This came out in 2000 — or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
With his rumbling delivery and shambling style, boho troubadour Tom Waits is one of music’s most distinctive and idiosyncratic performers.
Oddly enough, he also seems to be one of its most-covered songwriters — everyone from Holly Cole to Bruce Springsteen has tackled a Tom tune at one time or another. Another 14 artists add their names to that list on this tribute CD, a sequel to 1996’s Step Right Up. Some of this crew celebrate Waits’ barfly hipster side — check Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ blustery, bluesy Whistlin’ Past The Graveyard or Andre Williams’ mush-mouthed take on strip-tease rap Pasties And A G-String. Others honour Waits’ skid-row romanticism — like Sally Norvell and Carla Bozulich, who wring every last beery teardrop from their respective takes on Please Call Me, Baby and On The Nickel. But none tops Neko Case, whose stark, organ-backed version of Christmas Card From A Hooker in Minneapolis (one of my Waits faves) is a grand weeper that rivals the master’s version. If you’re a Waits fan — and who isn’t? — step right up.