'Head spinning, mouth open,' sings tonsured Englishman David Gray on the tipsy 'Only the Wine,' the lead track of his handsomely tousled ninth LP. It's a promising start from a guy whose tastefulness too often trumps the spirit of experimentation that distinguishes him from his soft-rock peers. Better yet is the hypnotic title cut, all harmonium drone and splintered groove, and 'When I Was in Your Heart,' riding an unnerving, clipped acoustic-guitar loop and declaring 'the Saviour put a bullet/Right through his brains.' The rest are uniformly beautiful, with just enough ear-cocking moments and lyrical curveballs to make you wish, well, that there were more of them.

“Satisfied”

Only the genius of Tom Waits could combine the subject of mortality, a reoccurring theme in his work, with wordplay that name checks both Mick and Keith, whom he calls "Mr. Jagger" and "Mr. Richards," and the title of their magnum opus, "Satisfaction." And to show just how cool Waits really is, he even got Mr. Richards to play along, one of nine guest appearances the guitarist has made on three Waits albums. "This growling roadhouse stomp is a late-breaking response to the Stones' greatest hit," Rolling Stone said of the track.