"Alice" is a studio album by the esteemed American songwriter and musician Tom Waits. Released on May 7, 2002, by Epitaph Records, the album launched alongside another Waits album, "Blood Money." Most interestingly, its content predates its actual release by several years. The songs from "Alice" originally came from a stage production called "Alice" by Waits and his long-time collaborator and wife, Kathleen Brennan; the live performance premiered in 1992 in Hamburg, Germany.
The tracks on "Alice" are steeped in theatrical storytelling, with the title track delving into the subject of Lewis Carroll's obsession with the real Alice Liddell, the inspiration behind Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." The album takes an experimental approach to music and is marked by Waits' distinctive gravelly voice, incisive lyrics, and unusual, eerie orchestrations that include violins, pumping organs, and even the dissonant whine of a calliope.
As a critically acclaimed album, "Alice" takes listeners on a journey through the strange, the surreal, and the poignant, showing the depths and reaches of Waits' musical and narrative abilities. Though it was birthed from the same creative powerhouse as "Blood Money," its counterpart, "Alice" stands on its own as a dreamy, melancholic embodiment of Waits' originality and theatrical flair.
