Tom Waits Week: Mule Variations and Beyond (1999-present)

Orphans (2006) – This is the big one – a three-disc set of new material, rarities, and some really weird experiments. The three discs are subtitled “Brawlers”, the harder, rock-oriented songs, “Bawlers”, ballads and blues numbers, and “Bastards”, the weird stuff. The 56 tracks include enough new songs to fill an album, B-Sides, songs that had only been released on soundtracks (everything from Shrek 2 to Pollock), covers, and spoken-word pieces. It is a glorious thing of beauty.