What is it with these 80’s heartthrobs? They go quasi spaz and we’re forced to endure their eccentricities. Johnny Depp totally went oddsville.
Keep in mind this guy started off in TV’s 21 Jump Street and moved on to some pretty fantastic films. “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?”, or my fave “Benny and Joon” let alone work with John Waters in Crybaby.. but the pirate stuff seems to have consumed him.
I blame the hipster in him. Since that whole move to France thing he’s been odder than usual and the nonstop Disney Pirate films- well hell, it was just a matter of time that he would take this addiction and pair it up with music.
Grabbing Nick Cave, Iggy Pop and Keith Richards, is serious enough. Grab Tom Waits and Patti Smith and now its mondo bizzaro. Hold up.. and Shane McGowan of the Pogues?
'Son of Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys', a collection of sea chanteys, will be released on Tom Waits 'Anti Records' label in February. Oh and this is a sequel, there is an album 1 of the same name.
Producer Hal Willner said the following: 'About a year ago I secretly thought we would never finish. As easy as volume 1 was to coordinate, this was the opposite, but it is a very different record than volume 1. This one seems, happier? Not as much about torture, sodomy and death, which will disappoint some but, we don't need to repeat ourselves do we?'
Actually no- pirate songs? As much as I hate ‘track listings’ I must list this- yup youre seeing Courtney Love and Todd Rundgren on this as well…
Track Listing
Disc 1:
1. Leaving of Liverpool (Shane MacGowan w/Johnny Depp & Gore Verbinski)
1. Sam's Gone Away (Robyn Hitchcock)
3. River Come Down (Beth Orton)
4. Row Bullies Row (Sean Lennon w/Jack Shit)
5. Shenandoah (Tom Waits w/Keith Richards)
6. Mr. Stormalong (Ivan Neville)
7. Asshole Rules the Navy (Iggy Pop w/A Hawk and a Hacksaw)
8. Off to Sea Once More (Macy Gray)
9. The Ol' OG (Ed Harcourt)
10. Pirate Jenny (Shilpa Ray w/Nick Cave & Warren Ellis)
11. The Mermaid (Patti Smith & Johnny Depp)
12. Anthem for Old Souls (Chuck E. Weiss)
13. Orange Claw Hammer (Ed Pastorini)
14. Sweet and Low (The Americans)
15. Ye Mariners All (Robin Holcomb & Jessica Kenny)
16. Tom's Gone to Hilo (Gavin Friday and Shannon McNally)
17. Bear Away (Kenny Wollesen & The Himalayas Marching Band)
Disc 2:
1. Handsome Cabin Boy (Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention)
2. Rio Grande (Michael Stipe & Courtney Love)
3. Ship in Distress (Marc Almond)
4. In Lure of the Tropics (Dr. John)
5. Rolling Down to Old Maui (Todd Rundgren)
6. Jack Tar on Shore (Dan Zanes w/Broken Social Scene)
7. Sally Racket (Sissy Bounce (Katey Red & Big Freedia) with Akron/Family)
8. Wild Goose (Broken Social Scene)
9. Flandyke Shore (Marianne Faithfull w/Kate & Anna McGarrigle)
10. The Chantey of Noah and his Ark (Old School Song) (Ricky Jay)
11. Whiskey Johnny (Michael Gira)
12. Sunshine Life for Me (Petra Haden w/Lenny Pickett)
13. Row the Boat Child (Jenni Muldaur)
14. General Taylor (Richard Thompson w/Jack Shit)
15. Marianne (Tim Robbins w/Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
16. Barnacle Bill the Sailor (Kembra Phaler w/Antony/Joseph Arthur/Foetus)
17. Missus McGraw (Angelica Huston w/The Weisberg Strings)
18. The Dreadnought (Iggy Pop & Elegant Too)
19. Then Said the Captain to Me (Two Poems of the Sea) (Mary Margaret O'Hara)