Drawing mostly from albums later in his career, Glitter And Doom Live finds Waits and his band recreating the controlled cacophony of his ’90s and ’00s work while bringing a different sort of animated spirit to the songs. Tracks like “Such A Scream” and “Make It Rain” find new edges in a live setting, partly thanks to Waits’ game backing band, partly to the urgency that live performance lends to the singer’s inimitable growl. He’s equally affecting when rasping the ballads—the tracks wife and collaborator Kathleen Brennan has dubbed “grand weepers” to complement his “grim reapers”—particularly Orphans’ “Fannin St.” and “The Part You Throw Away,” the latter highlighted by Omar Torrez’s sensitive guitar.
No Waits show would be complete without a few digressions, and Glitter generously, maybe too generously, includes a second disc with 30 minutes of jokes, stories, banter, and lies. As a stand-up act, it gets a bit exhausting with no songs to break it up, but those who make it through get a nice version of “Picture In A Frame” as a reward. And, as usual, it’s worth any amount of trouble to hear Waits live.
