I'm not going to cut Tom Waits any slack. In my mind, he is not infallible, and I find much of his material to be sort of samey. He's sort of a musical Woody Allen in the sense that he puts out material done his way, in his style, at his pace - and there are a remarkable number of magic moments over his long career.
One thing that really struck me while listening to this record is how authentic it feels. Its really not easy to self produce; very often artists lose perspective very rapidly as they fall into patterns and surround themselves with yes men. But Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan have been putting together records like Monet was putting together his "series" paintings late in his career - They just sound completely like themselves and it s a unique and compelling vision. Its also startling how much of an influence the "post Asylum" Waits (really Waits-Brennan) has had on everything that follows it. Its hard to imagine Radiohead without Rain Dogs.
"Talking at the Same Time" definitely falls into the Kurt-Weill-Waits style, but here he's somewhat restrained. He really has something to say in this song - something to say to the world, I think: "Shut Up!" The modern American discourse style has really gotten under his skin (and mine too). Why are we always shouting at each other? He even has an answer: The din is a thieves slight of hand to distract us and overwhelm us while the hand goes in our pocket ("They got the fruit and we got the rind").