vl)[17] 7
Belgian Albums Chart (Wa)[18] 40
Canadian Albums Chart[19] 11
Danish Albums Chart[20] 5
Dutch Top 100[21] 10
Finnish Albums Chart[22] 23
French SNEP Albums Chart[23] 39
German Albums Chart[24] 19
Irish Albums Chart[25] 9
Italian FIMI Albums Chart[26] 8
Portuguese AFP Albums Chart[27] 8
Swedish Albums Chart[28] 9
Swiss Hitparade Albums Chart[29] 16
UK Albums Chart[30] 16
US Billboard 200[31] 28
US Billboard Independent Albums[31] 1
US Billboard Internet Albums[31] 28

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[32] Silver 60,000‡
United States — 202,000[33]
Summaries
Europe — 250,000[34]

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ^ "Reviews for Real Gone by Tom Waits". Metacritic. Retrieved September 22, 2014.
  2. ^ Jurek, Thom. "Real Gone – Tom Waits". AllMusic. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
  3. ^ Sinagra, Laura (October 2004). "Tom Waits: Real Gone". Blender (30): 130. Archived from the original on October 19, 2004. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  4. ^ Seymour, Craig (October 8, 2004). "Real Gone". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on June 28, 2017. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
  5. ^ Petridis, Alexis (October 1, 2004). "Tom Waits, Real Gone". The Guardian. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
  6. ^ "Tom Waits: Real Gone". Mojo (131): 110. October 2004.
  7. ^ "Tom Waits: Real Gone". NME: 64. October 2, 2004.
  8. ^ Petrusich, Amanda (October 3, 2004). "Tom Waits: Real Gone". Pitchfork. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
  9. ^ "Tom Waits: Real Gone". Q (220): 128. November 2004.
  10. ^ Wolk, Douglas (October 28, 2004). "Real Gone". Rolling Stone. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
  11. ^ "Breakdown". Spin. 20 (11): 118. November 2004. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
  12. ^ "Tom Waits - Real Gone (Remastered)".
  13. ^ Kemp, Sam (January 19, 2003). "The dark story behind 'Don't Go Into That Barn' by Tom Waits". Farout.
  14. ^ Brown, Patricia Lee (May 6, 2003). "In a Barn, a Piece of Slavery's Hidden Past". The New York Times.
  15. ^ "Tom Waits – Real Gone". australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
  16. ^ "Tom Waits – Real Gone". austriancharts.at. Hung Medien. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
  17. ^ "Tom Waits – Real Gone". Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
  18. ^ "Tom Waits – Real Gone". Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
  19. ^ "Top Of The Charts: Hilary Duff Fends Off Punks To Stay At The Top". Chart Attack. Archived from the original on December 4, 2005. Retrieved February 8, 2019.((cite web)): CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  20. ^ "Tom Waits – Real Gone". danishcharts.dk. Hung Medien. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
  21. ^ "Tom Waits – Real Gone". dutchcharts.nl. Hung Medien. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
  22. ^ "Tom Waits – Real Gone". finnishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
  23. ^ "Tom Waits – Real Gone". lescharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
  24. ^ "Album – Tom Waits, Real Gone". Media Control Charts. Retrieved July 31, 2012.[dead link]
  25. ^ "Discography Tom Waits". irish-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
  26. ^ "Tom Waits – Real Gone". italiancharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
  27. ^ "Tom Waits – Real Gone". portuguesecharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
  28. ^ "Tom Waits – Real Gone". swedishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
  29. ^ "Tom Waits – Real Gone". Hitparade. Hung Medien. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
  30. ^ "Tom Waits | Artist". The Official Charts Company. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
  31. ^ a b c Real Gone – Tom Waits: Awards at AllMusic. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
  32. ^ "British album certifications – Tom Waits – Real Gone". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  33. ^ Roberts, Randall (October 22, 2011). "Riffing with Tom Waits: Critic's Notebook – Page 2 – Los Angeles Times". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  34. ^ "Impala Sales Award Winner June 2005 – January 2008" (PDF). Impala. 3 December 2008. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 6, 2018. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
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