Tom Waits has broken a 15-year recording silence with ‘Boots on the Ground’, a collaboration with Massive Attack that might just be one of the most timely releases of the year.
The track marks Waits’ first original music since the 2011 album Bad As Me and Massive Attack’s first new material since 2020. The song chronicles what the press release describes as the madness and rabid abandonment of mankind to the commands of those in power, and given the current state of the world, it lands with uncomfortable resonance.
Waits, ever the poet, commented: “One day many years ago, I accepted an invitation from Massive Attack to collaborate. Their long release delay never worried me. Today, as in all of mankind’s yesterdays, guarantees this type of song will never go out of style.”
The single is available now on streaming platforms and will be followed by a 12-inch vinyl release featuring ‘Boots on the Ground’ on Side A and an exclusive Waits B-side titled ‘The Fly’, described as featuring his trademark droll and sardonic spoken word. The vinyl is being pressed using an eco-conscious process, with 180g pressings in red, white and blue packed at random.
Not your typical RAMzine fare, perhaps, but when two of music’s most uncompromising artists resurface after years of silence to make something this pointed and powerful, it feels worth paying attention to.
