Personnel: Tom Waits (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboard, bass, drums, percussion); Larry Taylor (guitar, bass); Keith Richards, Joe Gore, Waddy Wachtel (guitar); David Phillips (pedal steel guitar, steel guitar); Joe Marquez (banjo, percussion); Ralph Carney (bass clarinet, alto & tenor saxophones); David Hidalgo (accordion); Les Claypool (bass); Bryan "Brain" Mantia (drums); Kathleen Brennan (percussion).<BR>Engineers: Joe Marquez, Shawn Michael Morris, Biff Dawes.<BR>Recorded at Prairie Sun Recording, Cotati, California.<BR>After completing the famed "trilogy" that consists of SWORDFISHTROMBONES, RAIN DOGS and FRANK'S WILD YEARS, Waits took his time following it up. At the time, it was hard to imagine what crazed, exotic sonic vistas Waits had left unexplored. Further proving the mettle of his artistry, Waits pulled a masterstroke on BONE MACHINE. Instead of trying to reach new heights, he effectively plumbed the depths, stripping his sound down to the bare essentials (hence the title). At times, he sounds like a cross between an even more avant garde Captain Beefheart ("Such a Scream") and a hip caveman banging out a song on a row of tuned skulls ("Earth Died Screaming"). Despite all this willful primitivism though, his craftsmanship is at a peak, his thoughtful lyricism shining throughout.

1. Earth Died Screaming
2. Dirt in the Ground
3. Such a Scream
4. All Stripped Down
5. Who Are You
6. The Ocean Doesn't Want Me
7. Jesus Gonna Be Here
8. Little Rain (For Clyde)
9. In the Colosseum
10. Goin' Out West
11. Murder in the Red Barn
12. Black Wings
13. Whistle Down the Wind (For Tom Jans)
14. I Don't Wanna Grow Up
15. Let Me Get up on It
16. That Feel