From Amazon.co.uk
Singer and guitarist Hammond devotes nearly all of
Wicked Grin to the songs of Tom Waits. It all started when the pair's wives struck on the idea of having Tom produce John's next album. Hammond and Waits have been firm buddies since 1974 and had already made isolated guest exchanges on each other's albums. Once the sessions got swinging, the idea of the Waits song book being used just happened spontaneously, with Tom and Kathleen Brennan even penning two brand-new ditties. Hammond's cranked-up electric guitar is bolstered by a great band featuring Augie Meyers (keys), Larry Taylor (bass) and Stephen Hodges (drums), with Charlie Musselwhite chipping in some primordial harmonica and Waits himself playing background churn-guitar on most cuts. The subterranean feel they capture is inspired, from the swamp-shufflin', grimy trudge of numbers like "Heartattack & Vine" and "Big Black Mariah", to the exposed fragility of "Buzz Fledderjohn" and "Fannin Street". Hammond's mean-mouthed, raspy holler is perfectly suited to the Waits canon, but old Tom does get to sing out on the traditional gospel clap-along of "I Know I've Been Changed".
--Martin Longley
