2011’s Bad As Me is the leanest and most consistent Tom Waits album since Bone Machine, with nary a weak track to be found. Waits credits Brennan for helping to streamline his tendency to make the most of a CD’s 80-minute runtime, and the resulting album is pithy, sharp, and mesmerizing. Bad As Me finds Waits as sonically resourceful as ever : he revealed to Terry Gross in a that the vinyl-sounding pops and clicks heard on “Kiss Me” were simulated by holding a microphone up to barbeque chicken sizzling in a pan. Additionally, though Waits has been using non-percussion instruments to simulate drums for years, he’s now advanced beyond struck objects altogether : David Hidalgo’s palpitating accordion provides “Chicago” with its frenetic backbeat, while the clipped trumpet on “Talking At The Same Time” creates an eighth note pulse that sounds like slow, stoned ska. Bad As Me also continues the trend toward the more rock and roll arrangements heard on Real Gone, from the boogie-woogie piano and rockabilly rhythms of “Let’s Get Lost” to the tender Elvis-goes-flamenco likes of “Back In The Crowd.” Even when Waits seems to be repeating himself, he’s repeating his best stuff: “Satisfaction” is a rewrite of Rain Dogs’ “Big Black Mariah” ; “Last Leaf,” featuring background vocals by Keith Richards, is an update on “House Where Nobody Lives” ; “New Years Eve” finds Waits again quoting one of his favorite melodies, “Auld Lang Syne,” reaching all the way back to 1977 and his own “Sight For Sore Eyes” for inspiration; even the tumultuous “Hell Broke Luce,” a clanking nightmare of overdubbed vocals, aggressively monotonous guitar, and artillery-like percussion updates the Bone Machine formula (and sounds an awful lot like The Birthday Party’s “Mutiny In Heaven,” while we’re on the subject). The fact that an artist rapidly approaching senior citizenship is capable of such an album is a testament to Waits’ continued potency.