: Before the official release, the songs were famous in the trading community as "The Alice Demos," sourced from a cassette stolen from Waits’ car in late 1992. Musical Style and Atmosphere
Though released in 2002 alongside Blood Money , the material for Alice was originally written in 1992 for a theatrical production directed by at the Thalia Theatre in Hamburg.
Waits described the album as "adult songs for children, or children's songs for adults".
: Moving away from the "carnival clank" of earlier works like Swordfishtrombones , Alice utilizes a "skeleton chamber orchestra" featuring pump organ , Stroh violins , cello , and vibraphone .
: Critics describe it as a "fever dream" or "tone poem" characterized by a "lyrical melancholia". Key Tracks and Themes
: The album is a "loose concept" work centered on Lewis Carroll’s (Charles Dodgson) obsession with Alice Liddell , the child who inspired Alice's Adventures in Wonderland .