Beautiful Mess

Drunkenly staggering from folk to punk to a lounge duet with Tom Waits and back again, this album needs a mug of coffee and a good, hard slap. 'Beautiful Mess' shows an impressive line-up with Dave Pirner and Dan Murphy from Soul Asylum sing on "Blood Is Thicker Than Water," Benmont Tench plays the organ, and Michael Penn sings on "Body And Soul?" Joe Hardy produced along with Pete Anderson and Al Kooper, the latter of whom oversaw "Adios Lounge," a duet between singer Bob Forrest and Tom Waits. Bob Forrest created some very personal songs on 'Beautiful Mess' and he aced everything. It's poetic, sad, poignant, triumphant, optimistic, it's a masterpiece.