Waits is an often brilliant chronicler of the dispossessed, the down-and-out, and the just plain weird, but that doesnt always translate into songs worth a shit. On Real Gone, however, everything comes together. He lays off the boozy ballads in favor of Afro-Cuban shuffles, reggae epics, politico-folk songs, and one tune (Make It Rain) that Eric Clapton could make millions covering. Leave it to Waits to traverse such strange territory without getting lost.