In a ‘Private Listening Party’ video previewing his new album Bad As Me, Tom Waits has delivered a characteristically withering missive on the web’s incessant thirst for leaked albums. We’re used to musicians being pretty direct about their disdain for the sharing of records pre-release, but let’s be honest – no one does it with quite as much flair as Waits.
In the four minute video he plays snippets of a few tracks from the album, due for release on October 25th, before taking a deep breath, stopping the music and informing his audience that "we have a situation here".
"I’m going to have to change everything," he continues, eyeballing the camera. "Here’s the way I see it… What if your wife was pregnant, and she wanted to tell you that she was pregnant, and I called you first and said ‘Betty, you know is pregnant?’ What I spoiled your surprise that way, would you be ok with that?"
In the end, the listening party takes place inside a rusty car off a dirt track, punters queueing up to be patted down and thrown unceremoniously inside to join Waits in his tune wagon.
