Blood Money

If Alice should strike you as too damn cheery, down a double dose of Prozac and try this companion album. Raw, abrasive, and relentlessly dark, Blood Money buries Waits’ wobbly melodies deep beneath demented grooves, sketching a haunting backdrop for his usual cast of sad sacks, lowlifes, and ne’er-do-wells. Across creeping waltzes (“The Part You Throw Away”), disjointed jazz shuffles (“God’s Away on Business”), and jarring blues (“Starving in the Belly of a Whale”), Waits sings like he’s been slugging razor-blade-and-whiskey cocktails. It’s hardly ear candy, but just try ignoring it.