it's not one that i've ever heard mentioned with the usual suspects....and i only bought it on a whim as it was in a waterstones display....technically it's not really a book as such

but anyway....it's

'innocent when you dream: tom waits the collected interviews'

now....the reason for it's brilliance.

i feel music books are a bit of a dangerous thing...on the one hand you want an artist and their work expanded and elucidated upon...you want to learn more...the why, the how, the when etc...otherwise you wouldn't be reading...but you want the book to enhance upon the sounds, not take anything away.

but sometimes a book can be so comprehensive and so probing that a little of the magic can be taken away from the music. i'm a strong believer in the idea that sometimes we shouldn't be fed every nuance and facet of a musician, and a little mystery goes a long way...all that crap.

and this is where the interviews hit exactly the right chord...reading, i feel that connection to the artist which will now always make the music jump out a little more...but waits hasn't been pulled apart enough to the extent where we can see exactly how he works....it goes a fair way, but obviously not right to the edge...we still, pretty much, only hear what he wants us to hear, and the tall tales are woven tightly to the truth

and second of all....some of the writing it just amazing. you can tell, when interviewing someone with such a distinct lyrical style, someone so poetic...the journo tries to keep up and match them a little....sometimes they miss but there are more than enough hits

like this line taken at random.

'to ramble or stake a place..it's the old american dilemma, and mr waits doesn't try to resolve it, only to find its creaky, disheveled, dusty epiphanies'

lovely stuff

anyway....i dunno the point of all this.

just....read it if you haven't....and if you have, what do you think?