User Score
Generally favorable reviews- based on 80 Ratings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 67 out of 80
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Mixed: 6 out of 80
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Negative: 7 out of 80
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Oct 26, 2011Another great album by Mr. Waits. To be perfectly honest, he doesn't deliver much that is new on this one, but he just does it so well. You can always count on the great melodies, yarns and abstractions along with an excellent (as always) roster of musicians who are given the opportunity to expand on their abilities without compare.
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Oct 26, 2011
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Oct 27, 2011Really wonderful album. As so many albums this year, it's a grower (although it's a pretty impressive shower, too!) Don't let the fact that it is sonically similar to Waits' past albums dismay you. These songs are very deep, and reward looking underneath the satisfying surface. My favorites are "Hell Broke Luce" and "Pay Me", as good of a Bastard and Bawler as Waits has ever written.
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Oct 30, 2011Tom is Tom. On first listen of this album i thought it would be a lesser Tom, so many styles. Mule variations is prolly my least favourite of his. This, though, is great... its like Orphans condensed to one disc sized collection. We've got rockabilly Tom, piano drunken Tom, whispered ballad Tom, wild cacophonous Tom...all in one pocket sized bag of magical **** Tom...is the man!!!
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Nov 5, 2011A great album, and an accessible Tom Waits album for fans and newcomers. Not quite as noisy and eccentric as his last album, but still pretty cool nonetheless. I'd rank this as one of his most listenable without losing his edge. Great stuff.
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Oct 25, 2011The 61 year old Waits releases his 17th studio album and it is perfect. Since 1973 the singer songwriter has reinvented himself numerous times, and continues to create the Tom Waits persona. The three additional songs are essential and fit into the rest of the album quite nicely.
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Oct 25, 2011Isn't this the guy who, by the sound of his voice, has just smoked too many cigarettes and who critics just love because he's... well, Tom Waits? I used to be an admirer of his work, but - honestly - he should pack it in and live off the royalties of his back catalog. This is just a bad repeat of what he used to do brilliantly in the past.
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Mar 4, 2012
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Nov 6, 2011Why does everyone love this guy? I don't see it. I listened to the album... but I wanted to rip my ears off afterwards because I couldn't get that raspy voice out of my head. Sure, he may have had talent a long time ago, but it's time to throw in the towel and retire to a nice home in Florida.
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Jan 4, 2012I can honestly give this album a 10 and say it's the best album if the year. Tom Waits unleashes a new kind of raw energy in this smoky, edgy, refreshing album. It sounds like he's having as much fun making this album as I am listening to it. Tom Waits can do no wrong!
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Jan 3, 2012"The 61 year old Waits releases his 17th studio album and it is perfect. Since 1973 the singer songwriter has reinvented himself numerous times, and continues to create the Tom Waits persona. The three additional songs are essential and fit into the rest of the album quite nicely." yeah I'm totally agree
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Jan 3, 2012Great set of songs that include most of what fans love about Tom Waits. It may not be as daring and original as his previous efforts but Waits has no need for that at the moment, he has done everything already! and "Bad As Me" is the proof... it is diverse, it is fresh and it is powerful. What's not to love!?
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Apr 23, 2012i think that tom waits and the keith richards pair for this album wsa extrememly defiant to give it that new type of sound for tom. tom is a legend and always will be being 61 he needed the help from his friends and he got it.
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Mar 23, 2013I love Tom more than anybody i know, he's my favorite artist hands down, this is not his best album. There are some cool songs on here but overall it doesn't do it for me. Sorry Tom, i hope to love everything you do.
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Feb 23, 2014
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Mar 31, 2020An album full of brilliant songs that feels like a conclusive one, incorporating different musical styles used by Tom over the years, but, unfortunately, it feels as if the uniqueness found in his previous albums is missing.
Awards & Rankings
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Jan 3, 2012Though Waits holds a reserved seat in the small club of artists who don't put out bad albums, the whiff of wild youth hangs around Bad as Me as if it was recorded in back alleys, behind churches, and in bars after hours.
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MojoDec 22, 2011Bad As me is alive with some of his greatest yet. [Nov 2011, p.90]
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The WireDec 6, 2011At this moment, Bad As Me might be his best ever. [Nov 2011, p.68]